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I painted the intake manifold, valve covers, cam covers, and the Aristo strut bar.
This was a pain. It’s not like stripping a Mercedes V8 from the same period where everything comes off as once piece. It is 100x easier to pull the upper manifold by disconnecting the vacuum actuated valve on the back of the manifold. It is 3 small bolts, and comes off as a unit, be careful with the vacuum line attached to the bottom and don’t forget it. It won’t close the 8 throttle valves and you’ll lose low end torque below 4k RPM. Leaning over the bumper and fenders was fatiguing. There were tons of vacuum hoses, bolts, and plastic connectors. There was little room, and dirt always getting everywhere. Pulling the upper manifold kept me constantly cleaning up there, and pulling the valve covers got tons of dirt in the heads. I had to pull out a lot of stuff with needle nose pliers. I went through 2.5 rolls of shop towels. Inside the cam covers were gross.
I taped off everything as carefully as I could. I taped off all vacuum connectors. I threaded bolts into everything I could, and then wrapped the bolts with tape. This prevented me from getting paint into bolt holes, and not painting the bolts. I used slightly more primer on the intake manifold, and was the only piece where I wet sanded after priming because it was more textured or cast looking than the other pieces. I wanted it to look smoother when painted, and it definitely helped. When bolting everything back on, torqueing the bolts and nuts would cause the paint to chip. Other dings happen too, of course. So I spray painted in a small container, making a pool of the black paint and used a brush to touch up all areas.
Almost all of the shrink tubing had broken off all the connectors and I got rid of all of it. I wrapped every exposed wire set carefully with the best and my favorite electrical tape, 3M Super 33. It is extremely sticky, thin, and flexible. I think I taped probably 25+ wire bundles and it looks nice close up. The black tape blends in more with the black paint theme.
Here is where things got interesting for me. All of this was heavy inspiration from an Aston Martin I drove, and various Maserati engine bays. They all have no engine covers, look elegant, sporty, and have the brand logo somewhere on the engine. Astons have them on the manifold, which wouldn’t be easily possible here. The Maseratis however, have the logo more so near the throttle body. Looking at the 1UZFE, I knew this was possible. I took off the metal idle air throttle service plate, and sanded it down. It is a bronze color, but I did polish it out to a mirror shine. But I knocked it down again with 600 grit for the next prep.
I printed out an appropriately sized “L” logo and cut the positive out with a knife. I then taped it to my sticky vinyl sheets and cut out a negative “L” but saved the positive as well for later. I had experience from this process before many times, and with my brakes. I created my own stencils from “L” logo and “LEXUS” stickers from eBay, but wanted them spray painted on the calipers instead of stickers, so I did just that. Anyways, I placed the stencil on the throttle service plate and carefully taped off everything else. I started to etch it using the Chris Fix method on youtube, using a salt solution, a car battery jumper, some alligator clips, and a lot of Q-tips. The “L” logo was now recessed, and I painted it with self-etching primer, and then white engine enamel. I waited 24 hours, and put the positive stencil to cover the “L” logo, and painted the back ground with self-etching primer, and black engine enamel. This was all extremely nerve racking because I really wanted this, and spares are not sold by the dealer or online. The metal gasket on the bottom broke trying to pry it off the plate, so I just traced it onto gasket maker material and made a new one.
I also unbolted all the bracket hard ware that held the engine cover on, except one that was welded to the throttle cable bracket. It looked odd to me, so I hooked a ground wire to it and ran it to the fire wall very carefully to make it look like the stud is there for something. It looks all very well thought out, and like there was never supposed to be an engine cover.
There was a slight problem though, the TPS sensor wires run across on the throttle body in green conduit that covers up the plate slightly. I wanted to route it underneath the throttle body. To do so, I had to simply cut off about 6” of conduit because it wouldn’t fit with it on, and wrapped it twice very thick with electrical tape and re-routed it. The problem now, is there were two brackets that the plastic clips holding the conduit clipped into. Luckily, you can remove both of them, well, sort of. The first one you can unscrew. The second one, you can unscrew, but I cut the bracket part off. Looks like there was never a wire routed there. The result looks amazing, and clean.
