Hi, i have a 1990 LS400 and want a performance adder. I have come to the conclusion that computer chips are the way to go now-adays. Can i have some help with one that actually improves performance and is less than $100? Thanks

 

Searching is your friend. Chips are usually the cheap and wrong way to go with no actual HP gain. Any kind of power-adder that does not support their claim with a dyno is a joke. Tuning on the other hand is different. When I had my GT I had 4 custom tunes. On the 100+ octane tune I gained nearly 82 HP with naturally aspired mods. Headers, intake, catback, etc...

I have not heard of anyone tuning the stock LS400 ECM. Need to go aftermarket for that and then it is only worth it if your doing forced induction.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...ance-chip.html

 

ya i was looking at that one but my buddy said that his brother had one and was junk

 

Did you read the thread? They are all junk. There is no chip that will give you more HP.

 

Welcome to Club Lexus.

Performance mods for this car do not come from simple chips. As far as I am aware, the Toyota ECU is not crackable in this way. Performance will come in terms of typical work. Improved breathing and getting into the internals of the engine. Much more $$.

 

You know what's interesting Mike, I read this long thread about headers and a company that is no longer around. Never seemed to work out. CAI, headers, and a nice exhaust system are always the cheapest bang for your buck in my past experiences. Strange this did not seem to develop for the LS400. Maybe too many grandpa's own our cars...

 

headers are available for the '98-00 LS400, PPE will sell you some. the GS400 headers they make will not fit right though, they have a pattern for '98-00 headers involving rotated cat flanges and slightly different lengths.

no "chips" available for any toyota ecu made in the last 30 years, piggybacks are a whole other ballgame. the toyota ECU encryption has never been cracked so flashes are not an option.

 

Nice, thanks PD. I was hoping to find some. Hmm. This has me thinking now. Maybe I need to design my own intake.

 

forced induction is really the only way to go to get anything extra out of these cars. they were tuned very well. the intake and headers. helped by yamaha? i think it was. most things i have read that show dyno numbers. show that changing the intake will produce less hp. such as going with one of those solid chrome pipes from filter/afm to the intake. paper stock filters even breath good and catch more dirt then say a K&N. the oil you put on those can run your AFM as well. the stock set up allready grabs cold air right from the front of the car and dumps it into the air box. there is some after market tuned ECU's from japan i forget the name of them. but will cost you between 500-1000 if you can find one.

 

http://www.ppeengineering-onlinestor...?categoryId=32

20 HP 20+ ft*lb is not too shabby.

As far as the intake goes, it can be hit or miss. Often you will gain high end HP and sacrifice some low end torque. This tends to change if you do headers as well though. I don't see why something like this could be made to fit the LS.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/per...-gs-400-a.html

I wonder if 40+ horsepower could be gained with a custom designed CAI, headers, and true performance exhaust. Would be a fun project. Just need to find the $$$.

My Mustang GT was my favorite car. With the Hurst short throw shifter and all the other mods it was such a joy to drive. I had to sell it because I got married and moved to Puerto Rico. There is an excise tax here on all cars and they were going to charge me 10 grand in taxes (not including shipping) just to bring it to PR. With a baby on the way, I decided to sell it. That was one of the worst days of my life. Man, I miss that ride. Anyway, the reason I bring it up is because of the incredible gain in HP and ft*lb just from intake and exhaust. Now, the intake was huge and the Kook's long tube headers were the best but it was really impressive. The LS really would feel great with another 40 HP. Here is are 2 pics just to share some memories. Ain't she a beauty... I had this SCT handheld tuner that I had my 4 tunes saved, could read engine codes, real time values, adjust fuel/air ratio of whatever. I had no clue how to do all that stuff... lol. Just kept her on the 93 octane tune.

 

ya but i love mustangs too. but they are very restricted from the factory the LS is not.

 

I agree. 20 HP is a pretty good for the headers. From what I have read on the forums, it seems the stock intake is pretty well designed. Given that the throttle body is sitting right there up front facing forward and the factory tubing is setup to direct airflow I am thinking about creating my own intake along this style. Really have to spend some time and see if there is room and it is feasible. Looks interesting.

 

You would need to make sure that there are openings in the hood or air dam that would actually allow air to make it there

-Will