The BrokeEF SC400 build thread
06-21-17, 11:25 AM
#1
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
The BrokeEF SC400 build thread
Well I figure its time to start up a build thread for my 1993 SC400. I have had it about a year now, and have been taking care of small issues and improvements so far. Lets just dive into the pics since that is why everyone is here 
Picking it up
Got that wood grain!
This car was in immaculate shape, especially for being a Chicago car. The last owner had it since almost new (a few years old) and took it to the dealer for EVERYTHING.
I kept it by a buddy for a while after I first got it. At least it was in good company
Here are a couple shots with a decent camera after I got it home.
So some of the first things I needed to fix included the sagging factory splash shield. I ordered up one with all new hardware from JZZ30 and swapped it out.
After that I kinda stopped taking pics as I worked. Not too much exciting really, and I will add what pics I have as we go along. I ended up removing the tint from the front two windows. You can see in some of the pics (maybe) that it was cracked (I edited it out in the nice side pic) and eventually it started peeling back. For anyone wondering how to remove tint, I tried most of the common methods (heat, razor blade, ammonia, etc.) but 409 worked AMAZING! Nothing else made a dent, and that took off both layers with ease. After that I was kind of forced to remove the old alarm/remote start. The battery would drain down while sitting, and one day when I needed to move it the alarm decided to go off when I hooked up the charger. The remotes never worked, so I cut out the three (yes 3) horns and figured out which of the four (yes 4) switches under the dash would work as a bypass. I do have some pics of this whole process, so here we go!
This is most of the wiring I pulled out of the car
You may have noticed that the cluster was missing in those pics as well. I pulled that first and sent it out to Tanin Auto Electronics to get repaired (bad speedo) and upgrade the lighting to all white with red V3 needles. Here is a quick shot when I checked the lighting after getting it back.
Then I kinda went a little overboard.
While it was mostly apart I decided to do a head unit, Popperformance LXCC, IS300 steering wheel, and a couple other small things. Unfortunatly I was a dumb *** and not only had the wrong harness for the head unit, I also plugged it into the wrong connector since it had been so long since I pulled it apart. The short version is that I melted the harness that is behind the climate control and radio. It tool a little time, and a couple wrong parts, but eventually I found the right harness and got everything back together.
I need to get some new pics showing everything all done. I had to modify the IS300 cruise control stalk to work with my car since the older stalk would not swap over. I also modified one of the buttons on the wheel to be able to control something later. I changed the left hand (headlight) stalk to a 95-96 piece so I could have a factory fog light switch. I local member also hooked me up with the IS wheel, 95-96 tail lights, shifter bezel, and ashtray. I have to say, all of the local Lexus guys I have met so far have been awesome!
This seems like a long enough post, so I will end it here. I will update a little later with more recent mods/issues, and also with my overall plan. Trust me, the plan is not to do just simple mods and maintenance
Until then, let me know what you all think!
Thanks,
Sean
Picking it up
Got that wood grain!
This car was in immaculate shape, especially for being a Chicago car. The last owner had it since almost new (a few years old) and took it to the dealer for EVERYTHING.
I kept it by a buddy for a while after I first got it. At least it was in good company
Here are a couple shots with a decent camera after I got it home.
So some of the first things I needed to fix included the sagging factory splash shield. I ordered up one with all new hardware from JZZ30 and swapped it out.
After that I kinda stopped taking pics as I worked. Not too much exciting really, and I will add what pics I have as we go along. I ended up removing the tint from the front two windows. You can see in some of the pics (maybe) that it was cracked (I edited it out in the nice side pic) and eventually it started peeling back. For anyone wondering how to remove tint, I tried most of the common methods (heat, razor blade, ammonia, etc.) but 409 worked AMAZING! Nothing else made a dent, and that took off both layers with ease. After that I was kind of forced to remove the old alarm/remote start. The battery would drain down while sitting, and one day when I needed to move it the alarm decided to go off when I hooked up the charger. The remotes never worked, so I cut out the three (yes 3) horns and figured out which of the four (yes 4) switches under the dash would work as a bypass. I do have some pics of this whole process, so here we go!
