gs300cky

So I just bought my buddies ls400 with a 170k and a shot tranny for $500, it was mainly to help him out.
But now I'm looking to revamp it and get her going maybe turbo and tranny swap.... If anyone knows of any ideas please let me know. I'm not looking for anything crazy hard to do just hopefully straight forward. I'm wanting to look up w58 swap or maybe just use a tranny from a sc4 if that will be any better, but I'm still googling it all.

So far she is getting a couple dents pulled and plasti dip to a pearl white paint job or maybe a Black gold flake paint. The double din radio is done, engine rebuild and clean is done. CAI is being fitted as we speak. New wheels are being picked up (bbs mesh) unfortunely I hate these since everyone has them but it was cheap new leather seats will be getting done as well.
10% window tint is done

PICTURES ARE COMING SOON.

mmartin061

My question would be borrow your buddy $500 he can keep the car and then buy a nicer example. I am only assuming that since you are "having" all of this done, it is going to cost you over @10k, just to get it to even look good and that's not including the tranny. Pulling dents putting in new leather seats. Painting the car. That I'm guessing 7k or so there for anything quality just from what I would think. But no offense intended. Maybe you want to take scrap and turn it into gold and watch the process. In that case have fun.

billydpowe

iTrader: (1)

read ALL the stickeys at the beginning of the forum....that is why they are there... you will gain vast knowledge..
welcome to the club....

dicer

Naaaaaaaaaaaaa don't get a nice one to ruin. Get one that needs a repaint and do what ever paint you wish.
A custom mod should not start out as a rare collector car.

gs300cky

Well I'm not making it look worse with plasti dip, I've been painting a lot with the plasti dip, things from my wrx to jeeps to little power wheels. Of course I'm not wanting to make it look like a little ricer. And I'm only planning to spend maybe 2-3k on the car for everything, a lot of this is all on my time and skill to fix and repair. Only thing I will really need to pay for is the cost of the seats (300) plus the stock tranny (500) plus some beers to my helpers on install of the tranny and seats.
I may need to pay on a couple of dents but I'm hoping that it won't get to expensive on it. I'm expecting maybe (500)

CELSI0R

Welcome! I'm looking forward to see what you do to your car. A transmission swap sounds like a great idea!.. Too bad the old one is toast.

If you can post any details about the white plasti-dip job, I would love to see! It's something I would store away for a future LS in need of a respray.

gs300cky

I can appreciate that and yes I will post pics once I decide what to do with the tranny, I'm still just trying to read up on ideas and what transmission is best. It looks like for now I may just go stock.

gs300cky

gs300cky

Im trying to figure out what oil is leaking from the right rear tire well area. Is there any oil lines or differential lines in that spot?
I would have checked it out but with all the snow this week

CELSI0R

First off, very nice car! I like the color, as it's the same as mine.

As for the leak, I don't believe there are any lines that go back there... Are you sure it's oil?

It could be brake fluid, perhaps. Check to make sure you haven't been losing any, and that the lines or the caliper back there don't leak when you compress the brakes (you will need someone to push the pedal while you look). I would recommend lifting the car from the pinch weld on the frame, using the small jack Lexus provided in the trunk, and removing the wheel first.

gs300cky

I thought it was oil but it could be brake fluid, I will need to check it out tomorrow hopefully

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

It looks like some melted snow or water that stuck in the bumper just dripped out.

KJG92

Hopefully brake fluid would not be that dark. I'd check and make sure your not leaking from the timing cover or a sensor and it is just slinging around.

dicer

I say brake fluid. Its dark on the floor because of washing off tar or oil. Its too concentrated in the area to be anything else.

Unless it just drove through an oil puddle.

gs300cky

Well good news is that I haven't seen any brake fluid leaking anymore and also my tranny started shifting just fine (for a few minutes). Downside is I think it's be an electrical issue of some sort since it doesn't always drive. But today she couldn't get off an ice patch and when she did she left a nice patch of rubber going all the way up my whole driveway. So I'm thinking I have an intermittent electrical issue with the transmission or my shifter isn't communicating idk