Inabj2

As you know, I just got a lexus, and I wanted to know what condition and state the engine is.

Mechanically and reliability wise, no complains, none. Except my left tag light, and somtimes, my cabin light wont turn on when I open my door.


Well I wanted and did a run a baseline, baseline run.... (withouth replacing the cables, plugs, fuel filter)

Without a tune up.

Reliability wise the car behaved great engine temperature was normal, everything worked fine, actually during the day it gets a tad bit hotter.

Performance wise... ABYSSMAL!!!

IM running Honda Civic times here!

at 3075 Feet of altitude...

I made 7 runs in a period of about 3 hours or so.

First 2 runs I had a passenger, and in all runs I had a fullsize spare and jack.

1st Run 1200 rpm launch bogged.

60' 2.692
330 7.535
1/8 11.381
mph 65.00
1000 14.664
1/4 17.469
MPH 79.54

2nd Run 2000 rpm launched Maximum rpm that I can launch.

60' 2.633
330 7.526
1/8 11.439
mph 64.38
1000 14.749
1/4 17.469
MPH 79.12

3rd Run, me 2000 rpm launch

60' 2.630
330 7.411
1/8 11.239
mph 65.59
1000 14.502
1/4 17.289
MPH 80.49

4th run 2000 rpm launch

60' 2.623
330 7.426
1/8 11.285
mph 65.33
1000 14.553
1/4 17.339
MPH 80.45

5th Run 2000 Rpm launch

60' 2.621
330 7.427
1/8 11.280
mph 65.44
1000 14.545
1/4 17.328
MPH 80.64

6th Run
60' 2.733
330 7.555
1/8 11.406
mph 65.27
1000 14.678
1/4 17.469
MPH 80.38

7th and Final Run

60' 2.649
330 7.435
1/8 11.279
mph 65.53
1000 14.540
1/4 17.323
MPH 80.45

Needless to say I lost every single race, except to an integra GS.

So I got owned by a
1993-1998 Mustang GT
2000+ Mustang Cobra
1994-1999 Turbo Eclipse
1st gen turbo eclipse
A V6 Tacoma,
And a riced out neon....

Needless to say I had an overwhelming urge to give this car away to a bum. I almost hate it right now....

But I guess it has almost 90,000 miles and its auto.

Rigt now I want to do a tune up, and change and check tranny fluid, fuel filter, cables, distributor, plugs.

Want plugs do you recomend now? Recommend I check anything else? After I do the tune up I want to do the dyno.

Basically, before I begin my swap or turbo project (looks more like a swap now) I wan't to get my lexus running back to ideal stock conditions, which at this altitude I speculate it should be low 16s, or almost a second faster then what my best run was today.

Help!

Note during the day I treat the car with care and never push it to much.

Advice?

And god talk about being humbled.

lex400sc

Unplug your battery for a few minutes and let the ECUs reset. If you drive very passively most of the time, your ECUs will start mapping for nonaggressive driving, which makes your car sluggish. Once it's reset, spend about 20-30 miles really pushing her and you will start getting better response. Do your tune up and instead of OEM, go for TorqueMaster plugs. Some people argue that it makes no difference, but many, and I mean many people in the NorCal group have reported improvements in the midband with these plugs. A simple mod that helps a little is the BFI with a TRD panel filter. If you want to spend a little extra, try the electric fan conversion and some freer flowing exhaust. Is your car stock? Because if it is an SC300, all stock, at 3000 ft, with 90k miles, and you are a new owner not yet familiar with the car, then mid-17s are not outside the realm of possibilities. When you brake launch, are you chirping off the line or just jerking? Make sure ECT is on PWR for better shifts.

NRG

first off..
Lexus SC weights about 3700LB
the motor has about 260hp so about 230whp? hopefully

When i ran my car at the track i got 15.9 at 3000ft elevation.. so about 15.7-15.8?
Everything was stock with 2 huge amps in the rear that weights 30lb each.
i also had 135k on the car.. this was about a year ago up at palmdale..

I just wish people understand more about Power to weight ratio.
If the lexus sc weight 1 thousand pounds less, it will be a low 13sec car.

By the looks of it, you dont know how to race at all.
you need to work on your 60ft way more..
i get a 2.2 the last time i ran.. had rpm at 2500

Vegassc400

1) tune up immediately
2) work on your launch
3) work on your launch
4) well......you get the idea

What was the outside temp?

Try pulling the spare tire. Thing weighs about 60lbs.
You must be spinning the tires hard off the line. 60' time should be around 2.2 to 2.3. Either get better tires or launch at a lower rpm.
As was said earlier, reset the ECU. Worth the time.
ECT on power. OD off.
Try starting in L2 and upshifting to D at about 5900 rpm in 2nd.

Inabj2

I feel pretty damn helpless on my launch..

1500 it bogs like a fat squealing pig.

I CANNOT LAUNCH ABOVE 2000 RPM!!!! It won't let me the tranny refuses, remember that I have an auto tranny.

me launching at 2500 rpm is IMPOSSIBLE!!! at 2000 the car still bogged the first 5 runs, as the nite got colder I spinned so I lowered my rpms to 1800 so that I wouldnt spin but bog so more.

