hi all,

rather new here, we just bought a 1990 es250 to fix up. it's in beautiful shape, only needs a couple little things cosmetically, but the engine has a really nasty knock and it needs a couple other things. rack, some seals, typical stuff you expect to see past 180k. cost us just under $800, including the cost of renting a truck and tow dolly, and gas to make the trip.

we bought the car to replace our 89 camry le v6, which was smashed by a hit and run driver. so we already have an engine for it, which my husband had just finished sticking a bunch of time and money into when the car got hit.

here are some pics to get started. we're trying to get a new rack before he pulls the engine, try to hit two birds with one stone if possible, ya know?

 

good luck with the transplant, the body on the lexus looks so clean. looks brand spanking new.

 

You have the twin to mine except for mine has 80k on it and had a blue leather interior

 

I notice you have an aftermarket antenna I have a working OEM power one if you want it

 

It's completely irrational and financially unjustifiable, but I would just LOVE to find one of these, especially one that required little to no work - one that sat in a grandma's garage for years, rarely driven.

 

You'll need to swap the ECU out of the Camry into the Lexus. The old engine doesn't have an o2 sensor, or knock sensors. Or you could retrofit them from the old engine to the new one in an attempt to gain a mpg or two.

or not, doesn't matter.


if your husband can weld get him to fix the crossover pipe / headers. they're horrible & cost that engine atleast 20bhp + the associated economy hit from it. (or weld a turbo on the front muwahaha)

or you can drop the 3vz-fe/4vz-fe in there instead of the 2vz-fe, but you've already got an early 2vz-fe so.

 

First Lexus I have ever saw was a white one of these when I was in high school in my parking lot. I would love to pick one up in the future just as collector's item.

 

Speak of the devil...
I got to ride beside one on the way home tonight - a two-tone black ES250 with gold badging. She'd seen better days.

 

I miss my es250 https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ighlight=es250 .Wish you better luck with yours.

 

Yes good luck with your project. Your car is pretty clean!
Id rock an ES250

 

thanks all, we're hoping it goes well.

choas: i'm sorry, you must have really loved that es. we haven't really gotten this one on the road but DH loved that camry he had so we can understand. once we get the major stuff done we'll look into some of the smaller bits that could use improvement, we will be in touch

phoenix: thank you for the tips! he's done all kinds of stuff on toyotas but not lexus. he figured there were a few things like this to look for. (hasn't had time to dig through TIS for the repair manual yet) we can't swap out our rack from the camry either because of the speed sensitive steering module... there are more differences than we'd like.

the operative here was to rebuild a car as cheaply as possible, and funny enough the es was cheaper than any camry worth buying and in 10x better shape. eh, what's a couple bucks extra to fix it up when we paid hundreds less for it?

 

nice find, i have a 90 V6 LE as my daily

u may wanna do the rear VCG while the engine is outta the car, LOADS easier than it is while the engine is still in.

gotta do mine soon.

 

i think he was gonna steal the valve cover and one of the studs off the lexus engine anyway. he did them both not too long ago on the good engine but it's missing one of the studs.

 

Eh I wouldn't. Just spend the $100 on a master gasket kit & replace all the external gaskets while the engine is out & happy.

 

i don't know all he did, but the thing was pouring oil and is now tight as can be. he does want to do the rear main and a couple other things while it's out. we'll probably pop back on here tonight since he's the one who knows this stuff better- i'm just the forum typer.

pheonix (dang it, you and choas spell your usernames different than usual! ) you seem to know your lexus stuff. any other advice? husband is a toyota tech so he knows toyotas like the back of his hand, but lexus are less familiar.