1999sc300

I've seen a lot of awesome SC build threads here on CL and got inspired to start my own. Picked up this '99 SC300 back in July that I found on craigslist. My brother and I towed it home with his '94 Ford Ranger only because we had to get it from NY to MA and it seemed like it was the most legal way haha. Those of you who are familiar with Ford Rangers at all know how underpowered they are, so imagine towing another car with it... lol. We made it home just fine with no problems though.







It had 194k on it when I bought it, but still runs and drives like it's brand new. Aside from needing a new battery, it only needed a little work to pass inspection in MA. I had to get rid of the HID's the previous owner installed (the only mod done to the car when I bought it), fix the third brake light because some of the bulbs were out, and fix a tiny exhaust leak. I ended up replacing the spoiler with a 98-02 Honda Accord coupe to fix the third brake light issue because I like the look of that spoiler on these cars, so I figured now would be a good chance to take care of that.



Here's where I'm at now. Since getting it on the road, I got it tinted with 20% in the rear, 35% on the front windows (trying to keep it somewhat legal for MA), made some clear side markers, restored the headlights and foglights by wet sanding & clear coating, and recently got some wheels - Konig SSM's, 18x9 rear, 18x8 front. Really just all cosmetic enhancements. It's still on stock suspension now, but I have plans for lowering springs later on. Just waiting on more parts to arrive because I'm going to do suspension and brake upgrades as well as some of the control arm bushings that are pretty shot... and take care of all of that at the same time.



So, as of now here are some of my plans for this car:

-Suspension upgrades
-LS400 brake upgrade
-R154 or CD009 swap
-Some sort of LSD swap
-NA-T (eventually)

But the main goal is to end up with an SC that retains a lot of the stock luxury/comfort features with a modern sports car feel in other aspects. And gain some power later on

2jJecht

Clean pick up! The little ford put in some work.How is the tan interior? What are you trying to make as a phase one power goal, for when you start to throw performance at it?

1999sc300

Most of the interior is fine; just the driver's seat, steering wheel, and e brake are worn. When I first bought this car I wanted to eventually do a black interior swap, so it didn't matter to me. But I think I may just clean up the tan interior at some point and worry about other upgrades for now. I'm going to do a lot of other work first before going for more power, but I'm thinking when I eventually go turbo I'm hoping for somewhere between 300-350whp.

1999sc300

Test fitted the LS400 brakes today, I wanted to document what had to be modified to fit them in my case for anyone who is interested in doing this upgrade. (https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sus...how-to-do.html)

I personally wanted to keep the dust shield, so I made some small cuts that allowed me to straighten the bends around the edge and angle them differently to accommodate the larger rotor. I also had to cut the bottom piece you see me holding in place to fit the caliper.



Here's how much filing I had to do on the caliper itself around the top bolt hole so it would fit properly.



After that, it bolts right in. Pretty cool how simple this mod is.



This is a picture of the other side, but here's how it looked with my wheels. The main reason I wanted to do this test fit was to make sure my wheels would clear the larger brakes. There's plenty of clearance thankfully



I've still gotta do some more suspension work (hopefully can get it done in the next few days) and I want to paint these calipers as well before actually putting them in. But the test fit was successful and that's all that matters for now!

1999sc300

I assembled the MKIV Supra struts with the Tanabe GF210 Lowering Springs, and got some polyurethane bushings installed to fix my front lower and rear upper control arms which were shot and made the car ride poorly.



I also rebuilt the LS400 calipers so they're nice and fresh, and painted them red (of course lol) and got some nice Lexus decals on there as well.



Putting it all back together... I may do something other than the cut dust shield later on because it looks very hacky but I still wanted somewhat of a dust shield still there. But this is okay for now.



Here's how it sits now:



The springs will settle and it will get a touch lower of course, but I'm very happy with the ride height and quality now. It's noticeably lower, but not stanced by any means lol. It rides much more firm, but not in a bad way at all. It feels a lot more sporty. So far I haven't had any tire rubbing issues that I've noticed, but I may do some minor fender rolling up front later on just so I can have peace of mind. But otherwise, I'm very happy with the ride quality and the height!

Unfortunately, I seem to have a problem with my brake master cylinder, as the brake feel is still about the same as before. I didn't think the stock brakes were very good to begin with, and I figured that's just how they were. Looking back now I think it had this problem before and I just didn't know because the brakes always felt like that. So as of right now I can't tell how the LS400 calipers improved the braking feel, but as soon as I can I will replace the master cylinder (or whatever the problem is).

BiGEZ

iTrader: (24)

There always seems to a soft spongy feel after doing the LS400 calipers swap but you should get a stronger bite when braking. Try bleeding the brake lines again to see if that helps.
I am doing the GS350 (08-12) front calipers upgrade in a bit. They are bigger than the LS400 and Supra TT brakes. Waiting on my brackets.

1999sc300

Trust me, I've done it. I bled the system in the correct order several times. It took a couple tries to get all of the air out and the pedal feel is still pretty bad. I realized there was a leak between the master cylinder and brake booster later on and it seems like all signs point to the master cylinder.