The last note-worthy mod was the air intake. I always loved the sound of aftermarket cold air intakes, but not their looks. The K&N kind of appealed to me, because it looks somewhat stock with the black color and heat shield. I wanted an Aston Martin or Maserati style air intake hose with no resonators, and stock looking air boxes. The problem I had was my resonator box covered the passenger side painted valve covers, and a lot of that side’s nice new features. I did mod that Helmholtz box for more noise, but I like the noise and looks of this new one better. I cut the resonator box off, and cut a flat piece from the box to epoxy in its’ place. Before the plastic weld epoxy though, I cut all three vacuum fittings off the box, and press fit them into the plate. It was surprising because the smallest, ¼” fitting was metal. Now that’s quality, making the smallest most breakable fitting a metal one! I then bought some wiper fluid hose in 3/8” and 7/16” which I did heat test with burning metal as well as a torch. They are extremely heat resistant, cheaper than fuel line which kinks easier, and easier to stretch over the fittings. I used every stock hose clamp and even a heat cover for one of the lines. I did have to bend some of the hose clamped tighter with pliers before installing them back, but they look the same, just tighter. Because 2 bolts held in the stock resonator, there were now two holes in the passenger valve cover. I cut about ¾ off of each bolt, and cut the metal washers off each one, and screwed them back in. It just looks like they are holding in the valve cover, or at least, are meant to be there. The air box housing the air filter is also cut open tastefully in a spot that is pointed towards cool air in the fender. The rest of the closed box blocks heat from this area.
I also painted all the interior wood gloss black with a clear coat over it. I wet sanded the clear coat from 1000, 1500, 2000, 3000 grit, compound, and polish to get the orange peel out.
Here is my current mod list: Black Interior, Black Wood Panels, 01+ Black Steering Wheel/Cluster Bezel/Compass Mirror. Clear Side Markers. Flat Black Upper and Lower Grill/Chin Lip/Rear Bumper Cutout. OEM Spoiler, Pioneer Radio/Audio Jack Mod/Heated Seats/No navigation. 18” Chrome IS350 Wheels. 1” Eibach Drop. Steering Rack Nut Tightened, Battle Version Solid Bushings, Sport Design Steering ECU. 30mm/20mm Sway Bars with ISF End Links. Poly Caster Arm Bushings. Supra TT Brakes, all 4 calipers are G2 Gloss Black with my stenciled “L” and “LEXUS” spray painted white instead of stickers. Painted Rotor Hats. Gloss Black Intake Manifold, Valve Covers, Cam Covers and Aristo Strut Bar shoulders where the center is Silver. Custom Etched and Painted “L” Logo Throttle Body Plate. Custom modded airbox with K&N drop-in and helm holtz delete. PPE Ceramic Coated Headers, Stainless Full Exhaust with X pipe, and stock resonators. Apexi Neo with a Boomslang Harness. Some LEDs, OEM HID Headlights w/ OEM Yellow Fogs. Aristo 3.769 LSD, and Michelin Pilot Super Sport Tires. Flip Key.
Future: I should have a OEM re-stalled 2800 RPM torque converter installed within the next 3 weeks. Aluminum Stereo *****, I already have two styles picked out that will fit.
If I could do things over with the exhaust, I would have just deleted the stock resonators, and third cat. Then placed vacuum actuated valves at the end, to open above 4k RPM or atmospheric pressure, to do what Aston Martin, and many other brands do. I have a diagram at the bottom what this looks like. I might do this eventually.
I also would maybe like to have a sound tube/diaphragm going into the cabin, to give extra sound. The LFA does this, in three tones, Bass, treble, and mid-range baffles. The Toyota GT86 also does this, into the foot well although a lot of people tend to plug that hole because of that engine’s noise. The Fiesta and Focus ST, as well as newer Porsche 911 and Panamera GTS do this too. Unfortunately, some brands got carried away and started to do electronically through the speakers with fake engine noises.
