Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

You could lower it a little with a head gasket, not nearly enough to be worth the significant labor costs in doing that though.

You could lower it a fair bit if you replaced the pistons, but now you're talking a LOT of money and custom fabrication (especially with the piston design on the DI motor).

This just really isn't a motor worth boosting.

As to the benefits of just doing the ECU na, if there was a ton to gain there safely I would think Lexus would've done it themselves with the 09 refresh given the HP advantage the G37 brought (among other competitors cars)... might be a little to gain, but unless the programming is gonna be GM cheap I doubt that'll be worth doing either. (look up how much TOMs charges for an ECU reflash, it's insane)

HKS350

iTrader: (4)

I could see another 20-30 crank HP from a good tune. The thing is once someone is able to tune this motor every manf. will follow. I'd like to see a set of cams, ECU flash, and an intake manifold come along. I don't think this is as far fetched as a full blown turbo kit.
As for the 09' refresh Lexus has never changed a motor program without a complete revamp on the car itself. Remember this car is tuned conservately on 91 octane. You could easily see 340 crank HP on 93 octane. Look back at the 2JZ-GE motor. The N/A verison started at 175 CHP and then in the 00' IS and GS it was 215-220 CHP. Nothing major changed besides the updated engine control and VVTi over the production years.
We will see Lexus update this motor program over the next 10 years. The 2GR is the new thing on the market. I'd bet before Lexus retires this motor in 10-12 years that it will be close to 350 CHP.

Giggity

Well, it is a little far fetched, this car is 3 years into it's production run and NO ONE has produced any power adders for it, excluding the half-a**ed supercharger kits made in the U.S. or the Tom's kit that was not made for the U.S. market. Too difficult, and too expensive.
The 350 has plenty of power and the best way to make it faster are good tires, effective suspension tuning, an LSD, and most important of all, driving lessons.

HKS350

iTrader: (4)

That's not because the car can't be any better than it already is from factory. Its because the market doesn't see the value in producing anything. Look at CL for example. Their are thousands of members with the 2IS. How many would spend money on tuning this motor. Maybe 25-30 of us. No Market.
I've often thought about producing a custom N20 kit for the members but to me most likly not worth the headache. Who will buy it? Maybe 10 people.
Its not like a 350Z, When you buy a Z you already have plans to mod the car. 95% of people who buy the IS say it was the most reliable car on the market with the most lux. features, Not I'm getting this car to modify and its not because the car doen't offer a great platform. Its because noone will take the steps to make it happen. This car is seen as an reliable investment not a fun car.

Giggity

Very limited market, producers see no profit. Any power adder would cost a significant amount of money, the Tom's kit is what, about $10k? For that you could run out and buy a used '02-'04 WRX spend a few grand more and you have a 300 hp fun car and have you "luxury" IS as a daily.

Nitrous is just wrong, sure it can be used as a supplement, but when you start down that path most people end up popping the motor. Absoultely a headache most people don't want to get into, and lets be honest, a vast majority of people on this board are renters (lease), that's why you see big part outs. Time to put the car back to stock so they can get into another latest model year rental. If you can't afford to buy the car, can you really afford to replace the motor when you grenade it with nitrous trying to be a stop light hero?

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

Honestly nitrous is a -great- power adder if the system is designed properly (that is, very very safely)

As a former LT1 guy there were folks running 200 shots on a stock (10-10.5:1 compression) motor for years without issue because they designed the systems properly.... there's no reason a -good- setup can't be run safely on these motors, albeit a much smaller shot.

Problem is N2O gets a bad rep from all the folks buying 2nd rate $500 kits with no idea what they're doing and blowing up their honda.

Giggity

Hey now- I know a handful of hillbillys that blew up their camaros and corvettes using nitrous, so lets not sterotype honda guys as having no idea what they're doing.
And seriously, isn't that kind of an apples to oranges comparison, I should hope that a push rod two valve head with a cast iron block and con rods the size of my fore-arm would be able to stand up to a multistage 200 shot.

huddleston

iTrader: (3)

will be very interesting to see what comes of this.

lobuxracer

iTrader: (2)

World Tuning said the same thing Cobb is saying now, but it was a couple of years ago. Chris Rado drives their Scion tC and has some history with Toyota, but so far, no dice. No one is cracking Toyota's code or getting permission to crack their code. TRD is the only company I would expect could even think about doing it since they did do a reflash for the tC's supercharger kit. Other than that, you'll need a really close friend at Lotus if you want access to Toyota's engine management code. I really doubt Cobb is doing it through Scion/Toyota/Lexus.

D.Jobin

iTrader: (4)

I have a blast everytime I get in my car!

iSuxeL

iTrader: (21)

I have a blast when I get in my car! LOL Boost baby! and Air!

fluxx

iTrader: (1)

i have fun in my car as well and its only a 250! ha

Giggity

just came across an interesting tid bit that could have benefit the 2IS community...
The new R&T has an article featuring fast tuner cars, one of them being the Mines GTR. Mr. Niikura stated that they had to develop their own ECU for tuning the car. As some of you may or may not be aware the new GTR has similar issues of highly securitized engine management to insure there is no tampering.
Perhaps if there were more interest from more people who are serious about tuning the 2IS (not just cosmetic POOPOO) then there may be some hope?
Here is a interview with Mr. Niikura for those who don't know who Mines is or what they do, also Best Motoring Vol. 5 features Mines R34 GTR, the badest street car on the planet...
http://www.revver.com/video/515989/m...-gtchannelcom/

RFFG

For what it's worth, COBB tuning broke the "unbreakable" Nissan GT-R ECU...

If there's a shop that I trust in ECU's it's COBB...

AM1

iTrader: (6)

i wonder if even lotus has full access.