mr. tetsuo's LS build thread
 

What up forum… this is my intro and progression/build thread.

A little about me:
Ive owned a 94 GS in the past that was t-boned. it was my first car and I learned to drive in it. It saved my life and its safe to say ima only buy lexus ever.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...35_1209476.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3.../accident2.jpg

Stayed 3nights in the hospital for broken ribs and collapsed lung. No battle scars fortunately. With insurance totallying out the car, I saved up more to purchase my current LS400 in late 2010.

paid $7700 with 72k miles and all maintenance records. It had some body scrapes, but it didn’t bother me too much. Most 2.5 LS were going for 10k+ at the time.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_0141.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_0142.jpg

It was a base model with no options. Which meant it was up to me to change that. First mod was LED throughout interior and plate lights.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_0067.jpg

then I switched out the steering wheel with OEM wood one. Feels so much more luxurious.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_0143.jpg

Next came in my JIC coils.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_0023.jpg


the fender dent was killing me everytime I saw it, so took it to a PDR and got it removed.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_0299.jpg

tried baking my corner blinkers to remove the orange and ending up just breaking the tabs. So ordered clear ones in the end

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_0326.jpg

then my Amistad Dish 19x9 (front) 19x10 (rear) came in. happy day.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_0056.jpg
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_0057.jpg

stupid me didn’t check for BBK clearance, so ordered ichiba V2 20mm spacer to make fit. (JIC weren’t installed yet)

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_0325.jpg

ran a K&N filter for about 1k miles and wasn’t a big fan of the drop in MPG so replaced it with OEM.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_0308.jpg

got the windows tinted 35% front and 20% rear iirc. And also put back stockies for vegas road trip.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...89179674_n.jpg

got my visors just in time for rainy socal weather.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...20147979_n.jpg

finally got my coils installed. Stance was not where I wanted it, but had to do without any fender mods.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_0545.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_0546.jpg

picked up a set of LED tails.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_0551.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...o/IMG_0552.jpg

ran over a screw on the fronts and was getting camber wear, so took off the dishes and ran my stockies. Hit a cone on the freeway and fudged my log light.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...etsuo/file.jpg

scooped up a set of Q45 retro’s.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...3DB0B32DCB.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...suo/file-2.jpg

currently how it sits with my lil guy posing.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...suo/file-1.jpg

waiting on the rest of my 93/94 brake pieces to come in then gonna “upgrade” my front brakes.
so everything came in a few days ago.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...97394FE201.jpg

-> brembo blank rotors
-> reman calipers
-> posi quiet pads

getting them installed tomorrow at Vinam. shout out to Tho for the awesomely cheap labor cost.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...5B20C8FB52.jpg

wohoo, finally installed.

painted them

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...4D990CF81D.jpg

installed megan rear toe arms

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...4D881568B5.jpg

also turned the ebay grille into a lil something something.
not fully happy with the end result, but until i can find
a better replacement, its all i have =p

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...4D787E6E30.jpg

more updates should follow soon. stay tune to
those actually following the thread lol.

took off the grill and put in some nokya yellow fogs.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...psf25ce8e3.jpg

spot reserved for build updates.. =p

Nice...:thumbup:

Are you still going to go with the Amistad Dish with fender mods? Kinda curious how the beam output is with the Q-45 projector installed. Any pics?

Right on! Love the choice of wheels :thumbup:

Sick wheels!

Nice price with those low miles there. Lovin the mods its looking great. I would also like to see pics of the Q45s in action!

wow awesome build so far! i have the same K&N air filter for my car ('98 LS400). when i got the car, the filter was very dirty and i had won a free K&N air filter for my car so i figured why not? did you really notice a drop in MPG? it's alot better than the OEM air filter, that's for sure.

This is a strong intro! lol. Sorry to hear about the accident though, atleast you're okay and with a better car! :thumbup::p

Where did you get your visors and tails? Also, how much were they if you don't mind my asking

+1 where did you get it?
Nice pick up tho thats a very good price!

thanks. Yea I wanna trim the fender just past the fender liner holes so the rest can rolls flat with no dimples. I tried to take some with my iphone buh the pics didn’t come out well. Once I find my digital camera ill take some.

thanks for the compliment guys :thumbup: I actually miss my 1GS =\

thanks. The ones on my iphone came out bad so once I find my digital camera ill post some up.

yea my city dropped by a bit but my highway improved. Im mostly on the streets so I just replaced it to a clean oem filter. You have any drop in miles?

I got the tails on ebay, the standard ones that pop up on the search. I got the visors from a vendor off VSC last year. $250 shipped.

I checked on eBay and only got the 95-97 tail lights for the LS400. IIRC I read somewhere that they dont fit. You're are different that the ones that show up as 95-97 right?