I tired everything with the launch with this crappy pos tranny. It hates me. Yes my OD was off the ect on power.


Outside temp was 75... according to the car.

And for the record this was also my first on the track ever, at least my ET reaction times was better then the faster people. Well then some.

Im not going to run the car again until I tune up and dyno.

Yes my sc300 is new 1995 model owned by some lady that never pushed it above 40, it is bone stock. I wanna get it down to mid 16s before I do any mods other then maintenance.

Vegassc400

Yeah. The torque converter is what governs the launch rpms. The stock stall speed is about 1900. You can get aftermarket or rebuilt TC's with a higher stall.

How bad is the tire spin on launch? If you're not sure have someone watch the next time.

Angel

1 - 17.469
2 - 17.469
3 - 17.289
4 - 17.339
5 - 17.328
6 - 17.469
7 - 17.323

Dude, if anything, you were very consistant! I bet those cars that smoked you didn't run 3 of the exact same times, not many people can say that they ran 3 of the exact same time, down to the thousandths of a second, all in the same night

*edit* BTW, if you have a stock auto SC300, it came factory with 225 crank HP. The car will probably put a max of 170 to the wheels, and in a 3600+lb car, that is not a whole lot of power, but by no means should you be running in the 17s, regardless.

boredguy77

because it is not turbo.

Inabj2

Oh yea one more thing, the tranny it shifts at around 5500 rpm (he claims he saw it all the way to 5900), even though the redline is at 6500 rpm, I can't get it to shift above 6000 rpm, doesnt max power out put append at 6000 rpm?

Also in third gear, after reaching 60 mph, my car starts taking its sweet time. Honestly I blame my tranny for slowing abyssmal times. My third gear blows.

So plan thus far is...

Change:
Fuel Filter,
Cables
Plugs
Tranny Fluid
Distributor
And reset my ecu.

The ECU, when I unplug the battery for how long should I leave it unplugged?

As for the Torque master plugs, single or double spark? What type of metal should they be?

'S'Low Rider

Lexus figures for a stock auto SC400 are 15.3 for a 1/4 mile.

Lexus figures for stock MANUAL SC300 are 15.7 for a 1/4 mile.

The figures for the SC300 were obtained (and I quote from the Lexus information) " with new prototype vehicles with manual transmission under test-track conditions by professional drivers using special safety equipment and procedures".

Would it be reasonable to add an extra 1 second for the difference in performance between the automatic and manual SC300 ?

Would it be reasonable to add 1/2 second as the difference between a "professional" driver and someone having their first run out?

If so and taking into consideration the 'state of tuning' of the car and having a passenger and a few other pounds of extra weight then I would expect low to mid 17's.

With a few more runs to gain experience and some tuning would that get down to mid to high 16's ?

I'd be interested to know if anyone ever ran better than mid 16's in a stock automatic SC300 ?

Inabj2

Oh yea, according to this altitude chart....

My best run at sea level would of been....

16.644 and my mph would been, 83.67 mph.

Worst run... 16.923 at 82.24 mph.

My goal is to reach 16.7XX at this altitude which would be 16.1 at sea level...

at very least im hoping to break 16s in stock trim..

Hermosa

The 230whp listed earlier is way off. After everything and the year expect around 165-175 rwhp max. If you are going to stay naturally aspirated then get the TC,BFI, SAFC or WRECU, and then get a tuning on the dyno. The TC won't give your car more horsepower but since the TC waits until a higher rpm, say 2800rpm, then in your power band you have alot more horsepower there so more is put to the ground initially. Sounds to me though that if you like going to the track then get the supercharger and a few extras. Moderately, you can put in about $10k in stuff and have a pretty decent running car that has nice times.

Inabj2

SC300, im most likely will be doing the supra TT swap. Or a Turbo 2jz-ge

Right now I am interesting of running a 16.7 or lower in stock trim. I wanna do this by next "midnight madness"

New things I wanna try, Launch from L and upshift to 2 and then D.

Rear tires at 28 psi front at 40 psi.


I wonder if i can flash the stall converter, hold the brakes at idle then SLAM the gas pedal.

sweetsc400

Ding Ding Ding! I think we've got a winner! I think all of the above sounds compeltely reasonable. An automatic stock SC300 is just not a fast car. It can only beat a handfull of today's SUVs! No offense, it's just that we're all trying to rack our brains over a car that doesn't neccessarily belong at the track at this point in it's life. Good luck with the tune-up and mods, I think you'll be much happier afterwards.

Matt

Buttercup

That's odd. If you have a passenger and you get 17.469 on the first 2 runs, wouldn't the car go a lot faster with better launches and 100 or so pounds gone? Wait... that's should be right... every 100 pounds lost is .1 seconds lost.

Injen tested the auto sc300. It seems accurate: http://www.injen.com/webpages/testin...es/is_2083.jpg 159 rwhp.

Maybe you lost to all of the others cars because they didn't have a spare and jack and the floor mats.