The newer F-sports just have the sound tubes in the engine bay, pointed up top and towards the cabin which might be a better option than cutting into the firewall.
Thank you! I made two videos, one is closer to the intake than the other. My exhaust is somewhat quiet, which is kind of good because you can hear the intake more.
At the same time, I feel like a louder exhaust would perhaps bring out some frequencies of the intake that a quiet one wouldn't. I have the same battle with the nice stealth-esque sound with minimal drone but miss the loud mean sound with more drone in previous exhausts I had.
Damn that sounds awesome. I will definitely be doing that to my engine.
I've also been thinking on the cabin intake noise mod. Theoretically, you could just run a hose from inside the cabin to the airbox, below the filter, right?
I had an idea: You say the intake resonator works as a helmholtz chamber. Would running a tube from the resonator in just the right spot work to both disable the cancellation effect AND pipe the noise into the cabin?
Thanks again man! It's actually not that difficult to do, just time consuming. I used dremel cut off wheels for everything except a step-drill bit to press fit the 3 vacuum fittings in the custom cut plate.
Yes, the thickness of the hose and material will determine loudness as well. As I read more about these, the sound tubes usually do not pass air, but rather frequencies. The pipes themselves have a diaphragm type device in them that resonate and transmit sound waves into the cabin. This makes sense with the LFA now. I know they did bass, treble, and midrange frequencies seperately into the cabin. If you tune each section with different tubing lengths, diaphragm opening-tolerances, and other resonators, you can do this exactly.
The only way to easily route it to the cabin would be to cute a hole above the grommet near the battery, and this would place it behind the glovebox. I would feel like this would violate the car though, although people have done worse by cutting even larger holes into the fender frame when doing cold air intakes.
I don't think attaching a sound tube to the stock resonator would be that loud or effective. There is so much chamber space in that stock helmholtz resonator and it's job is to cancel noise. A lot of sound waves bounce around there, and is more restricted in air flow. More pressure waves would hit the diaphragm in the sound tube if it is connect straight of the intake pipe in it's own tube. Every manufacturer seems to do this as well.
I'm thinking a diaphragm will be the way to go so it doesn't just sound like a bunch of suction. Sourcing the diaphragm from the Mustang 5.0 would be the best bet probably.
I think you're right, I'm sure all the manufacturers tried both ways and all seemed to settle on the diaphragm design. The mustangs/brz are by far the cheapest and easiest to source on eBay as of now.
Here's a list of cars that have intake sound tubes to the cabin: LFA, Toyota GT86/Scion FRS/Subaru BRZ, Fiesta/Focus ST, Mini Cooper, 2015 Porsche 911, Panamera GTS, Hyundai Genesis, 5.0 Coyote Mustangs, and 2016 Camaro SS.
I finally installed the high stall torque converter. I rented my friend's shop at Uwrenchit Garage here in Jacksonville, FL where I do all of my work. I had a few complications, but got it done. So I didn't have any down time, I bought an OEM converter here on the forums and sent it to Performance Torque Converter of Texas in Kennedale. I asked for something more agressive towards 3,000 RPM and it flashes literally perfect to that number on the tach if I roll into it. They did an amazing job! JD is very helpful in answering questions, quick response times, quick turn around time, and great price. If I get agressive and smash the pedal, it goes to 4,000 RPM and spins the tires. If I do the same with Traction Control off, I can do what seems like an endless burnout, but I swear I can feel the LSD working and keeping me from going completely sideways. It jumps almost instantly to 40mph, and pulls hard to 80mph. Where as before, it felt like I was launching from 0-20mph, and then to 60mph.
I love this mod, it makes this car feel more like a sports car or lighter, but I am noticing the lazy shifts are the one weakness. Next week I will be the adjusting the valve body line pressure and shimming the pressure accumulators for firmer and faster shifts.
