The Jaguar E-Type is regularly thought of as one of the most beautiful cars ever produced. The Toyota 2JZ-GTE engine is a fabled powerplant, one with internet fame, and is so popular that some people who aren’t car enthusiasts know what they are. So, what do you get when you combine these two giants together? Professional drift racer and car builder Faruk Kugay did just that and created a masterpiece powered by the heart of a Supra. This beauty might be close to custom car perfection.
The world of engine swaps is exciting. There’s always something magical about seeing someone execute a vision by combining parts that weren’t ever really designed to be married together. Sometimes, this means getting to see an epic Smart Fortwo with big-block V8 or a classic Ford Mustang with a Nissan RB26 nabbed from a Skyline GT-R. We love to see cool engines ending up in unexpected places. Matt Hardigree and I were in love at first sight when we saw this 1969 Jaguar XKE 2+2 (also known as the E-Type) powered by a Toyota 2JZ-GTE inline-6. Japanese oil company ENEOS is showing off the build at the SEMA show in Las Vegas this week.
The Builders
While Japan’s oldest oil company is hosting the vehicle, the build is credited to Faruk Kugay, a professional drifter, constructor, and car enthusiast. Check out his bio:
Faruk was born in the small city of Swidnik, Poland. His mother is Polish and his father is Laz, a Turkish ethnic minority. His family immigrated to the United States when he was very young. As he grew up in San Francisco, his father taught him the value of care and maintenance of the family car. A childhood friend took him to Sonoma Raceway and he became hooked on motorsports! He started drifting in 2002. Unable to pursue the sport professionally for financial reasons, he remained close to his passion by helping and working at drifting events. In 2007 he moved to Europe and organized, announced, and judged events as well as taught drifting to others. He reentered competitive drifting as a driver in 2012 to dedicate himself to compete professionally in Formula Drift. In 2014 he earned his Pro 2 license through his local Pro-Am series in Northern California and achieved his Pro 1 license in 2015. In 2019 he was featured in multiple episodes of the Netflix show, Hyperdrive. Faruk also manages Sonoma Drift at Sonoma Raceway, which hosts Wednesday night drifting and December’s wildly popular and ever-growing event, Winter Jam. He has a shop at Sonoma Raceway as well.
Kugay’s website says his main vehicles are a Formula Drift Pro 1 1997 Nissan S14 with a 2JZ-GTE, an Ex-Formula Drift Pro 1 2008 BMW E92 with a 2JZ-GTE, and a 2003 BMW M3 Demonstration Car. It sounds like Kugay loves putting 2JZ-GTEs into whatever he can get his hands on!
Kugay built this Franken-Jag at DevSpeed Motorsports in Sonoma, California. Building the car alongside Kugay was a talented team at DevSpeed including Victor Freire, Jose Varguez, Alexander Forsythe, Luke Wright, Sean McLean, Josh Sher, Seth Lewis, and Dustin Volkmuth. It’s really only the latest bonkers swap to come out of the shop. Last year, DevSpeed presented a 997.1 Porsche 911 GT3 with a Subaru Impreza STI EJ25 engine.
In 2021, the DevSpeed team combined an E30 BMW with a Honda F20C engine. Purists, look away and cover your ears because these hot rod builds do not care what you think.
ENEOS, a company that’s been around since 1888, has been supporting race teams for decades. The company doesn’t just deal with the exploration, importation, and refining of crude oil, but it also supports race teams and manufacturers alongside creating tailored engine and transmission oils. ENEOS is a partner in these engine swap projects built by Kugay at DevSpeed.
The Build
ENEOS says that each of the three builds it’s doing this year has a Frankenstein monster theme to them and this Jag is fitting. However, more than that, this build is also supposed to celebrate 75 years of Jaguar creating sports cars. At the same time, the goal of the build was to update the classic British sports car with modern technology.
A Supra’s 2JZ-GTE engine was selected to honor the build’s Japanese hosts. ENEOS says the engine is representative of the vehicles it has supported as the company has supplied lubricants to Japan’s OEMs for decades. For Kugay, just any 2JZ wouldn’t work, so he decided to dig into his Formula DRIFT roots. Kugay is using the same engine found in his Nissan S14 competition car, a 2JZ-GTE 3.0-liter twin-turbo straight-six found in Supras from the 1990s.
From there, Kugay and the team dumped in a ton of components including a new head casting with Deatschwerks Injectors plus a Nuke Performance fuel system. The engine’s internals are beefed up with CP-Carillo pistons and rods, and the boost is handled by a Borg Warner EFR 8474 turbocharger and a Vibrant Performance Intercooler. Toss in Link G4 Fury ECU for spark and Kugay is expecting the engine to punch out 750 HP once it’s all tuned up.