This is most of the wiring I pulled out of the car
You may have noticed that the cluster was missing in those pics as well. I pulled that first and sent it out to Tanin Auto Electronics to get repaired (bad speedo) and upgrade the lighting to all white with red V3 needles. Here is a quick shot when I checked the lighting after getting it back.
Then I kinda went a little overboard.
While it was mostly apart I decided to do a head unit, Popperformance LXCC, IS300 steering wheel, and a couple other small things. Unfortunatly I was a dumb *** and not only had the wrong harness for the head unit, I also plugged it into the wrong connector since it had been so long since I pulled it apart. The short version is that I melted the harness that is behind the climate control and radio. It tool a little time, and a couple wrong parts, but eventually I found the right harness and got everything back together.
I need to get some new pics showing everything all done. I had to modify the IS300 cruise control stalk to work with my car since the older stalk would not swap over. I also modified one of the buttons on the wheel to be able to control something later. I changed the left hand (headlight) stalk to a 95-96 piece so I could have a factory fog light switch. I local member also hooked me up with the IS wheel, 95-96 tail lights, shifter bezel, and ashtray. I have to say, all of the local Lexus guys I have met so far have been awesome!
This seems like a long enough post, so I will end it here. I will update a little later with more recent mods/issues, and also with my overall plan. Trust me, the plan is not to do just simple mods and maintenance
Until then, let me know what you all think!Thanks,
Sean
06-21-17, 11:58 AM
#3
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
Sean
06-22-17, 07:04 AM
#4
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
Time for round two of boring updates on my car. I will go over my general plans with the car at the end of this post as well.
I kind of jumped ahead in the last post, but I found a few pics that fill in what happened. I got the car slapped back together for a local SC meet, and had a few things left to iron out. Here is a shot when I took it for a drive after getting it back in one piece.
You can see the wood ashtray still, head unit and LXCC are off (still had wiring problems), and a lot of lights on the dash on. I never connected the air bag when I did the IS wheel, and I changed the tail lights to all LED so I had a lamp out light. The stalk was also not installed right, so the high beams were kinda stuck on. I was able to move it to get the light to go off to take the pic, but it came right back on after. Still went to the meet anyway just to get out in my car again, and see the local SC guys.
After that, I got her back home and torn down again to fix the miscellaneous issues I had. Some time with a multi meter got the head unit mostly sorted out, but I actually still need to find a different constant 12v since the LXCC isn't retaining its memory. I then got the stalk installed properly so that everything works the way it should, and got the steering wheel on straight (it was off 1 tooth). I ended up removing the inflator from the airbag, so the light is still on until I pull the bulb out. My biggest problem was lighting though, and not just the LED bulbs. I changed the rear bulbs to regular incandescent bulbs which got rid of my dash light, and made the signals blink a little slower. I had a bad HID balast which was blowing fuses, and making me thing my problem was bigger. After I diagnosed and replaced the balast I figured out that my front marker lights never come on. I still haven't sorted that out, but I have some ideas to test out. That doesn't explain why my turn signals are still fast, but I can live with that for now.
All of those little issues came from messing with all of that wiring at one time, so it was a little expected. What wasn't expected was the car starting to run rough. It wasn't too bad that day, but the more I drove it the worse it got. With the mile long service history I assumed they had done a normal tune up at some point, but I ordered up new filters (oil, air, and fuel), plugs, wires, caps, and rotors. As it turned out, they had never done any of that!
Original 1992 plug wires!
New caps, rotors, and plugs installed. Wires are only half on because I thought I might have to take everything apart again...
While installing the cap on the passenger side, I dropped one of the bolts that hold it on. There was no way to be sure, but I was fairly positive it went down into the timing covers. I searched all around, probed with a magnet, and was not able to find it at all. I was then left to debate the best course of action. Order all the parts to do a timing belt and water pump, and start tear down? Start tear down and order those parts only if I end up getting that far? Throw caution to the wind and hope that it either didn't get into the timing cover, or that if it did it somehow wouldn't get pulled into the belt a trash my motor? After a few days of thinking about this, I ended up ordering a borescope camera and found the offending bolt.
