Ali SC3's "Workin on it" thread
11-18-15, 10:29 AM
#1
Ali SC3's "Workin on it" thread
Hi CL, I have been on the forum for a while now and members keep asking me where my build thread is... the answer is that I started building my SC way before there was a build thread section or before they were popular, so bits and pieces of my cars progress are all spread out in random places on the forum. I figured its time to pull together all of what I can find and have a place to document the future stuff I do to the SC, as to me its never going to be done, its always a Work in progress.
*edit* As alot of you may have noticed, I have a car addiction.. so from time to time I will post stuff here that is going on with my other projects, feel free to skip those and check out the SC stuff, or use that little back button on the top left of your browser
The journey from the very beginning...
My whole SC addiction started with the one on the right, it was my first SC300...
It was a 95 renaissance red with black interior (automatic), man I loved that black interior when I had that car but hated the auto trans, I searched for trans swaps etc.. then after a year of going back and forth I decided to find a manual sc300, and I bought the one on the left, It was a 95 rennaissance red with tan tinerior but this one was a 5 speed
I fell in love on the test drive and even though I hadn't sold the first one, I had to have the 5 speed.
They looked so good together both completely stock
I had a history of getting wingless cars (my 240sx was an original wingless car also), so its fitting the 5spd was wingless (the auto had a wing)'
one of my first mods cause wheels are great (I was young and didn't know much about proper offsets so take it easy on me lol)
then of course some tanabe nf210 lowering springs and shocks, well cause it was like a 4x4 in the pic above, much better now
A shot from Carlisle performance and style in 2008 with the NELOC crew, parked next to JDMmuscle. If you are ever in the northeast you must attend a NELOC meet, they are good people, had loads of fun times
the early arrivers and a shot of the crew hanging out
I love seeing so many SC's
If you ever wondered where my Sig pic came from, it was courtesy of another member in the Caravan up to Carlisle, one of my FAV Caravans.
Caught me using my blinker lol
My next modification was one of my favorites, a 2003 gs300 steering wheel.
totally transforms the look and feel of the car, everyone should move to a 3 spoke wheel.
Next was a couple small things, tape hack to have an aux input on the stock stereo, and also a kicker sub on the rear deck. I am an electrical guy at heart, so I can't have stock sound.
See the next posts for the rest of the progression.
*edit* As alot of you may have noticed, I have a car addiction.. so from time to time I will post stuff here that is going on with my other projects, feel free to skip those and check out the SC stuff, or use that little back button on the top left of your browser
The journey from the very beginning...
My whole SC addiction started with the one on the right, it was my first SC300...
It was a 95 renaissance red with black interior (automatic), man I loved that black interior when I had that car but hated the auto trans, I searched for trans swaps etc.. then after a year of going back and forth I decided to find a manual sc300, and I bought the one on the left, It was a 95 rennaissance red with tan tinerior but this one was a 5 speed
I fell in love on the test drive and even though I hadn't sold the first one, I had to have the 5 speed.They looked so good together both completely stock
I had a history of getting wingless cars (my 240sx was an original wingless car also), so its fitting the 5spd was wingless (the auto had a wing)'
one of my first mods cause wheels are great (I was young and didn't know much about proper offsets so take it easy on me lol)
then of course some tanabe nf210 lowering springs and shocks, well cause it was like a 4x4 in the pic above, much better now
A shot from Carlisle performance and style in 2008 with the NELOC crew, parked next to JDMmuscle. If you are ever in the northeast you must attend a NELOC meet, they are good people, had loads of fun times
the early arrivers and a shot of the crew hanging out
I love seeing so many SC's
If you ever wondered where my Sig pic came from, it was courtesy of another member in the Caravan up to Carlisle, one of my FAV Caravans.
Caught me using my blinker lol
My next modification was one of my favorites, a 2003 gs300 steering wheel.
totally transforms the look and feel of the car, everyone should move to a 3 spoke wheel.
Next was a couple small things, tape hack to have an aux input on the stock stereo, and also a kicker sub on the rear deck. I am an electrical guy at heart, so I can't have stock sound.
See the next posts for the rest of the progression.
Last edited by Ali SC3; 09-13-16 at 09:50 AM.
11-18-15, 10:29 AM
#2
So it was around that time that "IT" happened.... I got the "boost bug" from standing around too many 2jzgte swaps.
