Well... do you guys like unusual builds? Or just wheels, coilovers, and obscure JDM parts like most of the builds seem to be?

I'm more of a classic car guy and of course, we like putting Chevy LS engines in everything. So, my build is a little different than your typical Club Lexus build.



A little while back, my son and I picked up this car for a song. The previous owner wanted his wheels back, and it had been hit in both the front and the rear, hence why it was so cheap...

 

Well, the Toyota UZ family of engines is awesome, so there is no reason to put a Chevy LS engine in a beat up Lexus. No, this swap is going to swap the Lexus LS into...

a crusty old Mercedes:



It looks ok on the outside, but the floor is almost completely rotted out, including all the mounts for the rear suspension.

This car is a father/son project. My son chose the Mercedes body and the LS430 as the platform to swap under it. He's been doing a lot of the work, learning to cut up and weld cars along the way.

 

Prepping the LS430 chassis. Off with it's head! er, roof.





The LS430 is longer by 7". So, I cut 6" out of the floor behind the front seats, with 1" of overlap.


And welded it back together.

 

That's an interesting project. You have a lot of Talent!!

 

The Mercedes body needed some trimming too...





OK, a lot of trimming. And it's not done here. Anything that would interfere with the Lexus chassis got cut away. Lifting with the engine cranes allowed us to lift it up and over the chassis.

 

Early test fit. More cutting and trimming.



Another test fit, more cutting and trimming.



Getting close! Test fit with the doors on. You can see here one of the biggest issues is that the belt line on modern cars is much taller than it used to be on old cars. Since we can't move the windshield any lower on the chassis, you see about four inches of the sills below the bottom of the Mercedes body. We'll eventually fabricate side skirts to hide that better and lower the car with coilovers.

 

this is the best thing ive seen on this forum

 

I can’t wait to see t.he finished product. I salute you sir

 

As you get closer to finished, it seems like the finish line just keeps getting farther and farther away.

I wanted to get the wipers sorted out since they might interfere with installing the hood. The windshield on the Mercedes is shorter and more upright, but I'm confident I can make the Lexus wiper motor work. After fiddling with them some, taking a bunch of measurements and actually drawing it up in CAD, I figured out how much I needed to adjust the length of one of the links on the motor assy.

CAD Drawing:


I've actually cut the one link that I need to lengthen already here. By adding 1/2" of length here, it reduces the arc by about 11". Also, I couldn't make the driver's side wiper work, so I'm using two passenger side wipers.




Link welded back together with an extra 1/2" and painted.




In the position I'm using these, the blade is off by about 30° which is conveniently about the same angle as the last bend. I'll cut that off and weld the arm back together. And then do it again on the other blade.



Done.



And installed. Wipers both sweep adequately and don't sweep past the edge of the windshield. If I find time, I'll shorten the driver's side a little so they are inline in the parked position. But they are good enough for now.

 

wow. just found this thread. that is an interesting idea !

 

The kid wanted to get the interior put together. No problem, right?

Well, this dash in a PITA when everything fits neatly together. It's way worse when it doesn't.. We needed to cut off about 3" off each side, and about 3" off the windshield side of the dash. We really needed to trim more, but that was getting into hard parts that we couldn't eliminate (like the airbag and HVAC vents that we needed)



After test fitting the dash literally 50 times or more, it fit OK and we thought we could get everything else to help push it in to place. It worked, but it's far from perfect. Nobody but us will likely notice. We also wrapped all the wooden bits with a vinyl wrap to make it look like brushed aluminum.




Interior is mostly "done" here. Enough that we can put the doors back on and reassemble the front end.

 

am·bi·tious
/amˈbiSHəs/
adjective

1. having or showing a strong desire and determination to succeed.
2. This is one BIG project -
3. Goodluck

 

So, it's not done yet...

But some fresh snow made for a good photo opportunity, so we drove the car out of the garage and snapped a couple pics.

 

I finally got the car in a complete enough state to take it for a spin. I drove it in to work today. Definitely has a bunch of little issues, but it drove nicely for the most part.