It WAS in the timing cover, and down far enough where I needed something to curve around to be able to get at it. The camera came with a magnet attachment which I promptly threw on and went back in.
What a relief! It does need a timing belt and water pump, but not so bad that I need to do it right now. I am glad I didn't have to spend the time and money tearing everything apart to get that bolt back! I will probably finish up the tune up tonight since I have been busy the last few days and haven't had time to work on it.
In other exciting news, while all of the tune up drama was happening I got some more cool parts!
These things are so damn nice! I plan to send my lights in to have him install the lenses along with some other things. I didn't want to risk not being able to get the clear lenses later on, so I bought these now just to be safe. The plan is to send them out over winter to get all done up. In the meantime I just have to deal with my dated (IMO) looking stock lights.
So now that we are caught up with what I have been doing with my car in the year I have owned it, lets talk about the plans for it. There still are a handful of more maintenance type things it needs, like a AC compressor (works but leaks), heater valve actuator, new tints, etc. That is all pretty boring though, just like this post has been so far. What you see coming up first is likely the finishing of the stereo which will also include relocating the battery to the trunk. I already have some LS400 calipers, and a new rebuild kit from Lexus so those will get torn down and powder coated before reassembly and installation. Thing will start to get fund when I do the complete suspension with pretty much anything Figs makes, as well as some coil overs (haven't decided who's yet). Then will come the REALLY fun stuff, like fuel, stand alone, custom turbo kit, built trans, rear end and so on.
I plan to build a turbo kit for the 1UZ, and retain all of the creature comforts like power steering, AC, and so on. I will probably get rid of the stock traction control since any of the stand alone's I am thinking about can do a much better job with it anyway. I know there has been a few guys to do this, but not very many. I want to do Hot Rod's drag week with it once it has boost. So more or less it will be a high HP drag car that I can cruise around in comfortably. For anyone wondering, this will not be my first time doing any of this. Here is the last car I built with a buddy (his car, my fabrication)
https://ls1tech.com/forums/drag-raci...ld-thread.html
That starts after we had already finished and run the first turbo kit. This car will be harder in many ways, mostly just because of space. It is already tight in there, and wanting to keep a lot of things makes it that much harder. If it was easy, everyone would do it though
That is all for now. I should have some better pics of everything this weekend. We are having another SC meet, and I will be able to stick around longer this time so I can grab some better shots of my car and the others that will be there.
Thanks for following along, a LOT more to come!
Sean
I kind of jumped ahead in the last post, but I found a few pics that fill in what happened. I got the car slapped back together for a local SC meet, and had a few things left to iron out. Here is a shot when I took it for a drive after getting it back in one piece.
You can see the wood ashtray still, head unit and LXCC are off (still had wiring problems), and a lot of lights on the dash on. I never connected the air bag when I did the IS wheel, and I changed the tail lights to all LED so I had a lamp out light. The stalk was also not installed right, so the high beams were kinda stuck on. I was able to move it to get the light to go off to take the pic, but it came right back on after. Still went to the meet anyway just to get out in my car again, and see the local SC guys.
After that, I got her back home and torn down again to fix the miscellaneous issues I had. Some time with a multi meter got the head unit mostly sorted out, but I actually still need to find a different constant 12v since the LXCC isn't retaining its memory. I then got the stalk installed properly so that everything works the way it should, and got the steering wheel on straight (it was off 1 tooth). I ended up removing the inflator from the airbag, so the light is still on until I pull the bulb out. My biggest problem was lighting though, and not just the LED bulbs. I changed the rear bulbs to regular incandescent bulbs which got rid of my dash light, and made the signals blink a little slower. I had a bad HID balast which was blowing fuses, and making me thing my problem was bigger. After I diagnosed and replaced the balast I figured out that my front marker lights never come on. I still haven't sorted that out, but I have some ideas to test out. That doesn't explain why my turn signals are still fast, but I can live with that for now.
