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^ I'd just leave the doors and hinges alone. They're an engineering masterpiece. Almost any old 2 door car has a problem with sagging doors, its always the hinge that wears out. I've never seen one of these cars with sagging doors, the hinges are built like a brick **** house.
^ I'd just leave the doors and hinges alone. They're an engineering masterpiece. Almost any old 2 door car has a problem with sagging doors, its always the hinge that wears out. I've never seen one of these cars with sagging doors, the hinges are built like a brick **** house.
I couldn't disagree more. They're terrible engineering, from the standpoint of making a situation worse to combat an unnecessary problem. They do wear out -- popping pivots and hitting the fender -- more than any other car I've experienced, and are non-serviceable for all intents and purposes.
One of the first things I did was ditch the stock seat in favor of the RX8 driver's seat that was originally in the '94 and most recently in the '98. I didn't care for how much the stock seat interfered with working the clutch, being basically a la-z-boy recliner and built up in all the wrong places. Good for sinking into and reading a book, but not so good for moving about in controlled fashion.
Also, being as I wanted to see how light I could make the '95 SC300, it made sense to ditch the stock anchor. However, after being in an all-around better seat that's equal parts firm, supportive, and comfortable, I really wasn't diggin' having the stock seat back in the '98. So, I've been looking for something to put in the '95 so the '98 could reclaim its RX8 seat.
I came across a '00-05 Celica seat in fairly good shape this week. I put one of those passenger seats in the '98, so I knew it would fit without too much modification. The front feet have to be opened up slightly, and the stock rear feet have to be attached to the Celica rails. After a few hours of work, killing a couple drill bits, and smoking the bearings in my drill, here's how she looks:
Part of the appeal of the Celica seat is how similar it is to the RX8 seat. An added bonus is it's non-powered, so it's about as light (at least 5 lbs lighter than the RX8 seat, maybe 10) as a stock seat comes. It can be moved about with ease, and if it were a bit better balanced for the purpose, could be lifted by the headrest with one hand without too much trouble.
The only potential drawback I've come across is it sits quite low. If you're 6' or taller, you'll love it. Below that, you might feel dwarfed by the size of the car.
I finally tackled centralizing the window/lock controls. It's rather time consuming to pull all the unwanted wiring through the door grommets, but it's mostly finished up now.
I had to extend the wires a bit to reach the new location, and I wasn't able to entirely eliminate the window controls on the passenger door, as I never did figure out previously how to do so without losing the ability of the driver's switch to control the passenger window. I'm not positive, but it would appear that both switches send their signal to a central source and then back to the respective actuator, and removing one switch from the equation messed up the other. All that back and forth makes for a lot of excess wires!
Of note, there are three connectors going from the drivers door to the footwell. Two blue ones go to the junction box (the smaller one on both doors is all for the mirrors and can be eliminated), and a white one goes to the bottom of the fuse panel. When unplugging that white one, presumably only while the battery is hooked up, the alarm is activated. Plugging it back in triggers the alarm. So, for the common query of how to disable the factory alarm, there could be a hint there.
Window/lock controls relocated to tranny tunnel. Unneeded mirror controls axed. I forgot to go back and scrape the unsightly adhesive left behind from peeling off the velcro for the e-brake boot.
Much stealth. Added tape in addition to sealant to the plastic; still trying to figure out where some water is coming in that's soaking through the carpet from the sill area. Don't worry, I have a plan for the mirror and its wiring.
Edit: I think I figured out the source of the continued leak. The driver's door sits 1/8" to 1/4" too far forward as a result of the damage. That's making for a partial seal along the back edge. Water is probably getting inside the lip of the weatherstrip and running down it to the carpet where it soaks in. Time to see a bodywork guy...
And now for the aforementioned mirror plans... If this isn't my best bad idea ever, then it hasn't happened yet. Featherweight, minimalist motorcycle mirrors! I only wish I had thought to do it on the green SC for full Shrek status.
I had previously used my spare set of gold mirrors to explore ideas, which ended up being the 6" round passenger side. That provided a massive field of view, but when I put the 5-panel mirror in this car, it was pretty redundant. The 5-panel covers pretty much everything you would hope to see in the side mirrors, and does so without any convex distortion. The only thing it lacks is curb visibility, since it isn't outside the car like a side mirror.
I'd been looking at the motorcycle mirrors for a while and finally decided to order a set as an experiment. It worked exactly as hoped on the passenger side, so I disassembled the matching gold base driver's mirror and did up that side. With no door cards, it takes a matter of seconds to remove the mirrors, so if the gold bugs me, I may pop them off and spray them black at some point. No point disassembling the black mirrors.
^ What was wrong with the stock mirrors??? Or were the beat up/smashed like everything else?
Nothing was wrong with them at all, which is why I left them alone and disassembled the spare gold mirrors instead.
With the 5-panel mirror I installed early on, it was quickly evident that the side mirrors would go. That's when I put my old 6" round passenger mirror experiment on while deciding what direction to go with them.
