autovation

Looking to refresh the 13 year old daily driver to continue daily driver duty for another 13 years...

Pic from 12 years ago in 2007 down below! Since then... we've added 190k miles on it. A lot of wear and tear but still running well, used Mobil 1-10W30 the entire time. I wish it still looked this good but only unplanned maintenance issues were 2 alternators...

Current mods which have been on for 190k miles are 19" Volk TE Progressiv's, Michelin P4s 245/265, H&R Springs, F-sport Struts, K&N Typhoon Intake, Tinted windows

Very happy that Lexus replaced all the interior panels on the car a couple years ago, that gives an excellent start to the refresh!

Here's the re-build plan:

• BC Coilovers
• Refinish Volks (should I go with a different color???)
• New TPMS (ran out of batteries, lol!)
• New wheel well panels
• Replace torn under body panels, being low ain't easy
• Di-Noc the interior trim to cover the scratches
• Change PCV valve
• New Spark Plugs
• F-sport Floor mats (2 logo's...)
• New set of AutoVation pedals
• Replace K&N Typhoon with F-sport Intake (California regulations...and another logo)
• F-sport steering wheel (+1 logo)
• F-sport engine cover (+1 logo)
• New Engine Struts (Need to keep that hood open)
• Replace factory shifter slide cover (began to fall apart at 185k miles)
• F-sport license plate cover (+1 logo)
• F-sport shift **** (+1 logo)
• New Cabin Filter
• 2012+ Headlights & HID upgrade kit (tired of polishing them...)
• VLAD Taillights
• New Mirror covers (one is cracked from a car driving by and hitting the mirror, looking at the signal mirrors but not sure if I want to go that route)
• Replace tint on driver side window (coming apart starting at 180k miles)
• Foglight Upgrade (need to research this)
• New wiper cover arms
• Guage LED fix (because I want to see what my rpms and speed are...)
• Add Center console nav system (no nav in my IS350)
• '12+ ISF Steering ECU
• F-Sport Exhaust & Install Kit (+2 logos)
• F-sport front and rear brake kit (should look amazing behind the Volks and +4 Logo's!)
• F-sport side & rear badges (+3 logos)
• Flush transmission and rear diff fluid (so far untouched!)
• Paint correction
• Any seals or other items found along the way
• DOT 4 Brake fluid
  • Staying away from SS brake lines
• Coolant
• Re-torque axle shaft flange bolts
• Rear diff oil
• Re-torque suspension nuts & bolts
• Water pump
• Serpentine belt and tensioner
• Front & Rear Sway Bars - Credit to Redspencer on verifying compatibility with BC Coilovers.
• Valve Stem Caps (+4 Logo's!) Credit to 2013Fsport
• LED retrofit kit from svnsales

F-sport Logo TOTAL: +19!

Things I am looking at pros/cons for (if you have recommendations on these items, PLEASE FEEDBACK!!!):

• Cup kit by Stance (keep the front end from scraping...)
• OS Giken TCD LSD (would you do this in a daily driver?)
• Alcantara F-sport seats from 350C special edition
• Aluminum Oil Cap
• Front splitter, side skirts & rear (I like the clean look below though... but a 3is or 2013 front end could be cool)

I will take pics of how it currently looks in July 2019 and post in the follow ups...

bbaugher47

I like the silver wheels. They fit the car nicely. Your plan sounds great. Post progress pics! You can purchase Fortune auto coils with air cups fyi.

autovation

I like the silver as well, it blends with the chrome look headlights. I was looking at aftermarket headlight options but most have black housings and I think that won't match well, too much black then. They have a chrome option but they look like too much chrome. I haven't found any OEM look aftermarket headlights yet.

On the Fortune coils, I just looked them up and they are super nice but $3k and sold out! The BC coils are $1k + $900 for the cup kit. The BC coils just arrived today as well.

bbaugher47

BC is good stuff too. And 900.00 for cups is great. Does it come with the compressor? I bought some fsport mats and RCF bushings last month from discount parts monster and highly recommend them to buy from.

autovation

It comes with the compressor here.

