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Matt's White Hot 1998 SC400
Hi Guys,
I am not new to ClubLexus or to SC's. I had a 1996 SC400 years ago and sold it when our kids were born. Stupid move on my part! Last year I purchased a 1996 SC300 NA-T that was a fun car, but not really what I was looking for. I was actually trying to find an SC400, but came across that SC300 NA-T. The power of a 2JZ-T was addicting and fun, but the maintenance and setup of the overall car was not for me. I wanted to return to an SC400 for the low end torque and simplicity of a normally aspirated V8. I wanted a rust-free and clean car to allow me to make tasteful and comfortable modifications and make the car my very own. I have been searching for a long time, and finally found a Diamond White Pearl 1998 SC400 with 120K in Scottsdale, 2 owner car, clean Carfax, totally rust free. Originally sold at Sewell in Dallas, TX, then sold to the guy in Arizona who sold it to me after owning it since 2008. The car arrived safely from Arizona to Minnesota last Friday evening. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...9fe862eb9e.jpg https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...a15f50d952.jpg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...7a36967efa.jpg Nice dark Arizona tinted windows, may not be legal in MN but do I care? Ha ha. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...9c0c1520d3.jpg Look at how clean those seats are and check out that carpet! https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...ae2e631b26.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...000a517e94.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...b7064ee33d.jpg man that carpet looks new! https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...7840769bdb.jpg Door panels are not cracked or damaged at all! https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...ec62d70eeb.jpg clean leather. https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...2387b29b48.jpg gotta replace those OEM mufflers with a nice catback system. https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...1f8d1f7621.jpg There she is on the trailer as it arrived in front of my house last Friday evening. https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...1d70e92138.jpg Looking good in my driveway. The car came with original owner’s manual, 3 keys, ultra clean floor mats and service records. She is going to my local Lexus dealer tomorrow for timing belt/waterpump service. While I do a lot of work on my cars myself, the timing belt job is something I would rather leave to the experts. This build may take me a while, whish is why I did not post this in the Build Thread section. I plan to change out all lighting to LED. I already purchased a set of Sylvania 9005 & 9006 LED bulbs for the low and high beam headlights. Just need to find time to install those. Next up will be wheels and tires. I like the mesh style wheels, so looking at staggered 19x8 front 18x9 rear Enkei Lusso Hyper Silver, or Enkei EKM3, TSW Snettertons with around +35-40 offset. The car already has brand new KYB shocks on OEM springs and feels pretty good now, so I will stick with stock suspension for the time being. I may go with coilovers but want more seat time on the KYB's first. Next, I want to modify the exhaust. I will keep the catalytics, because I don’t like the smell of unburned fuels going through the pipes. I may delete the resonators, keep the cats, then install a nice cat-back system. I had Magnaflow on my last SC400 and loved the sound and I also liked the look of the dual wall tips on the Magnaflow mufflers. I will ditch the OEM tan 4 spoke steering wheel in favor of a black IS300 steering wheel. Then I will get a KBD front lip to add to the stock OEM bumper. I will do a full buff and wax job on the car to get maximum shine, although it is already looking nearly perfect. I also want to black out all chrome trim and gold emblems. I think I will use Plasti-dip for this in case I don't like the look. After all of this is done, I will start looking into the manual swap. I closely followed DrAtomica’s manual swap build, so I have quite a bit of knowledge of the options and challenges. Thanks for looking! Matt |
More pics
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...2aaf5253cc.jpg
no rust or corrosion anywhere in the engine bay. Zoom in and check out all the bolts and fasteners! https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...a68e09213d.jpg clean and shiny. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...6cb4737d71.jpg has all the original stickers and quality control paint marks from the assemblers in Japan. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...51bedf7bd1.jpg I see a touch of brake fluid between the reservior and brake master. I will address that. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...c1056a5a86.jpg Looking White Hot in my 3rd garage stall! But those stock halogen headlights and fogs gotta go! I have a date night with some Sylvania LED 9005 & 9006 in the near future. https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...3cfaa23c56.jpg looks like the rear seats have never been sat in. |
Oh, and add cross drilled rotors and painted calipers soon. Will eventually go with BB from either Supra or spend the bucks for Brembo.
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She looks great, Matt! A mighty nice find!
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Originally Posted by ThomasGS4
(Post 11228431)
She looks great, Matt! A mighty nice find!
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That's clean, for sure. The radiator looks due for a change.
Seems like an awful lot of '98-00 SC's are DWP. Anyone happen to know if that was an unusually high percentage of the final sub-gen?
Originally Posted by Matt L
(Post 11228253)
I am not new to ClubLexus or to SC's. I had a 1996 SC400 years ago and sold it when our kids were born. Stupid move on my part!
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Originally Posted by t2d2
(Post 11228956)
That's clean, for sure. The radiator looks due for a change.
Seems like an awful lot of '98-00 SC's are DWP. Anyone happen to know if that was an unusually high percentage of the final sub-gen? Selling the SC or having kids? :) Ha ha! Looks like you have the same car, 1998 DWP SC400. I just subscribed to your thread for some ideas for my car. Thanks! |
Congratulations on the new car! It looks like it’s in really good shape.
Are the Sylvania LED headlight and fog bulbs very bright? I’ve ran LED headlights years ago on my SC300 and it was awful compared to HID or even halogen at the time. I bet the Sylvanias you’re are much better and hope you post an update once you get them installed. |
Originally Posted by Kira X
(Post 11229524)
Congratulations on the new car! It looks like it’s in really good shape.
Are the Sylvania LED headlight and fog bulbs very bright? I’ve ran LED headlights years ago on my SC300 and it was awful compared to HID or even halogen at the time. I bet the Sylvanias you’re are much better and hope you post an update once you get them installed. Thanks for the compliments. I will try to install the Sylvania LED's this weekend if the weather is not too cold here in Minnesota! I will give a full report as soon as they are installed. Matt |
Originally Posted by Matt L
(Post 11229903)
Kira,
Thanks for the compliments. I will try to install the Sylvania LED's this weekend if the weather is not too cold here in Minnesota! I will give a full report as soon as they are installed. Matt |
LED headlights!
Stopped by my local O’Reilly auto parts store and found these Sylvania LED headlights for the highbeam and low beam. Got them installed last night and they look amazing!
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...87e6d187c.jpeg I thought this was a bright idea. https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...01b4a40db.jpeg Sylviania 6000k bright white LED compared to yellow stock halogen….watt a difference!!! https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...910698da5.jpeg https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...63662ec03.jpeg Big difference between stock and Sylvania. Very enlightening. https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...b50bea97f.jpeg Lurking in the garage. |
Window visors
Just added these smoked window visors too. Subtle and tasteful. Have a smoked sunroof visor and rear window visor on the way as well.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...783d94de5.jpeg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...2b4ca05a9.jpeg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...482032524.jpeg |
The new lights and window visors look great!
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Originally Posted by Kira X
(Post 11231694)
The new lights and window visors look great!
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I decided to go with TSW Valencias in hyper silver with a polished lip. I’m going with a staggered set-up 18 X 8 in the front is 18 X 9.5 in the back wrapped in Yokohama Advan Sport A/S plus. Even though this car will never be driven in the winter, I decided to go with aggressive all-season tires for nice combination of aggressive sport handling plus luxury. I’ve had summer tires on many cars and they just ride to harsh for my taste, so I decided on all-seasons. As soon as my wheels and tires arrive, I’ll mount them and then post some pictures.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...a16d1280d.jpeg |
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