Making a Great SC400 Even Better
Club Lexus member stumbles across a cherry SC400, proceeds to make it his own personal dream ride!
Finding an old Lexus SC400 in great condition is getting harder and harder these days. Though they run, like most Lexus vehicles, seemingly forever, these things are decades old at this point. So, when Club Lexus member BrokeEF stumbled across a 1993 SC400 in amazing condition, he jumped at the chance to buy it. But after a year of owning the sweet ride, the itch to make changes grew too strong. Which means, luckily for us, a build thread!
“This car was in immaculate shape, especially for being a Chicago car. The last owner had it since almost new (a few years old) and took it to the dealer for EVERYTHING.”
As nice as the SC400 was to begin with, that doesn’t mean improvements couldn’t be made, of course.
“One of the first things I needed to fix included the sagging factory splash shield. I ordered up one with all new hardware from JZZ30 and swapped it out.”
Then, some more needed repairs.
“I ended up removing the tint from the front two windows that was cracked. For anyone wondering how to remove tint, I tried most of the common methods (heat, razor blade, ammonia, etc.) but 409 worked AMAZING! Nothing else made a dent, and that took off both layers with ease.
After that I was kind of forced to remove the old alarm/remote start. The battery would drain down while sitting, and one day when I needed to move it the alarm decided to go off when I hooked up the charger. The remotes never worked, so I cut out the three (yes 3) horns and figured out which of the four (yes 4) switches under the dash would work as a bypass.”
Next up was a broken speedometer in need of repair. And since the cluster was already out, the OP decided to update the lighting to all-white with red V3 needles.
And since the interior already somewhat removed, why not take things a step further?
“While it was mostly apart I decided to do a head unit, Popperformance LXCC, IS300 steering wheel, and a couple other small things. Unfortunately I was a dumb *** and not only had the wrong harness for the head unit, I also plugged it into the wrong connector since it had been so long since I pulled it apart. The short version is that I melted the harness that is behind the climate control and radio. It took a little time, and a couple wrong parts, but eventually I found the right harness and got everything back together.”
With those little changes, the interior was looking even better.
After sorting out a host of electronic issues following this work, however, an unexpected problem popped up.
“All of those little issues came from messing with all of that wiring at one time, so it was a little expected. What wasn’t expected was the car starting to run rough. It wasn’t too bad that day, but the more I drove it the worse it got. With the mile long service history I assumed they had done a normal tune up at some point, but I ordered up new filters (oil, air, and fuel), plugs, wires, caps, and rotors. As it turned out, they had never done any of that!”
After replacing the decades old parts, things were starting to look up.
In addition to other basic maintenance items, the OP’s future plans sound pretty exciting.
“I plan to build a turbo kit for the 1UZ. I want to retain all of the creature comforts like power steering, AC, and so on. Will probably get rid of the stock traction control. Any of the stand alones I am thinking about can do a much better job with it anyway. I know there have been a few guys to do this, but not very many. I want to do Hot Rod’s Drag Week with it once it has boost. So more or less it will be a high HP drag car that I can cruise around in comfortably.”
With a used Procharger in hand, it wasn’t long before that dream started looking like reality.
As of now, the OP is in the process of installing the blower. To catch up on his progress and see his stunning Lexus SC400 progress in the future, be sure and check out the entire build thread here!
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