hahaha man that thing looks SO TOUGH on the slicks and skinnies.

 

It's ready to go rip some low 15's! The slicks sure did give it a real plush ride for the short bit I drove it.

 

How about an update?

So I had a feeling one of the rear tires was problematic since I could see runout with the car running on the lift. I ended up buying 4 new tires and I'm glad I did. My friend in CT bought a first gen Hunter Roadforce wheel balancer so I took my wheels and new tires up there. Turns out, 3 of the 4 tires on the car were shot, I'm guessing this car was parked for a while and the tires got flat spotted.





For comparison sake, the new tires measured at 5lbs of force, the old tires ranged between 64 to 110lbs of force, yikes!

The new tires took about 1/4oz to balance, the old tires were over 2oz's




Right now I'm working on putting the factory audio system back in. The second owner had put in an aftermarket radio, 5 channel amp, speakers and subwoofer. I want this all back to factory, by the time I'm done, the only "mod" on this car will be the wheels.



I got the HVAC unit rebuilt by @TaninAuto and they did a fantastic job. I had to laugh that they did such a good job, it shows how factory screens colorshift over time as the factory radio I have does not match the HVAC screen, but the radio displays fine so I'm not going to go that crazy. Its nice to have a HVAC screen I can read as well as buttons that illuminate.



I am hoping to have the audio system wrapped up next weekend.

 

Surprised you're sticking with factory audio. I like the sound but the bluetooth and CarPlay integration is lacking.

 

@dohcmerc Thank you for the Tag! Glad you like it!

 

Honestly I'm in the market for a house and I'm looking to list this car on Bring A Trailer by September. Stock cars sell the best, especially since most SC's have been hacked into drift cars or just generally neglected. Probably going a bit overboard at this point but I'd like this car to be sitting real nice when its time to sell.

 

Take a look at the bolt holding the shaft near the firewall ( looking from the engine bay). if that bolt isn't tight then you would have a "up & down" play. It may also cause the angular play on the steering wheel. You don't have a steering quickener, do you?

 

Its been a long while since I've posted an update but I'm almost done and ready to pass this SC onto its next owner. I'm hoping to get it listed on BringATrailer before they salt the roads around here, coming down to the wire.

I spent a lot of time detailing this car, it had heavy swirls and some oxidation on the trunk. A lot of time was spent with Megs 105 + 205 using a Flex DA and the car cleaned up really nice. I topped the whole car off with some Avalon King ceramic coating (good excuse to try it out) and it really gave the car a nice deep black. Overall I'm very happy with how the car cleaned up, it looks way nicer than when I bought it.




I pulled those stupid chrome B pillar strips off as well, I'm glad I did. It was a chore but worth it in the end.




Getting somewhere






In between all of this I put the interior back together. I fixed all the broken tabs on the upper door frame trim by plastic welding new tabs in off a junkyard car, everything has a nice tight fit now. I also put all OEM hardware in as a prior owner had lost some screws and substituted some other screws with random hardware. While I had the rear shelf cover out I took the time to re dye the speaker covers as well which really freshened up the interior in the back.








Here is a shot from the back with the ceramic coating applied




I had a friend passing thru the area with a empty car trailer so I asked him to stop by and load the lexus up to bring it back to my home in the lehigh valley. I have some more cleaning to do (interior is dusty, glass, etc) and next week I have an automotive photographer doing a shoot of this car at the Bethlehem steel stacks in order to get some nice photos for BaT.






I drove the car around a bit this morning and I am happy to say that the new tires 100% fixed the vibration I had at 75+ mph. I took the car up to 120 and it had no more shakes at all, I guess the old tires must have flat spotted from extended parking. All I know is the car is on fresh tires and feels great.

No steering quickener but I'll take a look at the bolt you mention.

 

Car looks super clean. Nice job bringing it back to life.

 

Well, I guess we can close the last chapter of this thread. Car sold today on Bring A Trailer for $11,000 which I'll be putting in my "buy a house" fund. New owner is in Canada, owns a few other Toyota products like a MK2 Supra as well as a V12 SL600 Merc, so the car will be joining good company. I'm glad it'll be going to another enthusiast to be appreciated instead of being turned into a drift car.

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1995-lexus-sc400-19/

 

She's a stunner - hope the new owner is excited! Congrats on a good sale and best of luck on the house search!