I also installed a Hayden 678 Transcooler. I used: 6ft of 3/8" trans cooler hose part number 50280 from Autozone, and 2x 5/8" spring hose clamps, 2x 5/8" rubber grommets, and a long piece of aluminum from Ace Hardware. The rubber grommets were an idea I read on here, that house the lines in a plastic shield below the radiator. A 7/8" hole fit the grommets perfect and used some silicone grease to slide the hose through. I used a drill press, cut off dremel, hammer, and vice to cut and bend 4x aluminum brackets. I used all four factory frame bolts to hold the brackets to the cooler, no drilling in the car's frame. Two bolts were factory radiator supports, one bolt was for the hood latch, and the fourth was for the lower middle frame support from the bumper to bottom. I did have to bend the upper horn bracket slightly towards the front of the car maybe about half an inch. The cooler is stiff and can not be moved to touch the radiator or the frame.
I also removed the "ECT PWR" and "SNOW" dash indicator bulbs. I don't like having dash indicator lights on at all, and it is a much cleaner look. I can put them in either mode when ever I want, and also drive less guilty and stealthy with PWR on, as well as in SNOW mode without as much shame! I thought people might say "Well how will you know when it is on or not or if you forget?" Well, the PWR button stays depressed fowards, so you can know by just looking down or feeling with your finger. SNOW does not stay depressed, but all you have to do to reset it if you forget is to rock it to PWR, and then press SNOW, it works everytime. You just check by hammering the throttle. It will not downshift in SNOW, and only shift at 3K RPMs. The PWR and SNOW indicators words on the dash also just looked very dated and 90's as well.
I also removed the "ECT PWR" and "SNOW" dash indicator bulbs. I don't like having dash indicator lights on at all, and it is a much cleaner look. I can put them in either mode when ever I want, and also drive less guilty and stealthy with PWR on, as well as in SNOW mode without as much shame! I thought people might say "Well how will you know when it is on or not or if you forget?" Well, the PWR button stays depressed fowards, so you can know by just looking down or feeling with your finger. SNOW does not stay depressed, but all you have to do to reset it if you forget is to rock it to PWR, and then press SNOW, it works everytime. You just check by hammering the throttle. It will not downshift in SNOW, and only shift at 3K RPMs. The PWR and SNOW indicators words on the dash also just looked very dated and 90's as well.
You might verify this but im 99% sure the features turn off every time you turn the car off... so you would have to click them on every time you start the car up
Snow mode turns off because it is a momentary relay activated switch but sport mode stays on even if power is cut on and off when the car is turned off and on.
I usually turn Power mode off anyways when I park the car. I dont put it back till the cars temps are up.
I do have to say, I drove a total round trip of 5 miles today and with the trans cooler it took till the last half mile to get to just below half of the coolant temp gauge. An unexpected but awesome surprise. The trans is much cooler, and is definitely helping with the engine temps as well.
I will also make all those trans cooler brackets black
Snow mode turns off because it is a momentary relay activated switch but sport mode stays on even if power is cut on and off when the car is turned off and on.
I usually turn Power mode off anyways when I park the car. I dont put it back till the cars temps are up.
I do have to say, I drove a total round trip of 5 miles today and with the trans cooler it took till the last half mile to get to just below half of the coolant temp gauge. An unexpected but awesome surprise. The trans is much cooler, and is definitely helping with the engine temps as well.
I will also make all those trans cooler brackets black
you can leave Power Mode on all the time. The computer keeps the engine and transmission in a less-aggressive mapping until the needle gets about 1/4 way up the gauge. I taped over my Power light and it stays on all the time. Doesn't hurt it in any way.
So youre saying even in power mode it wont down shift to the lowest possible gear at full throttle or hold max RPMs longer untill it is warmed up. That actually does make sense. Thats funny we both have a similar mind set when it comes to hiding that power light
03-16-17, 11:19 PM
