henny1974

Hi, I've been on this site in the past but just in browsing but now I need some help. I have a very nice stock 97 SC400 and I want to start modifying it. Obviously I can't do it all at once so I just want to put a list together so I know what to buy, and when and where to buy it. Basically I need to know what I should buy first (suspension, engine, exhaust, cosmetics, ect). When I'm done I want this to be like a brand new ride since I'm close to paying it off and don't see any reason to ever sell it. I want it to be a very nice street car but still be very fast and mean but not too much. Maybe 400-500 horsepower max. So anybody that has any ideas both general and specifically I would greatly appreciate it. What parts do I need and what are the best parts?

Suspension, Springs, Brakes, Bearings, ect.

Engine, Tranny, Exhaust, Supercharger? Turbo?

Headlights, Tail Lights, Fog Lights, Trim, Emblems, Chips, Air Intake, ect

Ground Effects, Body Kits, something nice and clean but sick.

Rims and Tires

Anything I forgot.

Thanks guys I really appreciate it.

henny1974

So how do you post pictures?

MrHimbert

Dude nobody here is going to be your personal assistant and write u up a list of parts to get, ill do it if you pay me haha try searchin the internet. Find things that you want. Dont ask the forums such a broad range of quesrions. Your going to get nothing but opinions. I research everything down to light bulbsmand which to use and whih are the best. So in closeing, type in google.com and start putting your questions in there for starters. If you have smaller questions im sure people will nOt flame you and actually try to help you out.

88supramki

keywords + search function = your list

TuanLegend

its basically what you want to do and what brand you want if it was a comparision between two then i would understand why you have this up if it was between 1-30 then theres a big problem. narrow your options down and you'll find teh right one best of luck!

1KhpWrx

iTrader: (7)

This thread should be closed

henny1974

My bad I thought this was a lexus club not a bunch of selfish *******s. Sorry for wasting your time.

henny1974

Forgive me for thinking some of you might like to share your knowledge and personal experience, not act like five year olds. But whatever.

88supramki

We have no problem sharing knowledge. There's a big collective brain on these forums. Chances are the items that you are asking about, all 20 of them have more than likely been covered 2-3 times each. And that's a low estimate.

I'll be a nice guy for right now since I've been called an *** at least 2x today:

Suspension & Springs - Tein, HKS, Stance, Meagan
Brakes - LS400, MKIV Supra, Stoptech, Endless
Bearings - Daizen

Engine - Keep stock or swap to something else (many threads in performance subforum)
Tranny - keep auto or do W58 swap, there is a kit
Exhaust - magnaflow, HKS, Blitz, tanabe, 5zigen
Supercharger - Scotturnot is a good example of what to do if you supercharge
Turbo - SC400TT is a good example of what to do if you want to turbo a 400

Headlights - Keep em stock, don't go ebay route. you can do HID retrofits or just use HIDs on the stock lenses even though they aren't the best
Tail Lights - 97+ are most popular, if you get them make sure to get the taillight ecu mod
Fog Lights - some people use other projectors & HIDs
Trim & Emblems - whatever color emblems you want, don't add extra trim flare
Chips, Air Intake, ect - No chips for our ECUs, Air intake will depend on if you want to go forced induction of any kind

Ground Effects & Body Kits - Shine, Auto Couture, JIC, Vertex just to name a few

Rims and Tires - SSR, Work, CCW, HRE, you name it there are 100's of them out there!

There you go, now you can see we're not all heartless jerks.

spdrcr771

iTrader: (21)

There are people here that are willing to help. There are people here that just suck. But really you should have a basic knowledge of what kind of stuff you want, from seeing several pics on this site. Then from there people are willing to help you make up your mind on which one to buy. But in the end, its your car & you should buy what you like, what you think looks good. So my suggestion is look @ a bunch of pics & start picking out stuff you like. Here's a few web sites to buy parts from. This should get you started.

l-tunedparts.com

luxurymods.com

lextreme.com

henny1974

Hey I really appreciate the help, I mean it's not like I wanted one guy to be my personal assistant and hold my hand on this thing, I just figured one guy might say "from what I hear ---- springs are the best" or "the best exhaust I've seen on a SC400 is ----". Then another guy, then another, ect.

And then after everybody puts their two cents in I might have a lot better idea of what I need.

I just figured that on a board full of Lexus lovers, and more specifically SC lovers, I'd have a whole lot more information to work with than I do now.

If there is a very good, very reputable company that sells all the best aftermarket parts online at reasonable prices, then just point me in that direction and I'll just work directly with them, not a problem.

Obviously I can look up what's available myself but what good is having a list of every aftermarket part available and having no clue which one to use?

The only problem is, as much as I love cars I have no clue how to work on them or which parts are better than other parts, ect.

Forgive me but at the cost of Lexus parts I'd rather not use trial and error if I don't have to.

I am a huge Lexus fan, I've had a 1992 burgundy SC400 and now I've got a 1997 black one.

Best two cars I've ever owned by far and people are always trying to figure out what it is and complimenting it.

So anybody that wants to help, fantastic!

And anybody that doesn't, outstanding!

And as soon as I figure out how to get a picture on here, I'll load a few.

Thanks guys!!

bleedspeed

square box at top of quick reply tool bar that has mountains and sun. 2nd from last tool. and you host your pics on photobucket or similar host and paste the url of your pic after pressing the mountain sun button

MongooseGA

iTrader: (6)

Yes. That's why there are other threads that tell you these things. Just search and read them.

xspsi6

iTrader: (31)

This a prime example of why this forum is going down hill because of how hard people are on noobs.
It's sad that you have to weed through all the childish replys when someone asks a legit question to maybe find one response that can be useful.This forum is over run by the flat brim drifter types so it unfortunately it attracts a younger more imature type which like to be internet tough guys from behind they key board

With that being said I also have a 97sc400 and to be honest I gave up modding it because the power cost a lot of money with the 1uzfe v-8 so I am going to swap it in favor of a 2jz as the power per dollar spent comes out to be much cheaper but there are a few things you can do to help her aspirate better such as but not limited to Imf headers,custom exhaust,intake/bfi and a 4.27 rearend gear will wake her up a little but at the expense of fuel mileage another thing would be to swap in the 4.7 lower end for a boost in displacement but it all comes down to your personal power goals.

Good luck and welcome to the forums

bleedspeed

your going to swap a jz into a 400? that is awesome! when i came asking about boost for my sc3 everybody here told me to buy a sc400. of course i am not an idiot so i stuck with my sc3 and i fully agree with what you said about the noob hating though it has calmed down a bit this week.