I just got my car and engine, no way I was swapping it, decided to turn a few wrenches and got myself an XS power kit, which was very cool at the time lol.
ended up with a few more gauges and a big front mount, and my "first" na-t setup
one of my first videos of the setup
I was pretty happy with it at the time, but I got tired of the stock exhaust and I had one exhaust made up by a shop that just came out terrible, eventually got rid of all that and found a Zees full catback exhaust from Japan for a Soarer for sale in DC from a guy who had a GTE swap and was parting out his SC, lucked out as I have never seen another one for sale and bolted that bad boy on (with the wrong gaskets lol, you can't find 80mm 2 bolt gaskets at the auto store
This is a picture of when I went to a same side intercooler setup, I pretty much cannot leave the car alone even if something works gotta keep changing it =)
I think it was around this time when I had an issue with the timing belt getting a little old and frayed, so my buddy Oumar convinced me to do the whole thing TT headgasket, timing belt, seals, WP, the works.
I had actually been driving around for almost a year at stock compression and 10 psi and the engine was A ok with that, but figured to run more boost later TT gasket was the way to go.
Me and Oumar became friends pretty quickly when we met at a meet he was the only other person I knew that worked on the car they were standing next to, and thats how I roll as well so we had alot to talk about and plenty of tips and tricks to share. I remember one morning we were going to hang out and I told him I could wire him up some coilpacks and then did it on his build cause I'm an electrical guy and I just wanted to help him make more power (I actually enjoy wiring to a certain degree), so when it came time that I needed a hand on my car, he was the first one to offer me some help, will never forget that.
from the 1 day 2jzge overhaul thread:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...-overhaul.html
That was a long day, towards the end I was thinking we weren't going to made it, but we did before the sun came up and even got a test ride in.
It was around that time I had already switched to AEM standalone and some rx7 550's, and had just done vvti coils on my own.
check out the next post for more I have exceeded the pic count on this post apparently
I just got my car and engine, no way I was swapping it, decided to turn a few wrenches and got myself an XS power kit, which was very cool at the time lol.
ended up with a few more gauges and a big front mount, and my "first" na-t setup
one of my first videos of the setup
I was pretty happy with it at the time, but I got tired of the stock exhaust and I had one exhaust made up by a shop that just came out terrible, eventually got rid of all that and found a Zees full catback exhaust from Japan for a Soarer for sale in DC from a guy who had a GTE swap and was parting out his SC, lucked out as I have never seen another one for sale and bolted that bad boy on (with the wrong gaskets lol, you can't find 80mm 2 bolt gaskets at the auto store
This is a picture of when I went to a same side intercooler setup, I pretty much cannot leave the car alone even if something works gotta keep changing it =)
I think it was around this time when I had an issue with the timing belt getting a little old and frayed, so my buddy Oumar convinced me to do the whole thing TT headgasket, timing belt, seals, WP, the works.
I had actually been driving around for almost a year at stock compression and 10 psi and the engine was A ok with that, but figured to run more boost later TT gasket was the way to go.
Me and Oumar became friends pretty quickly when we met at a meet he was the only other person I knew that worked on the car they were standing next to, and thats how I roll as well so we had alot to talk about and plenty of tips and tricks to share. I remember one morning we were going to hang out and I told him I could wire him up some coilpacks and then did it on his build cause I'm an electrical guy and I just wanted to help him make more power (I actually enjoy wiring to a certain degree), so when it came time that I needed a hand on my car, he was the first one to offer me some help, will never forget that.
from the 1 day 2jzge overhaul thread:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...-overhaul.html
Parts:
TT Motor mounts
TT Cylinder Headgasket
Arp Headstuds
Timing Belt
Tensioner assy
Idler pulley
Cam seals x(2)
Crank seal
Gasket waterpump
Water pump
Valve cover Gaskets
Distributor O-ring (until I go coil on plug very soon)
Starter rebuild kit (contacts were worn down).
TT Motor mounts
TT Cylinder Headgasket
Arp Headstuds
Timing Belt
Tensioner assy
Idler pulley
Cam seals x(2)
Crank seal
Gasket waterpump
Water pump
Valve cover Gaskets
Distributor O-ring (until I go coil on plug very soon)
Starter rebuild kit (contacts were worn down).
It was around that time I had already switched to AEM standalone and some rx7 550's, and had just done vvti coils on my own.
check out the next post for more I have exceeded the pic count on this post apparently
Last edited by Ali SC3; 11-18-15 at 01:50 PM.
11-18-15, 10:30 AM
#3
these might look familiar from the 7m cps distributor delete thread
this is what my first coilpack harness looked like
not too shabby with no distributor
I almost forgot that somewhere around this time I bought another SC300, this time the classic green one and I think it was a '94.