Kugay and the team built the car to be a street rod and a track monster. After consulting Charlie’s Customs in England, a shop that performed a similar swap, Kugay added an E60 BMW 535i rear subframe, suspension, and differential to the build. That should give the hot rod Jag a good platform to put down the power with. Kugay didn’t stop with robbing an E60 for parts, either, as he also nabbed a ZF five-speed manual transmission from an E36 BMW M3.
ENEOS continues with this awesome Jaguar XKE:
The considerable power increase over the original 4.2L straight-six engine meant the Jag required bigger boots. While the generous wheelbase of the 2+2 helped with the engine installation, the XKE’s slender hips weren’t going to accommodate sufficient rubber to get the job done. Initially taking inspiration from the Jaguar factory’s Lightweight racer, fender flares were designed from a 3D scan taken by Adam Bao at Illumasthetic. Once the proportions were confirmed, his team 3D-printed the new pieces. These were delivered to the crew at Vinny’s Autobody in Sonoma, CA where Ken Heilmann laid carbon fiber to strengthen the panels, Matt Thorsson and Jason Mohon prepped the bodywork, before Vinny Thorsson painted it.
The body was then able to swallow 17” Rotiform STL wheels, which were custom-built in two pieces to achieve the desired width and offset; the design reminiscent of the original E-Type Lightweight wheels. Finally, a set of the new high-performance Bridgestone Potenza RE-71 RS tires were fitted to ensure the Jag was equally at home on the road or track.
Additional goodies in the 1969 Jaguar XKE 2+2 build include front brakes from a 2003 Chevy Corvette, rear brakes from the 2010 BMW 535i, Silver’s coilovers, a custom front suspension, and a cage created by DevSpeed. Basically, this thing is a Jaguar with the heart of a Toyota, the bones of a BMW, the stopping meats of a Chevy, and the soul of a racer.
Best yet? Through it all the team managed to maintain the XKE’s stunning looks. Just look at those voluptuous hips, the side dump exhaust, and the incredible engine bay. This car may be a big middle finger to purity, but it looks like a fantastic time. If you’re going to SEMA this year, which runs from tomorrow to November 3, you’ll find this art piece sitting at booth #24233 in Central Hall. Try not to drool all over it.
(Images: ENEOS)
Hey look, a Jag that might actually be reliable.
Probably gonna get flamed for this, but I’ve never found the E-Type to be a very good looking car. Certainly not (one of) the best looking cars of all time. It’s.. not the worst looking thing in the world, but I don’t think it’s particularly pretty in any body style. D-Type is a different story, and the Eagle GT is great, but the standard car is just.. eh.
It’s too long and ridiculous, not curvey or flared enough to hold up to its insane proportions.. and, well, it’s an old Jag, but they never seem too well put together.
I agree. I have never understood all the hype of the xke,sure I guess it is a awesome sports car,but it doesn’t look that damn good.
Growing up I was in a British Spirts Car club. One of the members had an early e-type 1 convertible. And while thr club also included other Jags, a big Healey, at least 1 (original) Mini Cooper, Triumphs. Thr e-type was by far the prettiest of the bunch.
I’ve seen several (same period) Lotus in person as well* & no question the etype is prettier, much nore presence, although I do think the D type would be even better, I don’t think I’ve seen one in person.
I really like the looks of thLotus Elan (original), as well as the 11 and the 23b is a personal favorite even owing a correct replica 23b would be amazing
Wow, they went from 4.2 liters to 3.0 liters while increasing the power by multiples despite the old hot-rodders’ adage about how “there’s no replacement for displacement.” Ha, with all the engineering that went into that 2JZ (indeed, any modern ‘small’ engine with high power output) one could say something like “nothing makes a difference like intelligence.”
After all, as noted so often nowadays, so many of today’s plain-vanilla grocery-getters, with their turbo four-cylinder engines, can outrun so many ’60s American muscle cars with their honking big V-8s. Times sure have changed…
oh, you
Very cool swap, but I don’t understand how people think this is beautiful. It looks like if a wiener dog wearing a helmet became a car. I love everything else but something about that stance just makes the whole car look extremely awkward.
Finally an E-type that doesn’t look like a trimmed body-in-white balanced on a shopping trolley.
I’m a bit on the fence with this one.They *almost* made me like what is -essentially- a thug drift car.A class of machine that always deserves contempt
I don’t know what a “thug drift car” is or why it deserves contempt.
I did compete at national level drifting for three years, and I built a few cars, and did some engine swaps. The sport has some baggage, but it’s basically about having fun with cars.
Meh,drifting is dumb.But yes sorry,i overstated the contempt part. It was the ‘baggage’ that inclines me to think that way
It’s doing big skids in cars, of course it’s dumb.
