At last year’s Tokyo Auto Salon TOM’s announced it would begin a restoration business to mark its 50th anniversary. At the time they displayed a complete A80 Supra that represented the type of restomod they could build. This year, they displayed a very incomplete AE86 to showcase how serious these builds would be. That, and a trio of crate motors should pique any Toyotaku’s interests.
The AE86 on display had every nut, bolt, and clip stripped from the car. There was no cabin insulation or undercoating, just glorious white sheetmetal. Essentially, TOM’s is saying they begin their restorations with a pure clean shell as the foundation. Their technicians can claim decades of experience building and campaigning Toyota race cars, and want to put that knowledge to use in creating the street or track car of your dreams.
One option for this dream build is to drop in an engine built by TOM’s skilled technicians. On display were three of Toyota’s most popular performance motors, a 4A-G, 3S-GE, and a 2JZ. Each engine will have three levels of restoration available. An A-Spec restoration rebuilds the original engine using OEM parts for a completely factory feel. B-Spec adds a select menu of TOM’s performance parts, porting the head, and weight balancing the internals. C-Spec is the most advanced, in which TOM’s will custom-build an engine based on the client’s particular goals.
The engines start at ¥2.75 million ($17,800 USD) for the 4A-G, ¥3.025 million ($19,600) for the 3S-GE, and a whopping ¥6.545 million ($42,400) )for the 2JZ. Expensive, perhaps, but you’d be getting a motor built by the same shop that cranked out many of Toyota’s JGTC/Super GT, Formula 3000, and 24 Hours of Le Mans cars. It’s the kind of devotion to perfection that Japanese enthusiasts are more than willing to commit to. Who will be the first one in the US to order a TOM’s-restored car? We can’t wait to see some of these cars hitting the road.
Soooo… one could get an AE86 shell from AliSomething, then a 4A-G engine from Toms, I guess most of the micellanous stuff could come from one place or the other, we only need someone to manufacture original spec windows and full interiors to make an Hachi-Roku factory? That would be glorious!
Why is the 2JZ so expensive, though? My “knowledge” on this subject comes mostly from the motorcycling world, apparently making an engine, any engine, is expensive, and usually size does not cost much more, but complication does, hence why the absolutely bonkers 400cc 4-cyl sportbikes are so rare, they cost pretty much as much as the 600 and 1000cc to make, but they could not sell a 400 for the price of a literbike. So is there a reason why the 2JZ cost over double the 4A-G? It is a 6-cyl against two 4-cyl, but still?
Since there are no new blocks, and most have likely been blown up, there’s likely a rarity in good rebuildable motors.
I don’t know if they could use 1JZ blocks, but remember, these engines are approaching 30 years old.