jryder01

OK, so I am a newbie to this forum, and Club Lexus. Excited to learn, and contribute. I have a 2004 IS 300. Manual with 75k miles on it with only a K&N air filter mod. Want to do more, and learn more. All replies, and suggestions welcome. -jryder01

mackovelly

SRT intake is a must.

mitsuguy

iTrader: (2)

Welcome...

As a general rule, most of your relatively easy bolt ons will give you very small amounts of horsepower. Chances are, your K&N air filter is just as efficient as any of the aftermarket air intakes, due to them drawing in hot air, whereas your stock airbox always draws in outside temp air...

If your intents are to never make much more than 200ish hp to the wheels (stock is around 175-180 through a manual transmission), then you could also do headers, exhaust, and a few other things, then focus on suspension...

If you ever want much more than 200ish hp, your best bet is to turbo the car... up to 300, and its doable with a turbo kit, engine management, and related mods... over 300, and we are talking built motor, different transmission and more supporting mods... then suspension...

our cars handle relatively well the way they are stock, but an upgraded rear sway bar is your best bang for the buck without going all out... no matter what suspension mods you do, if you don't have good tires first, they are all for naught... tires are your #1 suspension / handling mod...

Welcome to the forum...

A little more info as to what your overall goals are would help.

jryder01

Thanks for the replies all. I bought a K&N, just need to slap it on. I was thinking of doing some modest suspension, and had reqad that you can recalibrate the computer to gain more HP. Not a big fan of making a car loud unless there are substantial HP gains. Also heard that the turbo route is very expensive (8-10k installed) and makes the car less reliable, both of which I have no idea are true. So goals would be some modest suspension, and tuning, or all out, dependent on the cost versus HP gains. make sense?

jryder01

finding turbo kits made by "Godspeed" and other tuners with small HP gains in the 300 HP range, which seems perfect for what I would like to do, but worried about reliability . Any tips on overall 300 total HP wihout motor rebuilds, and the least amount of mods, and still be reliable. thoughts ??????

mitsuguy

iTrader: (2)

the kits like that might be a good starting point, but, almost everything in them will need upgraded eventually...

the turbo - well, some have had decent luck, some have had no luck at all... For an inexpensive turbo, PTE makes some budget turbos in the $600 range that are well worth the cash... things like manifolds are all pretty proven to last, same with downpipes, but, downpipes are a generic fit and may have to be modded to fit an IS... for the most part, oil feed and drain kits are fine, just make sure they are plumbed correctly...

the cheap kits aren't something to take on unless you really know what you are doing and will require some modification and they never include everything you need...

either way, without some sort of management, 300 hp is on the high side for stock motor... will need to pull timing most likely... I'll save you the headaches I went through - budget $1300-$1400 for an AEM EMS or similar standalone...

jryder01

Thanks for the detailed reply. I do not think I am handy enough to install a turbo properly, mainly plumbing the oil lines. I would have a mechanic do this, Not sure how much labor this is. My guess would be 10 hours, but no clue. Other than the $1300 - $1400 parts investment (does that include the engine management?) Do you think this is doable for $2500 (including the labor) with no other mods? The existing suspension on the car (except for maybe putting on a rear sway bar) seems sufficient enough for 75 to 100 more HP. Finally, what about supercharging? Is that more expensive? Thanks again.

RusBoar

what transmission is it? i want to replace my auto with a manual one...

jryder01

Manual transimission.