Hello fellow LS 430's before I ask for help I just want to introduce myself.
My name is Benny and i live in North Carolina and my LS 430 is my DD.
I am 21 years old and i just bought the car about half a year ago.

Now onto my question; I've been looking for an air intake that sounds good
and not too pricey. I want to do it myself as well and im just jumping into the game.
First real project car, never have really done anything except changing breaks and oil.

If theres any tutorial that i could follow step by step or video that would be greatly appreciated!

 

Intakes are great for creating additional noise and not doing much in terms of performance. Why is this? Several reasons: 1. Unless you have an over-the-radiator air intake that is sucking up zero air from the engine bay, you're not going to see a substantial increase in power. 2. A lot of intakes actually make less power than stock because they're horrendously designed and do nothing but suck in a bunch of hot air and are putting a larger filter on when the engine isn't even constricted by the stock filter. The reason this is detrimental is because your car has a thing called a IAT sensor that measures the temperature of the air entering the engine. When it's sucking in a bunch of hot air, your car reads the higher temperatures and pulls timing to protect the engine from detonation. Hot air contains less oxygen per mole than cooler air, aka cylinder oxygen density is lower, so you're making less power because there isn't as much oxygen and you're making even less because your engine pulled timing. What does this amount to? It amounts to a car that makes more intake noises, is at higher risk for detonation, and makes less power than a stock one. So all those pictures you've seen of those Hondas with huge cone filters just hanging in the engine bay? Yeah, those are making less power than they would with the stock intake. Car people sometimes call it the "hot air intake."

Even the highest quality air intakes don't make enough of an improvement in performance to be worth it. Several hundred dollars for maybe 5-8rwhp isn't worth it.

Consensus? Leave it alone or add forced induction to make more power.

 

Intakes are pointless on the 430. The design is extremely effective and efficient. You will loose low end torque and not gain any HP if you modify it. If you want a little more sound remove the two resonators behind the mufflers.

 

agreed with the other commentators: Leave it as it is
Kenne Bell who designed and raced the Grand National Buick Turbo and is also THE expert on supercharging had a good write up on aftermarket gimmicks that drain the pockets of naive automobile "enthusiasts".
Air intakes, electric superchargers, freeflow exhaust systems, all kind of electronic gizmaroos that are supposedly increase HP.
You would think that a company like Toyota with a budget much higher than any of us would install items that cost relatively little money would improve the performance of their car to beat the MBs and Bimmers.
And even if you spend hundreds if not thousands to get 10 more WHP you would not feel it a bit. Of course you could invest in a true racing engine, upgrade the transmission, rearend, brakes and suspension. But then buy a Porsche to drift around the city streets.
This comes from an old guy who also - after getting a "new" car - belonged to the "I have to do something to the car" crowd.
My advise? Put the extra money aside for excellent maintenance

 

PPE makes headers that are rated at a 20hp gain on the dyno. This is really the only worthwhile modification but it is expensive.

 

well how about an exhaust kit?!

 

and where will you use the extra HP?
Stoplight to stoplight - ok, stroke the ego
On the highway? Makes no difference
I had an old VW bug, my friend a suped-up Dodge Charger with 600hp.
Doing 60mph speedlimit on the highway, it was all the same speedwise, the difference was his 10mpg gashog

 

It's not HP, since it is tuned.

But the roar it gives on throttle, in my opinion is the first best mod you can get for the 430.


It is dead silent as it always used to be. But just get in the pedal and the intake will scream for days.

 

Not necessary to have a intake on our cars. But if you just want that nice induction sound at higher RPM's, you could just drill some holes in the air box. That is exactly what I did for my box, used a 1" hole saw and cut some holes on the front/side/bottom of the box so theres minimal heat soak. Now I have that nice sound but also keeping the efficiency of the stock intake.

you could look up the BFI mod for the SC400/LS400 and it'll give you a better understanding.

 

Comic gold! Hey, I bet there's an app (if not it should be written) that will tie into your ECU, maybe via a bluetooth dongle on the OBDII port, and then broadcast a Ferrari V12 sound (or 426 Hemi sound ... whatever you prefer) proportional to RPM straight to your audio system. Just crank that sucker up, open your windows, and let everyone enjoy your badass ride! And you, fersure, picked up 10 RWHP!!

 

He ain't lying. Its common on the 1UZ. I did it on my LS400 with the idea coming from JBrady back in 03'. An effective and cheap way to get induction sound off the stock intake. There is a way to channel air from the grill to the front of the air box. I will be cutting into mine when I get my Tom's filter this week. I took off the snorkel to see how it was designed. Turns out there is 4 chambers built into that one piece including a Helmholtz resonator. I might cap that off first...

 

too late buddy

 

It's a Lexus, you don't drill anything.

Stop being cheap and get yourself a good intake.

 

Trade it in on a loud car.

 

You apparently bought the wrong car with the mods you're wanting to do. Sell it and get something else that will give you the sound and performance you want. You'd probably enjoy a 2004-2006 GTO. Just don't crash it.