I can't tell if thats a shot at people who work at home depot, or a shot at yourself. I know some retired guys at home depot, and they are pretty well off. As for your 97, ill be honest, save your money to just do regular care for the car. I'd rather see a clean stock es300 than a fast one with loud exhaust with a beat up interior with an overdue timing belt and beat up interior. I'm not saying don't do anything to the car to "make it your own" but make your priority care and upkeep instead modifications, it just makes more sense. This is coming from someone who has thrown an endless amount of money at their car with it looking almost the same as the day it left the factory.

 

Putting a loud exhaust, cobbled together intake system, and nitrous on a 20 year old luxury car is a waste of money. You would be much better served to upgrade the suspension and tires or a new sound system.

 

Well its been a while since ive checked in, exaust is done, nope not loud at all, took my girl to monterey for the weekend, 693 miles total and an avg of 24.331 mpg, over 630 miles highway, ran like a sweetheart, so there you have it boys, rebuilt engine, complete new exaust, and it should last another 275,000.

 

Oh by the way, new control arms, ball joints tire rod ends and 4 wheel alignment alignment all stock oem parts and made all the difference in the worl for ride quality.

 

Headers make a difference on your car...especially on the highway.
An intake is going to add a really good growl but no real performance advantage.

I would (and did on my old ES) go with headers and springs on that car.

 

I want to know how much your new custom exhaust increases horsepower. I am thinking of doing the same thing to my 2001 ES300! Also due you know about the weapon-R intake? Is it worth it?

 

The only part of an exhaust upgrade that would have any real benefits for horsepower would be the headers. Everything after that gets MAYBE 5 hp at most, it's mostly for sound...and that's it.

Same for air intakes. You'd be lucky to get maybe 5 HP out of a better air intake, and most of the ones I've seen on these boards so far aren't even worth that.

The above is a mostly universal truth for any car platform, the ES is not special in that regard. If you want to upgrade the looks and sound of your car, then go for it, but don't spend a bunch of money hoping to get 50 more HP out of the deal because that ain't happening.

REAL performance upgrades that actually make a difference usually consist of headers, upgraded camshaft, upgraded intake manifold, and of course forced induction, which are all pretty pricey and not even sure how much benefit per dollar spent it would be for these cars. ES's are not designed to be performance cars by nature.

 

Yes the forum is supposed to help and give insight. But the truth is you also have to use the tools provided and do some research of your own. As in you asking about modding the car you purchased. There have been numerous members who asked the same thing and are told numerous times to search. Unfortuantly some arent so nice about thing lol. On a nice note. As alot of stated up top. Not much mods you can do. You may have purchased the wrong vehicle for what your going for. Plain and simple for all lexus models there isnt many "Performance" mods which can be done. Intake.Headers.Exhaust. For your model car looks into wheels, a drop, sound system. SPending money to gain a few xtra hp on your model isnt worth it.

 

You can s/c some models but your dropping serious dough into 40-50 hp. Its a sweet mod and sets your ride apart but pricey$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

Pretty much this. An ES simply is not a good platform to start with for performance modifications. That's fine, as I did not get my ES in order to 'go fast' (in fact, I traded in my 'go fast' car for this my ES so I kinda went backwards ). Of course, ANYTHING is possible if you sink enough money into it, but there are far better more cost-effective platforms out there for building a fast car.

Now, I'm going to make some assumptions for my next part, so my apologies if I'm off base:

I've noticed a good chunk of the "how do I make my ES go faster" threads on here are from younger people who were either handed down their ES by their parents, or just didn't have a choice in what car to get (then again, if someone could afford to buy their own used Lexus, they probably could have purchased a faster car instead, but I digress) - and as a result, are wanting to make the car that they're 'stuck with' better.

My honest, 100% non-snarky advice: don't. Just don't and save your money instead. This is not a performance car platform. It is a refined luxury car platform that is designed to provide a plush, quiet ride in comfort. The money required to actually get any performance out of it that's respectable just isn't worth it.

Instead, SAVE your money for a car that is a better performance platform. Buy said car. and then go nuts making a true 'go fast' car even faster. I'm speaking this from experience in my life, looking back on money I wasted on cars not worth wasting mod money on (not my last car, though, that one was worth it) and realizing that I could have put that money to much better use on a better platform.

Just my 2 cents.

 

I mean take the advise from people that have done things to there es300s i mean mine isnt stock by any means. But like said above this car doesnt have alot of mods to make it faster then what it is. I have a exhaust flow master muffler no resonator. And a custom intake i pieced together off of amazon. But then again my car is a black on black coach edition and its slammed on ccw reps 18X9.5 all around and i was told that i wouldnt be able to fit them without rubbing in the rear and without hitting the inner fenders when i turn. But ive done it so i guess what im saying is its your car do what you want to it. Just because someone tells you it wont work you cant do it or its stupid to do because its a luxury sedan doesnt mean you shouldnt. People told me not to do what ive done to mine but yet it breaks necks and people ask about it all the time.

 

Challenging the impossible is the only way to make something possible.
<----------------------------case in point

 

Just because you can, doesn't mean you should

 

there is a TRD supercharger kit made for 1mz-fe engines on some JDM cars which would boost the hp to around 240-250ish, not sure if it worth the effort tho