Supra 2JZ-GTE powered M5 - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

oz923 · 13th October 2009, 23:23

I would like to take this opportunity to share with the M5 community my recently finished motor swap project. I've had the M5 since late-2007 and enjoyed the stock S62 a great deal. While the power and torque were also great, it just wasn’t enough for me. Supercharging the beast was certainly an option, but a very costly one. With my friend's shop, E-Shift Performance out in central NJ, having converted numerous cars with 2JZ-GTE motors from the Toyota Supra, we hatched the idea of the BMW M5-supra project.

I've seen an earlier thread with a fellow board member posting two pictures of my car from the Hot Import Nights event from Englishtown, NJ. I never replied to the thread given that the car wasn't fully completed at that point. The polarized responses were exactly the way I expected.

Many have asked, why an M5 instead of a regular 5-series? I already own the M5. I do not enjoy the hassles and time of selling a car and looking for another car. Buying a new car would also involve other costs such as sales tax, registration, inspection, etc. I also would have to spend money for the m-tech bumpers, mirrors (I don’t like the square look of the regular 5-series) and alcantara interior. Last but not least, I would want the M5 differential. These costs add up, so why not embark on the project with the car I already own.

My S62 had just under 80k miles and I was able to sell it for a decent price. With great resources at E-Shift Performance, we were able to keep the costs down for the whole conversion (including proceeds from the sale of the motor). We did all the work ourselves, so labor was not an issue. Including proceeds received from the motor sale, total spending on parts (including turbo manifold, custom downpipe, resonator, exhaust, intake, etc.) were less than the cost of a supercharger kit for the S62, which appears to start at $10k. That’s before doling out more $$$ for headers, x-pipe, exhaust, cats, resonators, cold-air intake, dme reflashing, etc. Bottom-line is it would cost too much just to squeeze out another 100-200whp from the S62. Reliability on boosting the stock S62 is also a concern of mine – whereas the stock supra bottom end is very capable of over 800whp.

While I have stated that motor swap is complete, the whole project isn’t quite there yet. I’ve still got plenty of mods to make (aka more money that needs to be saved up). I don’t plan to hit over 600hp until I reinforce the subframe.

So without further ado, here’s a video that E-Shift and Schen Photography put together of the Supra 2JZ-GTE powered BMW M5. Also included in the video is E-shift’s 2JZ swap on a E36 325i. The M5 laid down 542 whp compared to the stock power of 343 whp.

Racerxjling · 13th October 2009, 23:44

This swap is remarkable!! I've owned the 2JZ Supra TT 6 spd and this is the best of both worlds...practically unlimited power (best bang for the $$ in modded cars) w/ German handling/style! Just awesome. Congrats...I am jealous!

Jeff