L3xu5Junky

I have a 2003 IS 300 and absolutely love her. I'm young and don't exactly have a big wallet so I spend most of my days searching the forums to see what you guys have done (I'm a motorhead making close to minimum wage). I've been doing my research on building a custom turbo kit, but I only have about 2k to my name right now; so I thought, if I just go NA I could get BC 264s (stock GE internals), Megan racing headers (I know the O2 bungs have to be re-welded, but has anyone had trouble with it setting off any sensors?), and recently I've been thinking about a wet nitrous kit (I haven't found a good thread for nitrous kits yet). I'm also looking at new coilovers (Megan EZ street) to lower it just about 1-1.5". I got most of these parts from other threads here on the forum, but I was hoping some veterans could point me the right direction to start. I know it's kind of a broad question, but any advice would be greatly appreciated. I just want to build her fast, low, and on a budget until I can actually afford to get a decent turbo.

2002GGPIS3

Welcome, my advice is to just do some small mods for now, like intake, and maybe coils with some nice wheels. When you go turbo it can get really expensive, and it is not something you want to mess up. Good luck !

romycha1

iTrader: (3)

If you're limited on funds... I wouldn't start messing around with engine mods first.... not until you've got what you want to do planned out. Because you can easily start buying things that you don't need, or won't use for a long time.
With that being said... I'm sure just about everyone will agree with suspension. Megan coilovers aren't bad for the price, and a lot of members have them and like them.
But if you get a a decent suspension setup, i.e. coils and sways, the car will be like a different animal in regards to handling.
And if you have a 5 speed, pair that with a short-shifter, you'll have a fun ride through the twisties!

L3xu5Junky

Thanks for the tips, actually I bought it with Voxx Monza 19s a while back and they look great. All I've done really is throw on some tint, change out the stereo head unit, custom built the exhaust, painted the headlight housings ( saw that on the DIY thread), and just replaced a few parts under the hood. Pretty much everything I could do for cheap (ported out the intake manifold and cleaned the throttle body). I think I'm just going to lower it for now and save until I'm financial comfortable with the turbo. I understand it might be a lot of trouble, but I love a challenge

romycha1

iTrader: (3)

How familiar are you with building a turbo kit? Be prepared to spend $5k+

L3xu5Junky

Well I've read a TON of info on these forums. I've actually followed a lot of threads by JeffTsai and I don't think anybody would argue that he knows his stuff. I'm still learning a lot but I've come to understand around how much I'll be paying. I'm sure a lot of people would be embarrassed to say my dad helps me, but he is beyond qualified to teach considering a good % of the turbo manufacturers are directly his customers. I'm doing the research but he'll be helping me actually build it. Btw does anyone know where I could order some poly sway bar bushings for a good price? the OEMs are a bit soft and I think they're wearing out.

TobiasSing

Definitely start with suspension.. maybe a muffler, wheels, window tint. Throttle pedal cable spacer. Also check my.is, that's where the real IS300 activity is!

L3xu5Junky

I haven't heard TOO much about the throttle cable spacer helping performance, but from the little I know it just moves the torque curve. I don't think it actually creates power, it just moves the torque you have to different rpm. I'd be more than happy to be proved wrong if anybody has some data on it though. Thanks I'll keep an eye on my.is too

L3xu5Junky

Actually, after doing a little homework about it, I learned about some of the advantages of torque placement. I stumbled upon another thread that discussed it in more detail:

http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/forum...ead.php?t=2191