Any mods for more hp/tq?
11-25-13, 10:03 AM
#17
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Thread Starter
Those built motors are very cool but without any real aftermarket options for high boost turbo or supercharger kits it seems like a waste. Only blower kit I've seen is the Tom's unit for 15-18k dollars lol no thanks.
11-25-13, 11:37 AM
#18
I think the days of easy bolt ons with decent power upgrades is largely dead, manufacturers just don't leave much on the table anymore. They have every incentive to squeeze every last bit of efficiency out of their motors.
I bet if you threw thousands in bolt ons, it might net you something like 15hp on a dyno for a car like this. So a tenth of a second quicker for the 0-60? I've even seen where a real open exhaust system makes a car slower because of where it moves the torque curve. Just not worth it in my opinion. You'd be better off just putting that towards a much faster car, the new LS has something like 80 more horsepower. You'd never get anywhere near that with mods unless you're talking about something like a custom turbo system.
There's a few makes where it still makes sense, like Mustangs, Camaros, Corvettes, etc but even on those cars the gains from bolt ons are getting less and less relevant. It's more about the sound the from the exhaust or intake than any real performance increase.
I bet if you threw thousands in bolt ons, it might net you something like 15hp on a dyno for a car like this. So a tenth of a second quicker for the 0-60? I've even seen where a real open exhaust system makes a car slower because of where it moves the torque curve. Just not worth it in my opinion. You'd be better off just putting that towards a much faster car, the new LS has something like 80 more horsepower. You'd never get anywhere near that with mods unless you're talking about something like a custom turbo system.
There's a few makes where it still makes sense, like Mustangs, Camaros, Corvettes, etc but even on those cars the gains from bolt ons are getting less and less relevant. It's more about the sound the from the exhaust or intake than any real performance increase.
11-25-13, 01:02 PM
#19
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Thread Starter
Already had plenty of fast cars and I shopped ls460s but actually liked the LS430 better for a daily driver. Come spring I'll order a set of the ppe headers and talk to my buddy who owns a race shop about custom x pipe options and deleting secondary cats and resonators without throwing any codes. I plan on owning the car for 5+ years and its only got 60k miles so spending a few bucks to get another 15-20hp is worth it. I'm not doing any crazy wheel or air setups or bodykits for thousands of dollars so putting it into some tasteful bolt ons will be fine for me.
11-25-13, 01:10 PM
#20
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Thread Starter
Manufacturers are leaving plenty of power on the table as I've yet to see any cars yet that haven't benefited from bolt ons. From the new mustang to new imports and domestics to large luxury cruisers like ours there is always power left on the table. Even the isf which is tuned from the factory nets huge power gains from headers,exhaust,tuning,intake pipes. Our intake and exhaust from lexus is based around being silent. Factory intake is huge and restrictive and the manifolds are inefficient for a 300hp V8
11-25-13, 01:28 PM
#21
i'm skeptical.....there's always tradeoffs with this stuff. Sure you can get more power but what's the cost in terms of reliability, noise, fuel consumption. I guess if you're willing to take a hit in those areas, have at it but i'd tend to side with the toyota engineers who optimized all variables as best they could. For sure they have test resources that dwarf what any tuning shop would have
11-25-13, 02:29 PM
#22
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Thread Starter
I'm driving a v8 land yacht on 4 wheels so if gas mileage was a concern I'd have purchased a honda accord lol. I'm new to lexus but not modifying cars. After spending years at 1/4 mile tracks like Cecil county dragway, maryland international raceway and performance shops etc. you'll quickly see the difference between what simple bolt ons and tuning will do that the factory regulations didn't allow. I guess the LS platform was the wrong platform to ask for modification advice lol
11-25-13, 03:04 PM
#23
Manufacturers are leaving plenty of power on the table as I've yet to see any cars yet that haven't benefited from bolt ons. From the new mustang to new imports and domestics to large luxury cruisers like ours there is always power left on the table. Even the isf which is tuned from the factory nets huge power gains from headers,exhaust,tuning,intake pipes. Our intake and exhaust from lexus is based around being silent. Factory intake is huge and restrictive and the manifolds are inefficient for a 300hp V8
Most of these "gains" you see published are questionable and are pushed by the parts vendors. Remember when K&N used to make those claims that just dropping in their filter gave you 20hp?
When you really see a no BS test before and after on a dyno, it's usually pretty humiliating, like 5hp for a high flow header(s) (that will likely leak all the time) or 10hp for a new catback exhaust (that's actually slower through the quarter mile)
One big exception where you can see a bigger difference is if it gets some sort of custom tune reflashed on the cars ECM, but I wouldn't call that a "bolt on" upgrade. Those gains are made because a tuner is doing things like bumping up the timing and adjusting the fuel maps, the OEM is more interested in complying with emissions and longevity with their tunes. The wrong tune can grenade an engine.
I'm all for people modifying their car, but I'd love to see a before and after because there's a lot of hype out there. Something like a bigger intake and a catback exhaust is probably 10hp-15hp if you're lucky.
11-25-13, 03:48 PM
#24
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
An Airbox lid and full exhaust with no tuning took my z28 from running 13.0s to 12.7s in the 1/4. A tune, headers and full exhaust took our buddies c6 z06 from low 11s to high 10s in the 1/4. My friend who owns revolution auto has been in magazines for his work on the new coyote motor mustang and ecoboost Ford's with major gains with minimal effort bolt on parts. The 4.3l v8 in our cars is just a small market for performance so we haven't seen many real part options but I'm sure there is power on the table.
