markwhit

So I found this car a couple of months ago in Atlanta. It was someones garage queen. It had 39,000 miles on it and now I have 41,000. I posted the other day about the AC having issues which seem to be working now. This one has the sport suspension. I added the wood trim around the Navigation screen. I have taken it out for a few runs on the interstate and blew the engine out since it was owned by an elderly man. No problems since purchased so far. Now my garage queen.

wnyjazz

Great find, congrats.

markwhit

Thanks......

campisi

Nice grab. I'd just drive the thing and not 'blow out' the engine anymore. It's not a 67 Coronet 440 ya know.

Legender

Nice find. Congrats.

airchomper

If it were mine, I wouldn't get too far into it without a fresh timing belt, water pump, coolant, and oil. The timing belt has a service life of 9 years or so, the water pump is a wear item, and stress on both parts goes up by the square of the engine speed.

2KHarrier

My vote for Best response of the day...

markwhit

I went ahead put in a new battery, flushed the coolant, and have changed the oil. Installed a K&N airfilter. Replaced the cabin air filter. It was dirty. I noticed the serpentine belt had come cracks in it. WIll be replacing soon myself. I have learned a lot on how to do things myself and have saved lots of money so far by reading these posts!

Legender

I have the same year sport edition as you do. It does ride differently than the base model. I'm curious where you got the wood trim for the dash/navigation area that you added. Thanks.

2KHarrier

And that's the beauty of this forum. Loads of great information and assistance literally at the touch of a finger.

Congrats on the exquisite find. I thought my '05 was low with 48K..

2KHarrier

http://www.wooddash.com/category/LEXUS_Dash_Kits_LS430

I had a similar kit on my RX300, and had to replace a few sections. This company made the kit and were all too happy to assist me with replacing the pieces that faded and were curling off the dash. They aren't supposed to fail, but I believe the original installer did not prep the dash surface correctly prior to installing the pieces around the vents.

Very helpful folks there.

markwhit

Yes wood dash kits. It is kind of pricey. I think I paid about 200.00 for 20 pieces. They match really well. A couple of other pics. The door hinge piece looks dark in this pic but they match really well. You need to select the light color finish and not the dark.

2KHarrier

Yeah, they make a quality product.

Bocatrip

May I ask what you paid for this gem?

markwhit

Dealer had it listed for 18,000. But only got it down to 17,500 because of the low miles. This was the end of 2015. The original window sticker was in glove box and was 62,000 new. Some of the trunk components were still covered in plastic. Spare wheel and tire have never been taken out.