rat

There are a couple ls400 on craigslist for about a grand, i was wondering if it would be a good idea to buy one and rebuild or fix the engine and replace the use or worn parts. My two question are would the car be reliable and would it be expensive to maintain?

Bradster

Yes and yes

rat

More expensive then repairs on an na 1992 nissan 300zx?

Och

iTrader: (3)

Most parts on LS400 are stupid expensive, more expensive than newer 430 models.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

when purchased new, the above is partially true.
when purchasing new/used from well-known sources it isn't all that horrible. body parts for 95+ cars can get a little pricey though

nuron

Wait, what? Simply because the parts are out of production? rat, at least the engine bay should have a little more room than a 300ZX haha

rat

lol true. any idea which would be cheaper to maintain?

Och

iTrader: (3)

I'm not familiar with 300zx engine, but the 1UZ is the biggest cluster#### to work on, its a DIY nightmare. Everything is placed completely awkward, hard to access, and requires removing a lot of stuff to access anything else. And dont get me started with all the vacuum/coolant hoses.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

not much worse than any other rwd car to come out of japan in the 90s.

SH212

300zx SUCKS!! well to work on that is... I've been in the engine bay and you can reach **** in there...to replace timing belt dealer told us we have to remove the engine and get er done

19psi

haha try working on an audi.... it makes the LS look like a chevy from teh 70's...

seriously though, i dont think it's that bad, tons of room if you need it. that's just how modern cars are built. once you get over the fact it's not a 70's chevy, it's really easy. of course, i did work on audi's for a living, so anything else is simple to me.

is it hard to maintain? not really because very few things actually break. once the maintenance is up to date, you won't have to do much at all. it's cheap too if you do it all yoruself.

Och

iTrader: (3)

Luckily I've never worked on an Audi, but my GS430 is like a 70's chevy compared to the LS. They got rid of most of the useless coolant/vacuum lines, they got rid of the mechanical engine fan alltogether, they relocated the throttle body to the front of the engine so its easily accessible, they made the EGR system internal so that eliminates the cluster#### on top of the engine, they got rid of distributors/wires in favor of the much simpler and cleaner "coil on plug" system, and most improtantly, they adopted a single engine cover that is removed with two bolts, so that simpliefies things a lot. Oh yeah, and they moved the battery out of the way!!!

19psi

that's true, the newer ones are much cleaner.

3UZFTE

Nobody likes audi.... Anyways... I did exactly what the original post asked. I was crusing criagslist to find some Supra parts, but I always just try to find dirt cheap Lexus', and one day I did. About a mile from my house, a guy was selling one for $700, needed some work, but being a Toyota mechanic I stripped the early 1UZ down to the bone. Here's my link.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...bought-it.html

Now for the difference between the early 1UZ and the 1/3UZ VVTi... is night and day... I would more or less compare it to the likes of the legendary 350, and the LS1. Clearly it was a great engine, however it could be made better. The EGR system was theortically deleted as they can control the emission and valve overlapping with the ecu. The coil on plug technology wasn't around in 1989, that tech. has only come into play in commercial use in the last 10 years or so. And if you have priced out a VVTi motor, it is FAR more expensive to replace. a 3UZ on ebay is like 5 or 6 grand, and early 1UZ is around $650. Much like the LS1, if it wasn't for the early years of points, distributors, carbs, etc. the technology wouldn't have been able to build off of that. The first small block chevy was built in 1955, and was a 265 ci. After years go by, they added an oil filter, increased the bore, stroke, oil flow, water circulation, and the engine just got to a point where it couldnt get better, so they started over using the old technology to build a new motor, and I think it is the same story for Toyota, but instead of 50 years of producing SBCs, theres about 20 years in the UZ family. As you can see, I am a fan of almost all motors, I build SBF, SBC, and now UZs, I drive my GS430 with the 3uz, but don't want to work on it, or beef it up, also try to take apart the VVTi mechanism in the camshafts, and replace the seal, it aint pretty. I bought a early LS400 for the 1uz so I could do just that, rip it apart, and beef it up or just put it back together, i'm not thrown off by a few nuts and bolts, wires and dizzys... because that's where it all started at.... Plus, I mean, how many times does one replace a starter in a UZ motor? What else goes bad on them, that doesn't go bad on other motors?

jeffls400

Great post 3UZFTE. I have enjoyed watching your teardown of the LS in the above linked thread.

I agree on the simplistic sophistication of the 1UZFE.