All of those little issues came from messing with all of that wiring at one time, so it was a little expected. What wasn't expected was the car starting to run rough. It wasn't too bad that day, but the more I drove it the worse it got. With the mile long service history I assumed they had done a normal tune up at some point, but I ordered up new filters (oil, air, and fuel), plugs, wires, caps, and rotors. As it turned out, they had never done any of that!
Original 1992 plug wires!
New caps, rotors, and plugs installed. Wires are only half on because I thought I might have to take everything apart again...
While installing the cap on the passenger side, I dropped one of the bolts that hold it on. There was no way to be sure, but I was fairly positive it went down into the timing covers. I searched all around, probed with a magnet, and was not able to find it at all. I was then left to debate the best course of action. Order all the parts to do a timing belt and water pump, and start tear down? Start tear down and order those parts only if I end up getting that far? Throw caution to the wind and hope that it either didn't get into the timing cover, or that if it did it somehow wouldn't get pulled into the belt a trash my motor? After a few days of thinking about this, I ended up ordering a borescope camera and found the offending bolt.
It WAS in the timing cover, and down far enough where I needed something to curve around to be able to get at it. The camera came with a magnet attachment which I promptly threw on and went back in.
What a relief! It does need a timing belt and water pump, but not so bad that I need to do it right now. I am glad I didn't have to spend the time and money tearing everything apart to get that bolt back! I will probably finish up the tune up tonight since I have been busy the last few days and haven't had time to work on it.
In other exciting news, while all of the tune up drama was happening I got some more cool parts!
These things are so damn nice! I plan to send my lights in to have him install the lenses along with some other things. I didn't want to risk not being able to get the clear lenses later on, so I bought these now just to be safe. The plan is to send them out over winter to get all done up. In the meantime I just have to deal with my dated (IMO) looking stock lights.
So now that we are caught up with what I have been doing with my car in the year I have owned it, lets talk about the plans for it. There still are a handful of more maintenance type things it needs, like a AC compressor (works but leaks), heater valve actuator, new tints, etc. That is all pretty boring though, just like this post has been so far
. What you see coming up first is likely the finishing of the stereo which will also include relocating the battery to the trunk. I already have some LS400 calipers, and a new rebuild kit from Lexus so those will get torn down and powder coated before reassembly and installation. Thing will start to get fund when I do the complete suspension with pretty much anything Figs makes, as well as some coil overs (haven't decided who's yet). Then will come the REALLY fun stuff, like fuel, stand alone, custom turbo kit, built trans, rear end and so on.I plan to build a turbo kit for the 1UZ, and retain all of the creature comforts like power steering, AC, and so on. I will probably get rid of the stock traction control since any of the stand alone's I am thinking about can do a much better job with it anyway. I know there has been a few guys to do this, but not very many. I want to do Hot Rod's drag week with it once it has boost. So more or less it will be a high HP drag car that I can cruise around in comfortably. For anyone wondering, this will not be my first time doing any of this. Here is the last car I built with a buddy (his car, my fabrication)
https://ls1tech.com/forums/drag-raci...ld-thread.html
That starts after we had already finished and run the first turbo kit. This car will be harder in many ways, mostly just because of space. It is already tight in there, and wanting to keep a lot of things makes it that much harder. If it was easy, everyone would do it though
That is all for now. I should have some better pics of everything this weekend. We are having another SC meet, and I will be able to stick around longer this time so I can grab some better shots of my car and the others that will be there.
Thanks for following along, a LOT more to come!
Sean
06-23-17, 11:26 AM
#5
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
Well I got back to finishing my tune up for a little bit last night. As I was routing the plug wires I noticed this little gem
I figured I probably should fix that up while everything is apart. I knew the alarm/remote start had some wires over there, but I didn't think it was so bad. I did also kind of forget about them if I am honest. No worries, just need to free up that harness a bit so I can work on it easier and I will chop out those sections of wire and fix it up. Also, just as a public service announcement, don't ever use engine dressing!!!! I am sure this car has been having it put on for its entire life. It is a nightmare working on it since your hands are covered in black **** instantly.