But it’s fun to do, the most fun car thing I’ve ever done. Being in the car, balancing grip and speed, angle and throttle, while doing an 80mph Scandinavian flick to hit a corner apex that’s 100 yards away is one of the best feelings I’ve ever had.
I can’t stand watching it though, to the extent that I’d pack up and leave competitions I was in as soon as my last run was done.
What the hell is “thug drift car” supposed to mean?
That”sidepipe” looks like shit!
2JZ in an E-type is pretty amazing. If you’re going to restore and engine swap one, you may as well do it with another inline 6 that should be quite a lot less fussy.
BUT… I think I’d rather it not have all the power. Heck, a stock 2JZ would be plenty for an E-Type. Plus…the car is just too good for the drop and camber. I kinda don’t like this one, and that hurts a bit.
Now I want to see someone do this with a Slant 6, just keep trying different E-Type/straight 6 combinations
As others have said, I’m glad it was a 2+2 and not a 2 place.
It just looks wrong with that stance and those flares.
It’s like a breast enhancement on Botticelli’s Venus.
The E Type is the most beautiful car ever designed. Full stop.
“It’s like a breast enhancement on Botticelli’s Venus.”
Well now I can’t unsee that!
Thank you.
Idk, to me it just looks like they were inspired by the E-Type Lightweight look. I don’t hate it.
Now this is how to do a Jag. Damn it looks so good.
Thanks Mercedes.
I can’t believe that I have to say this second time today, but: wheel fitment in this is just wrong. Looks like it has some accidentally mismatched wheels from some another car.
I’m in love.
Its so wrong…..but that also why its so right.
Oh My God, Someone Put A 2JZ In A Jaguar E-Type And It’s Puuurfect
For their next trick, I suggest they go with a Nissan VQ stuffed into a Lada Niva…
750 horsepower in this thing is monstrous. I love this idea.
Further, the chosen engine is significantly lighter than what the E-Type came with, so it may have lost upwards of 100 lbs vs stock, even with all of the enhancements to the car. It also has better thermal efficiency than the E-Type’s stock engine, so it is possible even with the tuning for extra horsepower, this thing exceeds 30 mpg.
I like this build.
They should call this a Jagra.
This is an example where if someone were to describe it on paper, it doesn’t sound right. However… seeing the execution in pictures… wow… really really good job.
I like that they stuck with a straight six, and out of all the ones to pick, it’s pretty hard to fault the 2JZ.
This looks fun
I really REALLY want to hear that at full chat. :-O
Great stuff, Mercedes – have fun in Vegas!
Btw, Tavarish is unveiling his McLaren P1 Evo project tomorrow at 10am. 🙂
On the one hand, glad they chopped up a 2 + 2 and not lovely series one two seater coupe to do this. If you have the engine swap going with the Toyota straight six is certainly more palatable than swapping in a V8.
That said, the low slung two seater could have made for a better looking overall result (which still wouldn’t look as good as the original).
Agreed on this being much more palatable with a 2+2.
You’ll note they don’t show the car in full profile. LOL
I agree, glad it’s a 2+2. That said, I think the big flares actually may work better with the 2+2. The E type is a perfect shape, but the 2+2 is kind of bulgy and the flares balance nicely. Actually, a V12 E type would have been missed even less. Stick a 1GZ-FE V12 from a Century in one of those.????
Perfect? I like the idea, but minus the stance frontend and the side pipe
I always wondered if a massive Barra six would fit in one of those, the Turbo 2Jz though was not a thought until now, great idea. You almost just want to reskin a 90’s wrecked supra though to get the rest of the goodies from that car.
whoa, and then there is this one. I am kind of enamored by this as a sleeper more than the full race look of the XKE above. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKxfcwIYDGA
That is downright sleek: elegant with just a hint of ominous intent
I’ve always wondered what a Barra 6 would be like in the much smaller Triumph GT6.
I’ve had a good look, but I can’t see any information on the external size of the Jag XK6 engine, but it looks to be about the same size as a Barra.
I think it looks great. I love this type of sacrilege.
I have no problem with the power plant swap, but the interior and exterior aesthetic modifications are a crime against humanity. It’s like they updated a Picasso using magic markers.
It looks like it’s a Series II, which was already like they updated a Picasso using magic markers.
Though the Series III would have been my choice for a mod like this.
I was going to ask how that much power would be put down, but the BMW subframe answered that questions. Otherwise frame torsion would be a very real possibility at that power.
I don’t love the wheels they chose, but they are at least somewhat subdued.
The plethora of bolts make them a bit busy for me—but the homage to original lightweight wheels is instantly obvious, so I kind of think it works.
But I’m not a purist even though it was a 12 cylinder E-type with proper wire wheels which jump started my love for cars
The wheels are close to being right, but not quite there. I’m not sure if it is style or what, but something about them isn’t quite clicking with me.