We'll admit, we've seen a fair share of classic American pony cars swapped with JDM engines in our day. Typically, these tend to be things like vintage Camaros and Mustangs fitted with Honda VTEC engines, usually K24s with massive turbos. But every once in a while, something comes along that bucks the trend. Something that an Australian tuner in New South Wales called Nick Baxter just came up with, practically alone in his shed.
It might look like another big-block V8 Fox Body Mustang drag car like we've seen done a thousand times before. But nope, don't let your bias deceive you. Under the hood of this true-to-form professional quarter-mile drag car is an engine we guarantee you wouldn't expect unless you're well-versed in JDM Australian imports from the early 2000s. Gone is whatever four, six, or eight-cylinder American dinosaur was in this car stock. In its place is a Toyota 3RZ-FE four-cylinder engine, the same you'd find in a fifth-generation Hilux or a first-generation Tacoma pickup.
This engine was also a stalwart of the Toyota T100 truck, a full-sized truck that sat almost squarely in between the Hilux and Tacoma in terms of its place in their respective domestic market. The point of it all for our purposes is that the Toyota 3RZ is an engine built for strength, far more than a little four-pot of just 2.7 liters has any business being if you have a particularly American set of sensibilities. But in truth, the 3RZ is a touch larger than the more ubiquitous Honda K24. Those extra CCs on an engine built by Toyota at its arguable apex make for a platform ripe for performance mods. With native dual overhead cams and four valves per cylinder, this is an engine that breathes easily, too.
Regarding mods, we're talking about a custom-forged crankshaft, cylinder heads, and pistons to handle the considerable levels of forced induction Mr. Baxter intended to squeeze into this little engine. Speaking of boost, that comes from a chunky Garret G47 turbocharger that makes the considerably-sized front hood scoop legitimately necessary and not just for show. Keep in mind, this is an engine that made roughky 150 horsepower to the tires when it was brand new and fitted in any number of different Toyota trucks and SUVs besides just the Tacoma and Hilux.
Put it all together, fit some gargantuan drag slicks on the back tires, and paint the whole thing Ferrari red, and you get a Fox Body Mustang that runs a 7.86-second quarter mile on the trot at Sydney Jamboree at Sydney Dragway in Eastern Creek, New South Wales. Surely, that's just as fast as the V8 drag cars at the event. This four-pot is possibly even faster.
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