The Japanese coupes and hatchbacks of the glorious ’90s-era that produced a laundry list of unforgettable silhouettes that, today, often demand an arguably unjust premium, have always been the most favorable chassis for enthusiasts worldwide. That’s not likely to change anytime soon, but beyond the two-and-three-door offerings of that period you’ll also find a handful of very worthy sedan options, like this 1998 Toyota Chaser Tourer V.
For Adam Mao, sedans have always stood out to him, even at a young age. “I was about 13 or 14 when I first laid eyes on a Chaser in 2004 at Irwindale Speedway during the D1 Grand Prix,” he says. “My older brother, Ken, brought me with him, and I saw Kuniaki Takahashi’s JZX100 and ever since then, I fell in love with four-door drift cars.” Ultimately, Mao started his build journey with an S14 coupe that he built while still in high school. Once complete and having enjoyed it for a while, he was ready for his next challenge, and he knew it would be something with more doors.
That next challenge materialized as a sparkling purple Lexus GS300 powered by a built and boosted 2JZ-GE that dished out over 600 horsepower, which Super Street featured in 2015. A spectacle, it was equal parts show appearance and ravenous powerhouse, and Mao exploited that fact, leaving huge clouds of smoke during consistent drift adventures. While that feature was floating around on the newsstand, he’d already taken ownership of this Chaser but had no idea it would eventually become his next big build.
Purchased through his friend Bob of Mountain Ghost, the completely stock JZX100 was complete with a 5-speed manual transmission. Original plans called for a mild suspension update and a few appearance mods, but that idea went out the window when Mao crunched a few numbers. He adds, “When I first started my business in 2018, I had the time, money, and space to do a full-blown build, so I decided to just strip the car down to bare metal and started to cut away.” His business, Dynamic Autoworks of Fremont, Ca., held all of the essentials needed to bring a ground-up build to life.
To eclipse the sort of power he was making with his previous project, Mao mated a 2JZ block with a 1JZ VVT-i head after ditching most of the factory internal top and bottom end guts. Wiseco 10:1 pistons with BC Pro Series rods, a custom oil pump, and a billet engine girdle fortified the bottom end. Up top, the entire valve train was replaced with much stronger aftermarket goods before BC 272 cams were set in place. A single Garrett GTX3584RS splits gases by way of a Future Fabrication twin scroll manifold supported by a pair of TurboSmart 40mm waste gates. Making big power means big fuel and feeding the IDx1700s are dual AEM 400lph pumps with a 320lph lift pump and a Radium Engineering surge tank.
Nestled inside of a spotless bay, much of the engine’s supporting parts received a matte black finish highlighted by hits of 24k gold dipped pieces that, when set against the classic green paint finish, create an upscale look, but don’t let the pretty face fool you. Measured at the wheels, this Chaser puts down a healthy 984 horsepower and almost 800 lb-ft of torque at 35psi, with fine tuning needs handled by AEM’s Infinity management.
All that power requires plenty of suspension support in order to toss the sedan sideways and bring it back on command, and Mao’s experience with his Lexus build was the perfect foundation. Slide under this Chaser and you’ll see that the entire lower chassis is covered in Raptor bed liner with a slew of adjustable control arms in the front and rear, as well as sway bars, solid bushings, subframe reinforcements, and more. There’s far more aftermarket than Toyota at this point, and that goes beyond just the car’s underpinnings.
Once the engine and suspension were complete, there was still the rest of the car to contend with. The interior had been painted, as was the eight point roll cage, but the doors, fenders, and other panels were yet to be installed but that didn’t stop Mao and his crew from putting the sedan to work. “We drifted it quite a bit when it had no doors or panels just to make sure it drove the way we built it,” he says. “Finally, after two years, we finished all of the exterior and bodywork which was countless hours of fiberglass work and prep.”
All of that prep work came as a result of fitting and widening the Car Modify Wonder Shadow aero and widebody pieces. The Chaser, which features a slender, very boxy design, now sports bulbous rear quarter panels with matching rear door skins, with the replacement front fenders and with their sculpted vents combining to push the body out by 50mm. The increase in girth allows 19×9 -18 front and 19×11 -43 rear Work CR2P with Federal RS-RR tires to move uninterrupted as the car is kicked sideways violently and every millimeter of steering angle relied upon when Mao attends a drift day.
A vented Car Modify Wonder hood adds another aggressive touch and leads into a Kazama-style grill nicely. Like the engine bay, the entire exterior was covered in Land Rover’s version of British Racing Green before a huge 1,850mm BCL carbon wing was added using a pair of one-off custom CNC’d stands that grant a low-slung trunk position. Along the side skirts and on either end of the front bumper are carbon fiber extensions that align with the new fenders.
A custom transmission tunnel cover by Car-Bar Fab hides a Gforce GSR2 4-speed top shift dogbox, but the cover itself remains visible and slathered in paint along with the rest of interior that shed its carpet and factory plastic panels, the only replacements being flat custom door cards. Long gone are the cushy Toyota seats, replaced by four Sparco Rev buckets split front to back by the hearty roll cage. The array of AEM sensors plugged into the engine relay split-second updates to a CD-7 digital dash just behind a deep dish Nardi steering wheel. The dash and center stack are really the only items that remain after the sedan’s drift-ready makeover.
