Last week, fellow CL member ZaxF and I, took ownership of this amazing unicorn find...an un-used rolling chassis from the DRC race team. This is a true body in white, so straight from the manufacturer without a VIN and just the unibody and no undercoating or anything. The roll cage was fully built by DRC, and the body panels are all made from molds in either fiberglass or carbon fiber. This was technically a IS350, but we have a completely blank canvas to work with.

I will create a build thread once we get moving on things, but first we are going to play with some of the body molds that came with the vehicle.

Stay tuned, as this is going to turn into something crazy with the people we have involved...best of all, we are all Lexus enthusiasts and everything we do with this project is for others just like us, those that share a love of the 2IS. Enjoy!!!

 

What in the heck IS that? Is that where they make the thing out of clay to see what the body will look like? This is wild and I don't even know what I'm looking at here...

 

LOL...you are looking at our car that is primered. Most of the body panels on our car are fiberglass, but things like the trunk and rear 1/4s are still steel. The doors are 100% carbon fiber. The pics from the interior are a crazy SCCA legit roll cage. Once we make some panels from a few molds, this rolling chassis will head to Superstar Customs to have it painted before we start building the car.

 

Great find! That's from the old Team Lexus racing group, you can see our ClubLexus.com URL on the front bumper of the orange cars. They were selling three of the complete cars (one full, two for parts) for $250k 7 or 8 years ago.

 

Congrats on the find/purchase! So much badass here, not sure where to start?!?! I assume the goal to create some sort of functional, road race widebody 2IS?

 

Thanks bud! The goal is to have fun and drive this thing...drive it a ton. We want to make it cheap and reliable, as well as fast. We will use it for track days, auto cross, time attack, one lap, SCCA, 1/4 and 1/2 mile drags, drifting, etc... This car will not sit idle once it is built, and it is not going to some speed shop to be built, real enthusiasts are putting this thing together to enjoy. It is going to be a blast!

 

I see empty engine bay and creative budget?


Find a junkyard 3ur-fe. 2007 to now they come in the tundra-sequoia etc etc.... . 5.7 liters and 381 hp. And bullet proof.
Not to mention has option for trd eaton bringing hp to 505hp and 550lb tq. Would be a drift monster. A 94lb weight difference between the 2grfse engine and 3urfe engine . But with no a/c and emissions or anything to clutter the engine bay like you Would see on a stock is350 could see to off set weight difference up front.
There are numerous manual transmission options. And mega squirt could run everything fairly easily. It all depends on budget and shop wanting to fabricate.
I think a 505hp 2is gutted to 30XX would be a fun ride. And reliable to boot. There are guys getting quite a few miles on their trd eaton supercharged tundras.

 

That looks fun. Do you know what the specs on the wheels are? Looks like they use three piece wheels because that is the only reasonable way to get the offsets necessary for such a wide body.

 

That is one of the possible powertrains...we want V8, and will most likely be going NA to reduce complications and have a smooth powerband. We are looking at the 4.3, 4.7, and the 5.7. The previous teams used the 4.7 and were running 510hp without FI. But that is still being discussed, we need to work out so much before we start adding engines and such...

I don't know the exact specs, but they are 18" BBS center lock wheels. They are at least a 2 piece, and I don't know the width or offset yet. I do know the tires are 305 in the front and 335 in the rear...and both front and rear look like too much tire for the wheels, lol. We will probably be changing the wheels to something a bit more modern, but keep the center lock...why? because race car

 

I cant wait. Love me a v8 swap is350. A 5.7 would be mean. If they got n/a 500+ out a 4.7....... geez.

 

this is going to be a crazy build.. will take a lot out of your guys' free time for sure haha. excited to see what comes of it. good luck

 

wow just wow....sick build..racecar status

 

I was just thinking about turning a 250 or 350 into an endurance car. that is my plan

 

Crazy fun, lol...and yes, what little free time we had is now gone, but I am fine with spending time on a project like this...dream come true

Thanks man!

Zach and I had that same idea for a while now, and then this fell into my lap...who would have known that the perfect blank canvas of a 2IS race car was only 4 miles from my house for 4 years!!! It really is amazing...

 

Find a totaled RC-F and scavenge everything from it? N/A, would easily fit in the chassis, and easily accessible parts at any dealership.