This one had some issues to say the least.. lol. one day I found the rear caliper was only on with 1 of the 2 bolts
yeah not so good but got that all taken care of.
I got most of the way through restoring the interior on this one and then I sort of realized I had my fun with this one and sold it to someone in Maryland.
I had it more or less like this until I moved to Colorado. was tough to put my car in someone else's hand to go across the country. They did a good job though.
due to the altitude I had more issues with the AEM than I cared to figure out, so thats when I started down the tt ecu mod path, and to do that I thought at the time I had to use GTE coils, GTE ignitor, and of course an FFIM to fit the GTE coils, so my next project was the FFIM.
here was Version 1
funny thing was after I got it started and working with the GTE ecu, I reinstalled the vvti ignitor and coils and the car started and ran the same, what a bummer lol the whole reason I spent all that time on the FFIM was to clear gte coils, oh well live and learn. I still liked the FFIM so not a total loss or anything.
A few more finishing touches at the time
In the Mile high city in its new home with some supra TT wheels I scored off a supra tt that needed more wheel which worked for both of us.
Of course there is the gte ecu thread that I made around then when I had figured it, not many pics of that stuff but do have a couple videos
This one is showing off my new gauge placement in the center vent and also how good the idle AFR's are on the TT ecu mod.
When you play hard, you are likely going to break some stuff, this should show the importance of installing a flex section on your downpipe, which I didn't do, and still haven't lol
Got it welded up by the hot rod exhaust shop around my area and the guy was so happy to weld on something different like a turbo manifold that he completely hooked it up and it went back on the car, still good to this day.
I know I should probably install a flex section, but the new weld isn't likely to break.
will continue adding more as I can find them =)
this is what my first coilpack harness looked like
not too shabby with no distributor
I almost forgot that somewhere around this time I bought another SC300, this time the classic green one and I think it was a '94.
This one had some issues to say the least.. lol. one day I found the rear caliper was only on with 1 of the 2 bolts
yeah not so good but got that all taken care of.I got most of the way through restoring the interior on this one and then I sort of realized I had my fun with this one and sold it to someone in Maryland.
I had it more or less like this until I moved to Colorado. was tough to put my car in someone else's hand to go across the country. They did a good job though.
due to the altitude I had more issues with the AEM than I cared to figure out, so thats when I started down the tt ecu mod path, and to do that I thought at the time I had to use GTE coils, GTE ignitor, and of course an FFIM to fit the GTE coils, so my next project was the FFIM.
here was Version 1
funny thing was after I got it started and working with the GTE ecu, I reinstalled the vvti ignitor and coils and the car started and ran the same, what a bummer lol the whole reason I spent all that time on the FFIM was to clear gte coils, oh well live and learn. I still liked the FFIM so not a total loss or anything.
A few more finishing touches at the time
In the Mile high city in its new home with some supra TT wheels I scored off a supra tt that needed more wheel which worked for both of us.
Of course there is the gte ecu thread that I made around then when I had figured it, not many pics of that stuff but do have a couple videos
This one is showing off my new gauge placement in the center vent and also how good the idle AFR's are on the TT ecu mod.
When you play hard, you are likely going to break some stuff, this should show the importance of installing a flex section on your downpipe, which I didn't do, and still haven't lol
Got it welded up by the hot rod exhaust shop around my area and the guy was so happy to weld on something different like a turbo manifold that he completely hooked it up and it went back on the car, still good to this day.
I know I should probably install a flex section, but the new weld isn't likely to break.
will continue adding more as I can find them =)
Last edited by Ali SC3; 11-18-15 at 01:51 PM.
11-18-15, 11:13 AM
#4
apparently I need another post to fit all this stuff in.
I did the LS400 brake and rotor conversion but I can't seem to find any pics, will add them if I can find some.
huge difference, and necessary mod with a turbo so you can stop properly again.
I played around with quite a few intake setups. some of you may remember my crazy ls400 throttle body attempt.
It actually worked quite well but I didn't quite like my IACV setup on it, I should have gotten one of those IACV weld on flanges welded to the EGR pipe part instead.
you need to shave the bottom like so for it to not make love to the valve cover, no problem I became like a surgeon with an angle grinder, dremel would have been too easy.
the size matched up so well with the size of the Y pipe. seriously felt the extra response when you tap the throttle on this thing.
much shorter than the stock setup
Ended up selling it later to someone on the forum, not sure if its still floating around somewhere, but wasn't that hard to make or copy if anyone wants to feel free I copied it more or less of the IS300 guys except they use the electronic ls430 throttle body.