Heated mirrors are nice here because of the rain and humidity always fogging up the side mirrors. That's a non-issue for the inside mirror, though, so with the 5-panel accounting for 90% or more of the field of view, I could remove the stockers and not lose any functionality.
Then there was the ongoing removal of weight from the hefty doors. Unless you park on a significant side slope like my driveway, you don't know the pain that is trying to hold open a 90 lb door while getting out of a low bucket seat. The doors stay open on their own now. I could also remove lots of wiring and make it easier to relocate the window/lock controls.
Edit: Also, I don't much care for the stock mirrors. They look nice and compliment the shape of the car, but fall quite short in the most important area: field of view. On this car where looks aren't the top priority, the sensible thing is to experiment.
Originally Posted by freakness
I feel bad for this car. You are slowly but surely turning it into a useless piece of junk.
Please sell it to someone before it's too late.
I don't expect everyone to get my sense of humor, but you couldn't be more wrong. This car was headed to the scrap heap before I bought it -- that was the plan of the previous owner and my leaning until digging in. For my goals, it's been vastly improved in every sense. These cars come alive on a 450 lb diet!
Nothing was wrong with them at all, which is why I left them alone and disassembled the spare gold mirrors instead.
With the 5-panel mirror I installed early on, it was quickly evident that the side mirrors would go. That's when I put my old 6" round passenger mirror experiment on while deciding what direction to go with them.
Heated mirrors are nice here because of the rain and humidity always fogging up the side mirrors. That's a non-issue for the inside mirror, though, so with the 5-panel accounting for 90% or more of the field of view, I could remove the stockers and not lose any functionality.
Then there was the ongoing removal of weight from the hefty doors. Unless you park on a significant side slope like my driveway, you don't know the pain that is trying to hold open a 90 lb door while getting out of a low bucket seat. The doors stay open on their own now. I could also remove lots of wiring and make it easier to relocate the window/lock controls.
I don't expect everyone to get my sense of humor, but you couldn't be more wrong. This car was headed to the scrap heap before I bought it -- that was the plan of the previous owner and my leaning until digging in. For my goals, it's been vastly improved in every sense. These cars come alive on a 450 lb diet!
Dude,
Good humor makes people laugh. Instead, I'm seeing someone trash an already damaged vehicle to the point of no-return. When you sell it for parts, I hope there's something left of value.
Good humor makes people laugh. Instead, I'm seeing someone trash an already damaged vehicle to the point of no-return. When you sell it for parts, I hope there's something left of value.
You're entitled to your opinion. I care for it about as much as you care for what I've done with the car. The driveline is worth more than what I paid for it, and I have no hesitation in saying that I've added value, not taken it away. For example, if someone wanted a cheap track toy, they wouldn't find a better starting point.
Until you sit in the car and experience the improvement, it does little good to judge it.
One of the biggest weak points of this forum is the general inability of many members to grasp or acknowledge that not everyone shares their vision of what a Lexus should be.
Edit: Hopefully, you see the irony in that first sentence... Your starting every post with "dude" gets nothing but groans.
I like it, that ish is hot!! I'd be tempted to find another drivers side fender for it and slap it on.
See, now that sort of feedback I can appreciate. Whether you're being serious or sarcastic doesn't really matter. It's a 20 year old, twice-wrecked, inefficient enthusiast's car. If you can't have fun with it, what's the point?
I'm still on the lookout for a black fender. The closest I've found is a black one with gold pinstripe, but at a price that I'd rather just pick up a mismatched color when one turns up. I'll take a crumpled one if the local wrecking yard ever gets another SC in... The fender liner, bumper, and headlight are supported by zip ties and plastic hanger strap in the meantime.
being totally serious, these cars are meant to be used whether its stripped down for weight or built up into a show car.
sitting on someones driveway waiting to be parted out or in a junk yard is where the crime is.
I think the pin stripe comes off with some heat, but there will be a color fade where it used to be.
I ripped out half the factory stuff on my vette already, I can see the purists cringe when I take it to shows..
at the end of the day its really all about what I like, the factory stuff was cool... like 30 years ago
Wow, you might be even more brave than me. Defacing a classic Vette... Knowing you, though, I'm sure everything taken out was carefully preserved and reversible.
They may not all be the same, but the factory pinstripe on my '94 was under the clear coat. It took a lot of careful wet sanding to remove, and somewhat blemished the paint in the process. (There was also a flaking stick-on pinstripe over it that I removed first and was surprised to see the original one below.) If I have to drive 3 hrs for a fender, I'd prefer it be the right color or at least a very good price.
There's actually a complete mess of a black SC nearby that has all the parts I need, but it's an all or nothing deal and I'm not really looking forward to a speed part-out in freezing, wet weather. Can't save 'em all!
Well I wouldn't say carefully or easily reversible.. but I guess it could be done, I threw it all in a couple big boxes lol.
It is a classic but I bought a non numbers matching engine car so I can do stuff to it like that... If It was a numbers matching car I would probably feel a little bad, but not as bad as my bank account =)
didn't realize they would clear over the pinstripe, that is nuts. I'm sure one will come up sooner or later or just go wide fenders =) probably shed a few pounds also
11-06-16, 10:47 PM
