I have been lurking on this forum for a few months now, just made an account a few weeks back. I've really liked the idea of drifting a sedan for a while now, after seeing countless videos from japan of people sliding JZX100's and Aristo's, I kinda decided to take the plunge.

I sold my 1992 240sx drift car, here's a link to build on Slamburglars, car only saw the track a handful of times, I'm a big fan of street drifting.

http://slamburglars.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=1378

I decided I wanted to use an LS400 as the chassis for my drift build, looked around craigslist, found this 1996 Lexus LS400 for $1700 just a few miles away in St Pete. The car had been in a front end collision, driver side quarter panel has a dent in it, but this is the best kind of car to start with for a drift build, I would hate to mess up a nice car! I started parting out my S13, selling just about everything leaving me with basically just the metal that's left of it.


I picked up the LS, towed it home, the owner said it sounded like the water pump was on its way out, turned out to just be the fan clutch bracket, the bearing was bad. I did the water pump, timing belt, front main seal, caps/rotors/plugs/plug wires, fan clutch bracket, valve cover gaskets, cleaned up everything. I put my HKS filter on (JDM lol).


I traded the MB Battles that were on my S13 for a set of 19x10.5 +15 all around SSR Type C RS wheels. I got some Stickers from SSR, and some SSR Professor center caps, the wheels are currently sitting at the powdercoater's shop. I just need to get some good fitting tires.


Sold the Bride seat and hub, bought a pair of Sparco Evo2 Plus's! I also picked up an IS300 MOMO hub, I'm probably going to sell it and make a custom extension/hub to sit further back. I installed my Nardi 350mm Leather wheel and Circuit Sports quick release into the car. I also picked up a bunch of Donjer Flocking materials. I'm going to be flocking the front door panels and dash/center console in black suede. I already did the steering column cover, it came out very good! Also picked up a CNC Hydro ebrake used.



I ordered a pair of fenders from Dallas Auto, paid $250 shipped for a pair of pretty good shape black UCF20 fenders. I got a pair of corner lights, clear bumper lights and some 6000k HID's for the car.


I'm going to be running BC Racing EXTREME LOW coilovers 18/16 spring rates, might even throw the 18kg spring in the rear and pick up a pair of 20kg Swift Springs. My power steering pump leaks terribly, I need to get that fixed soon. Diff will be welded within a week, I'm going to be doing ABS Delete and hooking up the CNC hydro.

I'll update this with more pics and updates as I get more stuff done.

 

interesting start, withholding judgment for both mature pictures and action videos.

5speed swap when?

before and after weights yes?

 

The SSR's are being powdercoated gloss white, I'm basically going for the look of this car but in a Lexus Sedan form. I'm doing Nissan OEM paint, Platinum Ice Metallic Clearcoat ( KG1) and Dark Gray Metallic Clearcoat (463). This is the color that came on early single cam S13 coupes!

 

I'm going to be putting a 1jz in the car most likely. That's the plan as of now. I'm going to have it weight this week with everything everything in it. Then we'll get a after weight in a few weeks when I gut everything. ABS delete, nothing from the rear seats back. I already ditched the stock radiator and overflow, Im running a MK3 Supra radiator.

 

im in st.pete, nice to see someone else putting the ls400 sexy body to good use. can't wait to see the end product. i am making mine a 5 spd but keeping the 1uz. slowly but surely it is getting done.

 

Cool. I agree, you'll for sure have a problem with the power levels the 1UZ puts out, even with an R swap. Most of the people you see sliding Toyota's around have the 2J, 1J or even the 7M, but a rare few in a V8 and those are mostly AE86s. You could fabricate some custom headers for your S13 kit, but having been there, check my thread, you should just swap. But be sure to rip the turbo setup off your S13 and save it for a rainy day. The other part that's going to make it tough to drift in stock form is the open 3.27 diff. If it's seriously going to be a drift car, and not a daily, you should just weld up the stock diff, and possibly find a lower ring gear like a 4.27 out of a SC300 5-speed I believe. If your not already, you should become familiar with SupraForums as more of your performance parts will likely come from there. Especially since your drifting, pretty much anything that can be said about a Supra, has some relevance to the LS400, like the transmission, rear end, etc. The MK3 radiator is pretty much the same dimensions as the LS, you can't be saving much weight there. There's a ton of stuff to rip out back there, but won't you want some weight back there to make it closer to a 50/50 weight distribution? Good luck, with patience and hard work, you can do just about anything.

 

Im planning on running a stock 1JZ, with the car gutted (aiming for 3300lbs). Good suspension and proper alignment specs!

 

Dude...I PM'd you the contact info for the white fenders. Im sure the guy would have charged less and they were painted the right color.

 

I had already ordered the fenders when you sent that. Im getting the car painted very soon.

 

I'm just trying to get coils on this thing, weld the diff and hit the streets. After that, I'll start acquiring parts for the 1jz swap. I've been doing some research, shouldn't be that much money to get the whole swap going. I'm aiming for less than $3500 full swap. I don't like jumping into things, so I'll most likely just chill and hop on good deals when they come up.

Soarer front sump 1JZ-GTE
R154
Custom shifter extension (I'll make)
Decent clutch setup
Walbro 255lph
New fuel line setup
1 Piece Driveshaft
2jz motor mounts
Harness conversion (Free )
Intercooler/Piping/Clamps/Couplers
Downpipe, 3" Stainless exhaust with Cherry Bomb 87719 Muffler (I'll make)
Tilton Pedals (PRICEY)

 

the swap will cost you more than 3500 unless you find some killer killer deals i just finished my 1jz swap in a 91 ls400 it is pricey even with the auto transmission but it is an easy swap none the less i did all of the work my self all im waiting on is the driveshaft it will be here this week then i can finnaly drive it

 

Can't wait to see how this turns out!

 

I don't know which one is the front and which one is the rear on the master cylinder for the UCF20's... I made this diagram for the abs delete.

 

Rip E-brake son! Check out this thread of fluffy bunnyz LS400 Drift build. You could probably find some useful info in there.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/dri...ift-build.html

 

Really curious to see how this comes out...