After that I think I made my FFIM that I have on the car now.
Its a modified ebay one, that I cut off the front mustang flange, shortened it up to end closer to the first runner, and then had a q45 flange welded on, 2jzgte IACV flange, and 3x 1/4" NPT weld on bungs for vacuum stuff.
SC400 IACV on 2jzgte IACV flange
mockup on spare motor
and around this time thankfully they started making the billet distributor caps for the stock distributor, and it all came together nicely I think.
Also this time I took the extra time to lengthen my injector wires and tuck the harness under the lower runner so it looks cleaner. well worth the extra trouble.
this was at the yearly Colorado toyota lexus meet in castle rock this year, was fun but got so much sun burn need to take a canopy next time for real.
had a small first Colorado lexus owners club meet (started by yours truly) and of course toyotas are always welcome because racecar!
and a shot of the pair of mean machines at the end.. lol. The Sup on the right is Ali SC4's he used to have a nice SC400 back in the day as well.
I did the LS400 brake and rotor conversion but I can't seem to find any pics, will add them if I can find some.
huge difference, and necessary mod with a turbo so you can stop properly again.
I played around with quite a few intake setups. some of you may remember my crazy ls400 throttle body attempt.
It actually worked quite well but I didn't quite like my IACV setup on it, I should have gotten one of those IACV weld on flanges welded to the EGR pipe part instead.
you need to shave the bottom like so for it to not make love to the valve cover, no problem I became like a surgeon with an angle grinder, dremel would have been too easy.
the size matched up so well with the size of the Y pipe. seriously felt the extra response when you tap the throttle on this thing.
much shorter than the stock setup
Ended up selling it later to someone on the forum, not sure if its still floating around somewhere, but wasn't that hard to make or copy if anyone wants to feel free I copied it more or less of the IS300 guys except they use the electronic ls430 throttle body.
After that I think I made my FFIM that I have on the car now.
Its a modified ebay one, that I cut off the front mustang flange, shortened it up to end closer to the first runner, and then had a q45 flange welded on, 2jzgte IACV flange, and 3x 1/4" NPT weld on bungs for vacuum stuff.
SC400 IACV on 2jzgte IACV flange
mockup on spare motor
and around this time thankfully they started making the billet distributor caps for the stock distributor, and it all came together nicely I think.
Also this time I took the extra time to lengthen my injector wires and tuck the harness under the lower runner so it looks cleaner. well worth the extra trouble.
this was at the yearly Colorado toyota lexus meet in castle rock this year, was fun but got so much sun burn need to take a canopy next time for real.
had a small first Colorado lexus owners club meet (started by yours truly) and of course toyotas are always welcome because racecar!
and a shot of the pair of mean machines at the end.. lol. The Sup on the right is Ali SC4's he used to have a nice SC400 back in the day as well.
Last edited by Ali SC3; 11-18-15 at 01:57 PM.
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11-18-15, 02:14 PM
#8
Ali - if you are interested send me an email or text me. I know someone who is selling a 1997 sc300 5 speed (1 of 120) for $4500. I don't think the guy knows what he has. That will be a nice addition to your 5 speed. Am tempted to grab it but not interested in another project .
11-18-15, 02:21 PM
#9
Thanks guys figured it was about time to throw something together. Thanks for the heads up Gerrb that does sound very tempting I do really like those 97's but will have to pass for my sanity, it seems like the one SC I have takes up all my spare time just by itself. Since moving to colorado I also got the 4x4 bug, I am thinking 2016 or 2017 I might toy around with a 2jz toyota truck (maybe 1jz vvti), or a 1uzfe Fj40, still can't decide but thats only if I can free up some time or I just might find myself being a bachelor again 
11-23-15, 07:41 AM
#14
SG, street videos are a bit dangerous but maybe when the weather is warm again.
Thanks Steve, appreciate it.
T2d2, yes it did actually thanks for the nudge.
SCsexy, check out the regional section its always posted there ahead of time, and for some odd reason its usually fathers day weekend, can always use more SC's there and IS there are quite a few of those out always.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/mou...june-21-a.html
Thanks Steve, appreciate it.
T2d2, yes it did actually thanks for the nudge.
SCsexy, check out the regional section its always posted there ahead of time, and for some odd reason its usually fathers day weekend, can always use more SC's there and IS there are quite a few of those out always.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/mou...june-21-a.html
