Hey guys, greetings from Houston! I just bought a 97 ls400, 80k on motor, 170 body. 8/10 exterior (mainly just the paint, body is really good, and found out steering wheel wont go down :/) and 9/10 interior (driver seat and center console leather wear). Apparently $3200 is a steal from iv heard. I really just bought the car on a whim and i needed car bad.
I don't know much about these cars and tripped on this forum by accident. but I'm glad i did. you guys are really knowledgeable, and very nice compared to my older forums. looking forward to growing with you guys.

Being a student and working full time, this will be a slow build :/ but i have plenty planned and it will be a head turner. Also open to ideas, the more the better! I will post stock pics soon (probably tomorrow !

 

Glad to hear about the pick up. We look forward to your progress.

 

I know it probably dumb question, but is putting a bumper from the 98 model possible on my 97? i just really love how that bumper looks and the fog lights

 

Not without some some modifications. Mainly since the headlights are different. It has been done by a couple of members on the forum so just search for it and you should find a couple of threads.

 

I gave it a quick search last night but no luck. I'll do a more thorough search today, but thanks for letting me know its possible!

 

Here are some stock pics of my baby. Still thinking of a name for her. Took these pics with my phone at the car wash, I normally hand wash but since the car new and haven't done anything nice yet to it, figured why not just get light washed to take decent pictures to post.



theres the slight front bumper paint damage but I'll be paint sometime, if not swapped for newer style bumper.



Pretty much all the leather damage I have. Worth upholstery or I've read about these seat covers, opinions?


hood pumps haven't broken in. :/ Got them put in right after I bought the car.


my roof and trunk has this weird paint thing going on... Should I repaint or is there another way to make it look a bit better? I've heard there is compound for it, or something like that.

All in all, super excited for this car. I'm open to all comments and opinions.

 

My lovely engine, a little dirty but wiped it down with some armourall. I found out that my id plate was held down by one 10mm chrome nut. Previous owner must have been bad with hardware.


Took off my id plate and cleaned it. The sensor is found behind all the horizontal cables running in the front of the engine bay


LEFT SIDE: Take of this cover, 10mm. (coilpack) This gives some more clearance

wtf?



RIGHT SIDE: same as other side, but 4 screws, also 10mm


This was kind of sitting there, not really mounted. But our sensor is under this, so pull it back carefully


And here we are! The sensor. Well it is the top view of it. Remove that green harness plug from over it to reveal the sensor.



My sensor was super brittle when I touched it wiggled, pretty much broken. So I just snapped it off and took my 19mm aka 3/4 socket to it and removed the bottom half of the sensor. NOTE: A little coolant will come out.



That is what you should be looking at after you pull the sensor out. One fellow member had a washer that came with his sensor, mine did not have one! Make sure you don't the loose factory washer if your sensor was like mine and did not come with a washer. Now it is just reverse order from here

Good luck, fairly easy and straightforward. Any feedback on my DIY, it is my first one ever. I apologize for the picture quality, they were a little rushed with my phone. I wanted to take more pictures but I rushed because of work, then after I packed up, showered and was getting ready, my client rescheduled on me

 

I changed my airfilter also, looked 100 years old. 14 to be exact, honestly looked like it never was changed. I wish I took a picture of it, but didn't realize till after I got home and forgot i threw it away at the part store.

Checked my bulbs too! i was confused when I found, 3 bulbs and a regular halogen. I have never seen so many bulbs in a single headlight. I changed the low beam, H4 and I'll probably change the 9006 bulb also this weekend. And leds in corner lights.


I wanted 6k but for some reason they came out blueish. Don't like it... But HIDS need time to settle in, so I'll wait.

 

I found these wheels for $700 with the tires a while back, I couldn't pass it up. I find them online and on instagram for about 2k, without shipping... These were a local set, and the only set I've ever seen on craigslist.



These are 20's 9.5 all the way around. With a tire size of... wait for it.... 225/35! Ridiculous, i know, but I bought them like that. And out of excitement, I rode on those tires on my old car and ended shredding a tire and cracking a rim. Yes I know I am an idiot.
So now they have been sitting in my garage. I will jb weld the rims sometime, (very thin crack and small) and I NEED new tires. But I want to know the best size for them. Any options? I do have some 275/50 or 55 I think, but I feel they would be too big. What do you guys recommend to go with?

 

Look forward to more posts. I also have a 97. As far as a 98 bumper, I've heard of people cutting it in half horizontal where the chrome trim is and mounting just the bottom half. I also run a 20x8.5 with 225/35. No issues yet.

 

that sounds like an interesting idea! and mine is 9.5, that in matters my wheels are poking and they are getting scratched up bad. They were on a crown victoria, which is reasonably heavier than the ls400 but I do not want to risk blowing a tire again. And I have been to florida, maimi, orlando, tampa, and daytona, you guys have great roads. in houston, once you get to close to downtown, the roads are terrible.

 

i have these exact wheels on my 93 besides with 8.5 up front
im trying to sell them as we speak tho haha
its a little too big for my taste but i love tucking them with no effort
they will look great on there! i am running the 225/35 all around on the 8.5/9.5
test fit a 255/35 also which looked great with no issues other when heavily lowered/tucking
id probably keep them if i had 9.5s up front haha
i test fit with an inch spacer up front and was VERY tight

 

hmm i think ill shop around for 255/40. Does anyone know any good stores online? And there is still the matter of getting rid of my other 3 225/35 tires. anyone want to buy them? They have about 90% thread on them

 

i just got some cheapo chinese tires off ebay since i knew i wouldnt be keeping them long enough to spend more than 300-350 for a set of 4
not sure how easy a 40 sidewall will be to find

heres a pic for reference showing the 255/35 on the right rear tire

 

uff those wheels are so sexy and so is the car. That is a great shot btw. I cant wait to get them on. I made a bunch of calls and found a few places that can give me 245/35 or 255/35 for about 400-450 installed. I need to start saving