When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I recently sold my 2004 IS300 with a LS2 swap to fund this project. I spent 11 years as a technician for a Lexus dealership and have wanted an ISF since they came out years ago. I spotted this 2012 ISF on Copart and thought it would be a great project as my last car was pretty well sorted. My goal for the car is to rebuild it back to mostly stock and use it as a weekend and occasional HPDE car.
I listed my LS2 swapped IS300 on one of my Facebook groups to gauge interest and see what it might be worth. Some guy replied to the thread within a few minutes and he ended up buying the car. He flew in from Indiana to Richmond, VA, bought the car, and drove it 10.5 hours home. After that car was gone I felt like this ISF would be out of my reach financially. I had never purchased anything on Copart and ended up winning the bid. My old car sold on Friday, I won the auction for this ISF Monday, and by Wednesday that same week the car was sitting in my garage.
I tore it down that following weekend and I don't think the car is too bad, and is definitely fixable. I'll update the thread as I make progress. If you want to follow some videos I am shooting some videos of the progress over on my YouTube channel.
At this point in the build I was mostly waiting on parts. I have a buddy at work that is going to help me pull out all of the bent components.
Currently I have all of the interior back together and all of the seat belts/air bags that needed replacement finished up. I used a company called Safety Restore to rebuild the blown seat belts and SRS computer. I ended up getting a new clock spring, steering wheel air bag, and driver side knee air bag off of eBay. All of that is back together and finished up!
I have new suspension and a new wheel/tire. Once we pull the bent components I will install the new stuff and hopefully get the car rolling and aligned. After that my plan is to put new front/rear bumpers, fender, hood, and side skirt. I can get all of that stuff pretty cheap through work and will go with all new parts for that. Overall the project is moving along pretty quick!
Looking forward to this. Your IS300 sounds awesome. I’d have loved a chance at it. Let’s see some pics.
Yea, it was a pretty quick and hard decision to made. Hindsight - I'm glad I sold it. It went to the right buyer, but damn it was hard to watch it drive way. These are a few pictures. Not trying to spam my social media, but there are a lot of pictures of it and the build on my instagram @ls2_is.rva
Got the interior all finished up a few days ago. For some reason the upper part of the steering column cover is bent/warped so I'll need to replace that. Also it turns out the hood latch was broken when the knee air bag was deployed so that is on order as well. Other than that it is all finished. Luckily for me the previous owner already had the dash/door panels replaced under the ZLZ warranty last November.
The center console trim has a pretty long crack in the resin that goes from the cup holder all the way to the arm rest. I am going to repair that at some point and will post pictures of that process.
Also, turns out the valley plate is leaking.. yay.. I'll post some pictures of that repair as well as I will be doing that myself.
While your ISF is a totally different car than your LS2, you will love it. Mine is very similar to yours, just a 2013. I love the grey ISFs. Very classy looking car.
Getting a good center console from eBay or a junkyard is pretty easy. I've actually had to buy two of them because my kids have wrecked the slide mechanism on the console cover twice and Lexus doesn't sell the piece you actually need to fix that. Have to buy the whole unit. So I just find one in decent shape from any 2IS, pull the part I actually need and put my IS F cover on it. Piece of cake and usually less than $150 shipped.
Nice recovery! Do you know what frame rack it's going on to get pulled back into shape? Also, be sure to look that cast engine cradle over. The hit to the suspension looks minimal but with other loading factors it can induce fractures...
Nice recovery! Do you know what frame rack it's going on to get pulled back into shape? Also, be sure to look that cast engine cradle over. The hit to the suspension looks minimal but with other loading factors it can induce fractures...
GL!
Not sure the name of the rack, but my guy doing the work has been at our shop for over 20 years and is a pro. He did look at that and confirmed it was good to go. The subframe was something I was prepared to replace if needed, but so far so good. We will see when I get it on an alignment machine if it is actually bent, but so far it doesn't appear to need replacement.
The guy helping me out was able to get some work done on the car last weekend. He made that area that the wheel shoved into look WAY better than I was expecting. Basically I left it with him as "I just want it straight, it doesn't have to be pretty because its covered up", but he went and made it look great. Since these last pictures he smoothed out the areas and covered it with rubberized undercoating that is there from the factory. Also we found a seam in the fender well that separated. He was able to pull than back into place, weld it up, and seam seal around it. Also, he was able to get the old door to line up perfectly. I will still be replacing the door because the current one has some damage to it that I don't think is worth repairing. A new door only cost me about $400.
I will get it from work sometime in the next week or so, get the suspension replaced, and get it up on an alignment machine to make sure I can get it back into spec. The front apron around the wheel well still needs to be replaced, and that holds the bracket for the front of the front fender and headlight mounts. That placement has to be spot on to make sure all of the body panels line up. Also, if you look forward of the bottom of the front door, you can see two holes on the bottom of the body. That is where the lower bracket for the fender mounts up. My buddy was able to get this straightened out beautifully.
Also a small update - the right side exhaust tip was missing and the rear bumper was kind of jacked up. I was very surprised to find out how much these damn things are. I found a guy on one of the ISF Facebook groups selling some for $250 as a pair, but they were plasti-dipped. No biggie I thought, but when I got them they are in garbage condition and EVERY. SINGLE. BOLT is rusted and broken off. Literally all of them have to be drilled out. I was kind of pissed about this and let him know, but all I got was a "sorry man, I didn't realize that". Also, the plasti-dip is burned on there pretty good. I asked to send them back and get a refund, but never heard back. I was able to get the plasti-dip off with goo-gone remover and some polish, and the bolts are drilling out, its just much more work than I expected.
I really almost hate buying used stuff anymore for this very reason. Unless it’s a long trusted member of this forum, I pretty much have given up on used parts. I just relearned this lesson with some used seats that I bought. Being an honest person in a dishonest world gets old.
07-04-21, 08:17 AM
Resurrecting a 2012 Lexus ISF from the dead