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

+5 on the RCF LCA

2016 RC-F
48075 - BRACKET SUB-ASSY, LWR ARM, NO,1 - Right
48075-24010 , OFFSET:0, REFER R/M
48075-24080 , OFFSET:+20, REFER R/M
48075-24090 , OFFSET:-20, REFER R/M

48076 - BRACKET SUB-ASSY, LWR ARM, NO.2 - Left
48076-24010 , OFFSET:0, REFER R/M
48076-24050 , OFFSET:+20, REFER R/M
48076-24060 , OFFSET:-20, REFER R/M

As for cosmetics, perhaps the F-Sport grill with the dark finish and don't forget to flush them brakes...
Speaking of: painted my calipers with that G2 product and it offers a nice look. With your color you have some options on caliper colors.

autovation

Will need to research the bushings. I actually just added the brake fluid flush to the list along with a few other items:

• DOT 4 Brake fluid
  • Staying away from SS brake lines
• Coolant
• Re-torque axle shaft flange bolts
• Rear diff oil
• Re-torque suspension nuts & bolts
• Water pump
• Serpentine belt and tensioner

Regarding the brake calipers, my G2 painted OEM calipers held up great for over 175k miles! But now will be switching to the F-sport BBK (they are actually rebranded Stoptechs) so will stick with the F-sport blue.

badx33

iTrader: (53)

Hey there i sent you a message for the headlights.

redspencer

iTrader: (1)

Are you an original IS350 owner like I am with over a decade of ownership?

That's a great list of future upgrades/refreshes. You should be fine with mixing upgraded sway bars with coilovers.

Though pricey, getting an OS Giken TCD LSD would greatly enhance your daily drives as you can enjoy every traffic light turn with an entirely new perspective (torque vectoring throttle steering).

You can also look into replacing your worn out bushings with a full set from Figs Engineering. I believe they offer a full kit for high mileage cars.

Lwerewolf

There's the figs bushings kit (superpro polyurethane, no subframe but you can get new OEM rubber there + figs/superpro inserts), strongflex kit, whiteline polyurethane (rear only, haven't seen them mentioned much), various febest/jikiu/etc unknown quality aftermarket rubber bushings for the individual components. Figs also makes probably the best version of the rear knuckle spherical bearing "bushing", assuming you don't face winter conditions, as it's a non-sealed "self-cleaning" design. I did see a mention of a potential sealed version for the 1IS/2GS somewhere... don't know what happened with that. The other options are... again, unknown quality ebay bushings, or febest & jikiu (no clue where and how those are made, and what their quality actually is, probably the same). Hardrace makes hardened rubber bushings for the front UCA.

Then, of course, you can just replace everything with OEM, but that'll probably be around $5k. Yes, the rear knuckles have wear components in them that are not sold individually by Toyota. I mean, it's an aluminum part (and alu does pick up stress over time), but still, c'mon...

What's the problem with braided brake lines?

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

Forgot you mentioned BBK... If $,$$$ is not a hold back there are plenty of chassis braces to add too.

And while you're at it (if it remains a DD), hands free / bluetooth is pretty much mandatory in most places these days.

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

To your point; I have a post in the IS-F vendor thread to FIGS for pricing on the ^^ LSD. A PM will be sent to tonight. Pretty sad that because Lexus is the application the price is double any other application. Sigh...
How is yours holding up?

redspencer

iTrader: (1)

It's still buttery smooth and very OEM-like. I just have to change the fluids every 30k-50k miles and that's all that's required for maintenance.

The Lexus IS350/ISF version is double the price of the other OS Giken LSDs because it is a very special unit. It is the TCD-spec and only a small handful of models have this option (last I checked, there were only a half-dozen vehicles that had the TCD option).

Compared to the standard 1st generation Super Lock version, the TCD-spec (3rd Gen version of the OS Giken LSDs) is significantly more progressive to 100% lock compared to the original Super Lock LSD (due to the oil channels on the clutch plates) which makes it very predictable to apply the proper amount of power around a corner without the tires breaking loose suddenly. Instead of having 28 clutch plates, it's almost like having double the clutch plates due to the specialized oil channels.

Lwerewolf

Can the torsen even be compared on such a graph?

2013FSport

iTrader: (2)

Back on topic... to add more badges... Apparently one can pickup 8 to 10 "L" badges on the outside between all the caps... there seems to be 3 in a row here...
Likely available as F-Sport also!