A simple tune and exhaust w cat delete took my Suzuki gsxr 1000 to a whole other level as well. Whether it's cars or bikes these manufacturers leave room for improvement. Plenty of dyno and timeslips from real people to substantiate the costs and gains. The ls430 should be no exception. If everyone thought the supra was fine just as it came from Toyota we wouldn't have 1000hp streetcars roaming the roads and everything would have 300-400hp and call it quits. Boring!
A simple tune and exhaust w cat delete took my Suzuki gsxr 1000 to a whole other level as well. Whether it's cars or bikes these manufacturers leave room for improvement. Plenty of dyno and timeslips from real people to substantiate the costs and gains. The ls430 should be no exception. If everyone thought the supra was fine just as it came from Toyota we wouldn't have 1000hp streetcars roaming the roads and everything would have 300-400hp and call it quits. Boring!
11-25-13, 04:08 PM
#25
I don't agree that the intake design is poor on the LS430. This also applies to the LS400. There have been many threads about intakes and the fact really no one is making any intakes that show any HP gains is kind of a testament to this. I'm not saying it's not possible but no one is doing it. 20 HP with headers is a decent upgrade. Piggyback tuning with headers would be my suggestion.
11-25-13, 04:58 PM
#27
sure you can get performance gains, but I want to see the impact on gas mileage, reliability, longevity, general usability. There's no free lunch. Yes we all know about 1000hp Supras that run killer qtr miles, those engines just don't last though.
11-26-13, 08:31 AM
#29
An Airbox lid and full exhaust with no tuning took my z28 from running 13.0s to 12.7s in the 1/4. A tune, headers and full exhaust took our buddies c6 z06 from low 11s to high 10s in the 1/4. My friend who owns revolution auto has been in magazines for his work on the new coyote motor mustang and ecoboost Ford's with major gains with minimal effort bolt on parts. The 4.3l v8 in our cars is just a small market for performance so we haven't seen many real part options but I'm sure there is power on the table.
A simple tune and exhaust w cat delete took my Suzuki gsxr 1000 to a whole other level as well. Whether it's cars or bikes these manufacturers leave room for improvement. Plenty of dyno and timeslips from real people to substantiate the costs and gains. The ls430 should be no exception. If everyone thought the supra was fine just as it came from Toyota we wouldn't have 1000hp streetcars roaming the roads and everything would have 300-400hp and call it quits. Boring!
A simple tune and exhaust w cat delete took my Suzuki gsxr 1000 to a whole other level as well. Whether it's cars or bikes these manufacturers leave room for improvement. Plenty of dyno and timeslips from real people to substantiate the costs and gains. The ls430 should be no exception. If everyone thought the supra was fine just as it came from Toyota we wouldn't have 1000hp streetcars roaming the roads and everything would have 300-400hp and call it quits. Boring!
No one is doubting that you can make a car faster with aftermarket parts, what people are calling into question is the LS is not really a platform set up for after market performance parts and that any gains would likely be so small, that it's just throwing money down the toilet.
Years ago car makers had really restrictive catalytic converters, exhausts and intakes, it used to make a really big difference changing out a restrictive factory exhaust, but now, even if you removed your catalytic converters, you're probably only looking at 5 horsepower.
If you want to put a full exhaust system and some sort of new high flow intake on your LS 430, we'd love to see it and also get a before and after on a dyno. Most people though don't think it's worth spending $1k-$2k for a two-tenths of a second faster through the quarter mile in a full size luxury sedan.
How much horsepower do you think "bolt on" modifications like a full exhaust will unlock from an LS?
11-26-13, 08:35 AM
#30
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
Did some digging around and contrary to some beliefs here other platforms such as the gs 430 and sc 430 which obviously share our same drive train have before and after dynos and real world reviews showing 15-30hp/tq gains at the wheels with tune,intake,headers. For anyone that's modded cars that's a decent gain on a naturally aspirated v8. People are reporting no ill effects on gas mileage, reliability, car feeling slower etc.
I'm trying to talk to a Japanese jdm importer to see if there are more performance parts available we may not have seen for the ucf30. Not likely but worth some digging.
Vipstylecars forum has some more mod friendly views over there as well without the keep it stock mentality so good info there for anyone looking to upgrade.
Coulter we live at dragstrips and shops with dynos here in maryland. I'm not posting fairytales. We know about varying air temps etc. I have a bike that traps over 150mph thru the 1/4 and have built cars that put the rear bumper on the ground from a stoplight. What's in your garage?
I'm trying to talk to a Japanese jdm importer to see if there are more performance parts available we may not have seen for the ucf30. Not likely but worth some digging.
Vipstylecars forum has some more mod friendly views over there as well without the keep it stock mentality so good info there for anyone looking to upgrade.
Coulter we live at dragstrips and shops with dynos here in maryland. I'm not posting fairytales. We know about varying air temps etc. I have a bike that traps over 150mph thru the 1/4 and have built cars that put the rear bumper on the ground from a stoplight. What's in your garage?
Last edited by bmore430; 11-26-13 at 08:40 AM.