That's it for now
Sean
I figured I probably should fix that up while everything is apart. I knew the alarm/remote start had some wires over there, but I didn't think it was so bad. I did also kind of forget about them if I am honest. No worries, just need to free up that harness a bit so I can work on it easier and I will chop out those sections of wire and fix it up. Also, just as a public service announcement, don't ever use engine dressing!!!! I am sure this car has been having it put on for its entire life. It is a nightmare working on it since your hands are covered in black **** instantly.
That's it for now
Sean
06-25-17, 05:55 PM
#6
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
Got the tune up done on Saturday, of course with a couple hiccups. About half way done getting everything buttoned back up.
All done!
Fired it up and it was missing :/ So I pulled apart the driver side hoping that it was crossed up on that side.
Of course it wouldn't be on the easy side. I pulled the wire off of #3 and it ran the same, which told me I had 3 & 5 wrong on passenger side distributor. So I pulled it all apart again in record time, got them swapped and it ran like a top! After I got that straightened up took it to get it cleaned up and ready for the SC meet today.
I really should have nabbed more pics, there was quite a few more cars that showed up. I think we all told there was about a dozen SC's that came out. Then on the way home I got to see this...
It must have just happened since they were climbing out of the car as I pulled up. There was already 4 or 5 cars pulled over and everyone seemed OK. There was a BMW that had front end damage in front of the toll booth. My guess is that the SUV tried to cut over and clipped the BMW and then lost control and hit the divider.
Anyway, that it on the SC front for this weekend. Really hoping I start having some worthwhile updates soon.
Sean
All done!
Fired it up and it was missing :/ So I pulled apart the driver side hoping that it was crossed up on that side.
Of course it wouldn't be on the easy side. I pulled the wire off of #3 and it ran the same, which told me I had 3 & 5 wrong on passenger side distributor. So I pulled it all apart again in record time, got them swapped and it ran like a top! After I got that straightened up took it to get it cleaned up and ready for the SC meet today.
I really should have nabbed more pics, there was quite a few more cars that showed up. I think we all told there was about a dozen SC's that came out. Then on the way home I got to see this...
It must have just happened since they were climbing out of the car as I pulled up. There was already 4 or 5 cars pulled over and everyone seemed OK. There was a BMW that had front end damage in front of the toll booth. My guess is that the SUV tried to cut over and clipped the BMW and then lost control and hit the divider.
Anyway, that it on the SC front for this weekend. Really hoping I start having some worthwhile updates soon.
Sean
06-26-17, 06:27 AM
#9
I like that head unit a lot. Im going through most of the stuff now that you just did. (ie tune up, correcting the crap wiring, previous owner mess ups). I have a questions about the instrument cluster repair that you had done at Tanin. How long did that entire process take? My speedo is out and the needles on the tach/speedo dont work. I also plan on sending in my climate control unit to repair the bulbs.
06-26-17, 06:38 AM
#10
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
I like that head unit a lot. Im going through most of the stuff now that you just did. (ie tune up, correcting the crap wiring, previous owner mess ups). I have a questions about the instrument cluster repair that you had done at Tanin. How long did that entire process take? My speedo is out and the needles on the tach/speedo dont work. I also plan on sending in my climate control unit to repair the bulbs.
The repair was pretty quick, but I would contact them and see what the lead times are since they change quite a bit. They were great to deal with, and communicated very well. They even came in on a Saturday (when they are usually closed) so I could drop off my cluster in person. Great people to do business with for sure.Sean
12-04-17, 11:22 AM
#12
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
Its been a while, but its finally update time! I have been busy for months now working on other projects and stuff around the house. This weekend I dedicated all of my time to the car finally! This is going to be cell phone pics for now, but I have been grabbing some with my SLR as I go along as well and I will post those later.
A few months ago I was able to snag a Procharger P1SC from a local seller for a great price. As you can see it came with the headunit, fish bracket, Tial blow off valve, piping and an intercooler.
It was pretty rough for my standards, but the blower isn't damaged, and the blow off valve even has the correct supercharger spring so I am happy. I am going to send the headunit to Procharger to be gone though and possibly some other work. I will be making new spacers for the blower and the bracket, and possibly a new bracket all together (more on that in a sec) I am also going to do a new intercooler and all new piping. Not sure if I am going to make my own intercooler, or just buy one yet. Anyway, on to the actual work!
