I was going to be needing another vehicle and my friend had this sitting.

While I knew nothing of these cars I decided to purchase it from him for $500. All I knew was that the motor was locked, interior was worn and that's it. I had it towed to work to see what I was working with...

Thank God everything removed was in the trunk. I started searching for and best deal I could find was one out of an sc430 with 78k miles.
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Had to swap the lower oil pans, engine mounts and wire harness. Went ahead and replaced timing belt, waterpump, rear main seal and front seals while it was out. Here it is ready to go in.

Only small problem was a/c fan motor is bad kicks on only when it wants to. Decided to give it a quick bath to clean off all the dirt from it sitting.
Took it home to finish everything else at home, I was really surprised at how well it drove even with a bad left front strut.

Decided to clean up the engine bay a bit and the wheels. Really have t had too much time to do anything else.

 

Not a bad car for $500... looks like you're well on your way to a nice car. Congrats on the deal and the motor swap. Hope it works out for you as ours have for us.
Looks pretty clean.

 

Damn, $500?? Even with a seized engine, what a steal! If you don't mind saying, how much was the donor engine from the SC? Also if you don't mind, about how much money in total did it cost in parts and labor to get it roadworthy again?

And you said the LF strut is bad? Does it have the variable air suspension? (switches on the center console near the shifter labeled "sport" and "norm" as well as "high" and "norm") If so, the air strut itself is very expensive ($1000-$1500 each) for an OEM replacement, but the strut itself may not actually be bad if it's just a height problem. If it's not an air suspension model, then luckily its only ~$140 per strut.

Congrats on the bargain buy and welcome to the world of driving on a V8 cloud!

 

Thanks, I'm looking forward to making it my daily.

Not at all the motor was $1400, labor was $800 and misc parts $200 so right about $3K. Only thing I really need to replace is the a/c fan motor, doesn't overheat but a/c gets hot when not moving. Also want to replace wheels and tires before I start to drive it daily.

Doesn't have air suspension so I'm good there, was able to find a set of used struts for now until I decide which way I want to go(coils or springs).

 

Very nice work! I've never seen an LS in this color. I like it!

 

Thanks! It's not common and that's what I like, I just need to find the right wheels to set it off.

 

Nice! So you're only into this car for $3k but even in it's current condition is probably worth easily between $6k-$9k depending on miles on the rest of the car, interior condition, and options.

For wheels, be careful about what you buy. I have read that there aren't a whole lot of aftermarket wheels that will fit our cars due to the massive front brake calipers. There are a few threads on here that talk about that... a quick search and a few minutes of reading might save you some time, money, and headache. A good option might be to find a set of gently used OEM 18x7.5s that came standard on '04-'06 models with sport suspension and optional on all other '04-'06 models. They also wear a wider tire with a shorter sidewall than your car currently has (245/45/18s vs your 225/60/16s) and fill out the wheel arches much better, and are a different style than your wheels... see my signature photo for reference.

Depending on exactly what you want this car to be, changing the suspension can make you love, or thoroughly dislike how your LS rides. Now that i know your car doesn't have the air suspension, I do know that your car definitely has the standard suspension since it's missing the small badges that would identify it as one equipped with the "Euro Tuned Sport Suspension". If you're wanting to preserve the car's soft and crazy smooth suspension, but want to be able to be able to feel a little more road feedback through the steering wheel and have less body roll in turns, less nose dive under braking, and less squatting while accelerating, then you should look into swapping out your struts(and springs?), stabilizer bars, and bushings for the OEM ones that are on 2004-2006 models with the sport suspension. In my opinion, the sport suspension is the *perfect* balance between that 'floaty old Cadillac' feeling that the stock suspension has, and something with a lot stiffer suspension and choppy/less comfortable ride like a BMW 7-series. The sport suspension is still very compliant over bumps and soaks them up really well, but makes the car feel a lot more stable and 'pinned down' on the highway and won't bottom out the suspension on one side as you take a highway ramp at speed like the standard suspension will. If you can find one in your area strictly for comparison sake before committing to buying any suspension parts, go and test drive a 2004-2006 with sport suspension. Between the stiffer suspension and larger wheels/tires with stiffer sidewalls, it makes a very noticeable difference in my opinion.

 

This is cool man nice find

 

Even at 3k it's a deal.

How many miles does it have on her? How did the original engine meet it's fate? They are usually pretty robust...

 

Nice looking car. Would like to see photos of the interior when you can..

 

From what I can tell its just the standard options, it did come with 17" wheels stock. Interior is a bit worn but I might have leather redone eventually, pretty cheap through work.

As far as suspension I'm leaning towards sport struts with maybe some Tanabe springs, a little stiffer doesn't bother me I'm used to driving trucks and lowered cars. Don't want to take away the smooth ride it has though.
Thanks
Car has 176k miles, I was actually a little surprised at how good the exterior was for that mileage. It seemed like the previous owner wasn't keen on doing oil changes, had minor sludge but the last two rods in the back of the motor were dry and bearings seized. I will eventually tear the motor apart rebuild with 1uz rods if the block is good.

 

Only have a couple really haven't finished cleaning up the interior.

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I did get bored the other day and decided to upgrade the center console power port to a dual fast charging USB.

 

I love the blue color. I have not seen that color on an LS. It goes good with the tan interior.

$500 is great. Seats are showing their age, but it could be worse. You could find a front center console lid on eBay and get that refreshed.

 

Shesh, that interior has definitely seen better days

It looks like the door panels might clean up pretty well with some leather cleaner, but the seats, center armrest, and steering wheel look pretty whooped. I'm so thankful that my car has decently dark tinted windows to keep the sun from killing my leather quickly, plus living in the PNW, we don't have anywhere near the amount of sunny days as TX. I'd definitely want to get some tint on those windows soon to slow down the damage, as well as for preventing a quick death to the new leather when it goes in.

At least your carpets all look pretty clean, as well as the wood on the dash, doors, and console!

 

Yeah the leather isn't the best but I wasn't to concerned since the car was cheap. Eventually I'll have new leather installed along with the center console, everything else seems pretty good. Tint will be going in soon also, I don't think I've owned a car without tint before.