If you’re the type that likes to keep a tally on cost and man hours, Mao tells us that building this car in-house, at his shop, with the help of his friend Joshua Sher of Car-Bar Fab and without any sort of sponsorship assistance ran well into the six-figures. Conservatively, he estimates over 1,000 hours of hands-on work applied to the Chaser.
“Pretty much everything has been touched and since it’s older, there aren’t a lot of parts easily obtainable or still being made,” he tells us. “I have parts from a Lexus LS400, LS430, GS300, GS350, IS300, Supra, Rav4, Scion FRS, etc. on this car.” His sedan obsession seems to be under control now, but chances are, Adam Mao will dig into another four-door project in the future. For now, weekend drift days, the occasional meet, and even a car show like Wekfest, where he took home “Car of the Festival” honors, are all part of enjoying his hard work.
1998 Toyota Chaser Tourer V
Engine 2JZ VVT-i block, 1JZ VVTi head; Cometic 1.8mm head gasket; billet engine girdle; CNC Stage 3 port/polish w/dimpling; Wiseco 10:1 heavy-duty pistons; BC Pro Series rods; King Race XP main/rod/thrust bearings; ARP head studs, main studs, rod bolts; custom CNC oil pump; BC 272 cams, 1mm over-sized valves, titanium retainers, valve springs; Supertech shimless buckets; Ferrea valve stem seals; Garrett Gen 2 GTX3584RS T4 divided; Future Fabrication twin scroll turbo manifold; dual wastegate dump tubes from dual 40mm TurboSmart waste gates, 50mm blow-off valve; Suprastore intake manifold; Spoolin Performance intercooler piping, 3-to-4-inch down pipe; Treadstone Performance 3.5-inch intercooler; P2M aluminum intercooler clamps; Racetune billet A/C delete bracket; Driftmotion billet oil filter adapter, power steering reservoir, P/S cooler; DC Power 270amp JZ alternator; KRC power steering Pro Pump; Rad Industries fuel pump kit; Koyo Rad radiator, oil cooler; Improved Racing oil thermostat; Odyssey Fab solid engine mounts; Tweak’d Performance harness w/bulkhead; Injector Dynamics IDX1700; Improved Racing E85 fuel line, fittings; Radium Engineering surge tank; dual AEM 400lph E85 fuel pump, 320lph lift pump, fuel pressure regulator, fuel filter, air temp, oil pressure, map, oil temp, boost, fuel pressure, 02 wideband sensors, Infinity 6 engine management; MSD LQ9 ignition coils; MAP ignition coil brackets; GReddy spark plugs, magnetic drain plug; Chase Bays overflow tank
Power 984whp/796tq @ 35PSI
Drivetrain GForce GSR2 4-speed Topshift Dogbox; ACT XT triple-disc clutch kit; RTS bellhousing; Driftmotion custom 3.5-inch aluminum driveshaft; Toyota Supra rear axle shaft assembly; Tomei 2-way LSD; Tilton clutch slave cylinder; Wilwood clutch master assembly; ClutchMaster delay valve; custom stainless clutch lines, transmission mount bracket; SPC polyurethane transmission mount; Super Spec solid differential mount
Suspension KBEE coil overs (16kg/10kg); TRD front/rear sway bars, front under brace; FIGS aluminum steering rack bushing; Super Spec front caster arm, angle kit; Serial999 front upper control arm; custom 25mm extended lower control arm; Super Spec rear toe arm, rear traction arm, rear lower control arm; ZZXZ rear upper control arm; Odyssey Fab subframe reinforcement plates; Serial Nine solid rear subframe bushings
Brakes Project Mu front big brake kit w/custom brackets, stailess lines; Parts Shop Max dual rear calipers; Wilwood brake master assembly; Chase Bays brake booster delete; custom stainless -3AN brake lines, rear brake caliper brackets
Wheels & Tires Work CR2P 19×9 -18 front, 19×11 -43 rear; Federal RS-RR 235/35 front, 265/30 rear
Exterior East Bay Collision paint and body work, 2022 Range Rover British Racing Green; Car Modify Wonder Shadow body kit, vented hood; DMax hood pins, corner lights; Origin carbon fiber roof spoiler, rear 50mm widebody, carbon front side side splitters; custom carbon fiber side and rear extensions; BCL carbon fiber low trunk mount 1850mm wing; custom CNC low mount wing stand; Custom carbon fiber aero side mirrors, JDM Kazama-style grill; Raptor bed liner under-chassis coating; SkotyChops custom quarter-to-bumper extensions; WorxCustom extended widebody +25mm
*engine bay, interior, and roll cage painted by Garage Works
Interior Sparco Rev2 seats x4, 4-point harnesses x4; AEM CD-7 digital dash; Nardi 350mm leather deep corn steering wheel; ASD hydraulic e-brake; custom hydraulic stainless e-brake lines; D-Max style floor mats; Car-Bar Fab 8-point roll cage, transmission tunnel cover, rear bucket seat mounts
Thank You Car-Bar Fab Joshua Sher; Garage Works Linh Nguyen; Spoolin Performance Philip Yeung; East Bay Collision Freed Ahmadyar; WorxKustomz Jesse; Skoty Chops Skoty; BlackTrax Jei Chang
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