Sitting in the garage ready to be torn down
One last pic before I start the tear down
And it begins!
Almost to the point I could start seeing how the bracket lays out.
So I went and took the blower off of the bracket to make my life easier. Precision was not a word known to whoever drilled these holes
The hardware was not much better
Moving on from that, I changed gears and decided to pull off the bumper and the headlights.
Once that was done, it was time to get back to the teardown in the bay. That fan pump was a pain in my ***
I pried it this far out of frustration. Don't do this! There was still one bolt that was holding it in. I didn't see it until the next day after I pulled off the oil filter. Unfortunately it broke the boss on the AC compressor from prying it so hard. Lucky for me I needed to replace the compressor anyway, but I should have walked away before I started prying on it regardless.
Much better!
Next issue to tackle, bracket/body interference
I put the blower back on the bracket to get some idea of if that would hit anything. This was not clocked correctly, just thrown on there.
Then I cut a bit of the inner fender, and it all fits! This is probably close to how I will situate the blower, but could change.
Cut a bit more than I needed, but I will make that all nice again anyway.
There is still a ton of **** I need to remove and/or relocate to make way for everything. I need to get the LS400 pieces to replace the fan pump stuff, and then new hardware to hold that and the blower bracket. Like I said I have a lot to do with the blower and bracket themselves as well as the hardware for it all. Once I can get everything mounted properly then I can start building the intercooler and piping. Anyway that is all I have for now. It shouldn't be so long between updates now
Sean
A few months ago I was able to snag a Procharger P1SC from a local seller for a great price. As you can see it came with the headunit, fish bracket, Tial blow off valve, piping and an intercooler.
It was pretty rough for my standards, but the blower isn't damaged, and the blow off valve even has the correct supercharger spring so I am happy. I am going to send the headunit to Procharger to be gone though and possibly some other work. I will be making new spacers for the blower and the bracket, and possibly a new bracket all together (more on that in a sec) I am also going to do a new intercooler and all new piping. Not sure if I am going to make my own intercooler, or just buy one yet. Anyway, on to the actual work!
Sitting in the garage ready to be torn down
One last pic before I start the tear down
And it begins!
Almost to the point I could start seeing how the bracket lays out.
So I went and took the blower off of the bracket to make my life easier. Precision was not a word known to whoever drilled these holes
The hardware was not much better
Moving on from that, I changed gears and decided to pull off the bumper and the headlights.
Once that was done, it was time to get back to the teardown in the bay. That fan pump was a pain in my ***
I pried it this far out of frustration. Don't do this! There was still one bolt that was holding it in. I didn't see it until the next day after I pulled off the oil filter. Unfortunately it broke the boss on the AC compressor from prying it so hard. Lucky for me I needed to replace the compressor anyway, but I should have walked away before I started prying on it regardless.
Much better!
Next issue to tackle, bracket/body interference
I put the blower back on the bracket to get some idea of if that would hit anything. This was not clocked correctly, just thrown on there.
Then I cut a bit of the inner fender, and it all fits! This is probably close to how I will situate the blower, but could change.
Cut a bit more than I needed, but I will make that all nice again anyway.
There is still a ton of **** I need to remove and/or relocate to make way for everything. I need to get the LS400 pieces to replace the fan pump stuff, and then new hardware to hold that and the blower bracket. Like I said I have a lot to do with the blower and bracket themselves as well as the hardware for it all. Once I can get everything mounted properly then I can start building the intercooler and piping. Anyway that is all I have for now. It shouldn't be so long between updates now
Sean
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BrokeEF (12-06-17)
12-05-17, 05:10 AM
#14
Pit Crew
Thread Starter
Thanks! When I bought this car I actually had a fresh LS motor I was gonna put in it. I kind of fell in love with how nice the car is, and also found that the 1UZ is a pretty capable engine. I will say that it is a pain in the *** working on compared to an LS, but I can deal with that (for now).
Sean
Sean
