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Hello, Lexus Forums! My name is Andrew and I am a 19 year car nut who just purchased his very first vehicle. Yes, you read that correctly. After about a year of minimum wage toil, I saved up roughly $7,000 and bought my first car. Choosing which vehicle to buy was very tough. I was expecting my budget to be closer to $4,000 than $7,000, but I worked extra hard and managed to scrape up the extra three grand.
The story of how I decided on which car to buy is a tale for another day. For now let’s just get into what I actually purchased.
I paid $5,600 for it. It is a 20 year old, two owner car with 82,000 miles on the odometer. It has a four speed automatic transmission and rear wheel drive, a four liter V8 producing 260 horsepower and 270 LB feet of torque. The interior is absolutely draped in leather. It weighs less than the current Mustang despite being a full sized luxury sedan. It is known internally as the “UCF20”.
*DRUM ROLL PLEASE*
As I’m sure many of you had already guessed before seeing the pictures, the car I bought was a beautifully maintained 1995 Lexus LS400 with hilariously low mileage.
Here are the mods I'm planning / have done: indicates it has already been done
LED/BIXENON head lights (maybe even LED taillights)
Restore any of the horsepower the car has lost (it’s probably making much less than the 260 it made in 1995)
replace some exterior/ interior trim with higher trim / facelifted LS parts
Blacked out wheel center caps Removed 2/4 mufflers Blacked out the grille (maybe the badges and wheels as well, but unsure)
Black out visible chrome
replace some interior components with higher trim / newer LS ones
Replace tires with Pirellis
Swap rims for those from a 2002 Audi A8
MAYBE swap in a facelifted VVT engine, but i may also just buy a UCF21 or SC400 in the future instead
Install an electric exhaust dump that would make the car quiet when closed, but would bypass the mufflers, cats and resonators when open
If any of you could tell me how I could go about applying aforementioned modifications, please please PLEASE leave a comment letting me know how. Otherwise, please leave a comment letting me know what you think of my car and the overall purchase.
good grief LS400s are going for a lot of money in america, i payed 1500 uk pounds a year ago for my 1998 with 99k on the clock, i thought that wasn't particularly cheap either, but there you go
My advice is, since you did pay a pretty penny for it. Just make sure all the "kid" mods can be reversed when the day comes to resell it. And really when I was a kid and wanted a car to mod, which I really never modded a bunch I would buy one for under 100 bucks to do it to. There are a bunch of modded LS's for sale, not many people buy them cause you don't know what your getting. If you cut the factory exhaust system and a real lexus enthusiast is interested in buying it you will pay 3000 to replace the one you cut up. Yeah you can get joe blow mufflers to fix it but then its not a factory original. Just watch shows like chasing cars with Wayne Carini and see what good original brings money wise. Just don't trash the parts removed, people like me can't stand all the bug eyed wheels people put of their cars and trucks.
nice looking vehicle, very wise purchase. but if you want vvt lol why didn't you buy a 98-00 which is no more expensive, already comes with vvt and gets better mpg while being decently faster
Man that car looks perfect, please keep it the way it is, you will not regret it and not spend useless money on those aftermarket stuff, Lexus spend $1 billion dollar and 1000 engineer to develop that car in your possession in the late 80's. Please don't mess it up
Man that car looks perfect, please keep it the way it is, you will not regret it and not spend useless money on those aftermarket stuff, Lexus spend $1 billion dollar and 1000 engineer to develop that car in your possession in the late 80's. Please don't mess it up
the car was not made to appeal to car enthusiasts. Nothing I'm putting on can't be taken off.
nice looking vehicle, very wise purchase. but if you want vvt lol why didn't you buy a 98-00 which is no more expensive, already comes with vvt and gets better mpg while being decently faster
If you wanted VVT then you should have left alone the grill and anything else you have done and detail it the very best and sold it on ebay or something, and buy the vvt car. I see super nice 98's and up for good prices all the time. And the car was made to appeal to wealthy people at the time of its inception. It was not designed to be a freak car that a lot of people turn them into. I really would not want a car that makes me look like a pimp.
If you wanted VVT then you should have left alone the grill and anything else you have done and detail it the very best and sold it on ebay or something, and buy the vvt car. I see super nice 98's and up for good prices all the time. And the car was made to appeal to wealthy people at the time of its inception. It was not designed to be a freak car that a lot of people turn them into. I really would not want a car that makes me look like a pimp.
If only I knew at the time... I want VVT so bad... How amazing does it sound with the muffler delete?
nice and rumbly, but you'll notice a bigger difference from doing the jbrady intake. i'll do a little self promotion lol and post this link to some LS vidz
nice and rumbly, but you'll notice a bigger difference from doing the jbrady intake. i'll do a little self promotion lol and post this link to some LS vidz
muffler delete: I had all four off for a bit, and it was easily the loudest on the street... Absolutely awesome
Air intake:.. I may have to get one in the near future... What will i have to do to the exhaust to balance out the extra air coming through?
VVT: does it make a big difference in your opinion? Is it much smoother?
muffler delete: I had all four off for a bit, and it was easily the loudest on the street... Absolutely awesome
Air intake:.. I may have to get one in the near future... What will i have to do to the exhaust to balance out the extra air coming through?
VVT: does it make a big difference in your opinion? Is it much smoother?
it's a pretty big difference. it's more than just the vvti though, 5 speed vs 4 speed, and another major difference is the ACIS which is toyotas variable length intake manifold. at the center of the manifold there's 8 butterfly valves which are normally closed, directing air around the outside of the manifold which significantly broadens the torque curve. then at like 5000 they open up, shortening the intake path which makes better high rpm power. the 95 was pretty quick in it's day, but the 98 will still smoke most cars being produced. 95 does 0-60 in like 7.5s and the 98 does it in only 6.2
In my younger days, I wanted quiet, the loud cars always got the cops attention, and the more modified they looked the more tickets were given. I always preferred the more stealth and incognito type cars, yet with Dr.Jeckel Mr.Hyde performance capabilities. Just remember the louder the exhaust the faster the car sounds, and the tickets will increase. In my day a loud race wana be in a 4 door car would be laughed at. The cool cars and even now the ones pulling in the big bucks at the big collector auctions are 2 door cars not 4 door ones.
4 doors are for old people like me, gosh never thought I'd say that, and for mommys and daddys with car seats and other brats.
I as a young guy wanted the more desirable 2 door, a 4 door looked like it was your parents car. I guess just more of the strangeness of our times nowadays, that young kids want 4 door cars. Its like crazy the SC400 isn't the one that is wanted for mods and coolness, I think it has everything the LS has, plus sleek looks its just more of a kids car than an LS is.
i mean i'm pretty sure people mod SC400s too... in fact i'd LOVE to have an SC400, but i can hardly afford to take care of one V8 lexus while paying for the tickets and resulting legal fees that result from combining an adrenalin seeker and a 300 hp streamlined japanese luxury sleeper mobile. one day i would like to get an SC400, they look wayyyyyy better than the SC430 and it shares the platform with the Supra which is some damn good DNA to have in you. if anything i'd probably get a SC300 and swap a 2JZ in there lol... 76mm single turbo conversion of course haha
11-01-15, 08:26 AM
Just bought an LS400!!!
The car looks well cared for and clean. Nice find! 
