Hello all,
I am new to the forum but I have been snooping around for a while. I currently daily drive a 2015 GMC Denali HD 3/4 ton lifted on 37's (its a texas thing) but as I am hitting my mid 20's I am wanting something different because I don't use my truck for the actual purposes a truck is made for, yeah I pull a boat around during the summer but that is really about it. I test drove a 2017 LX back when my fiancee and I were car shopping for her (she ended up in a MBZ) but I truly fell in love with the LX, plus I know the reliability behind them as she daily drives a Toyota Camry, but I have a few questions.

Is it worth waiting for the 2019 LX? I will be selling my truck outright but they hold value extremely well so waiting is not an issue.
From what I gathered, no one in america is ballsy enough to supercharge a 16+lx, so will we see a higher end FI motor in the near future? If theres an issue with the LX, that is it!
If an FI engine isn't in the cards, how are Lexus dealerships with mods and tuning? With diesel trucks you can always find a dealer who is willing to "help out"

thanks all!

 

I believe the new LX will not come out until maybe 2020? And most likely FI V8? I can only hope and wish, right?

As far as mods to the engine, it's difficult to crack the ECU.

 

Thats what has me confused because many companies in the UAE and other places in the GCC are tuning new land cruisers and LX's, so why haven't we caught up. Im not afraid to have it done, but I am curious as to how the dealer will react. I know Hennessy at one point offered an LX supercharger/tune

 

Getting closer to tracking down a source for tuning. It will be coming from UAE. I so far have found a handful, maybe a few more of 2016/2017 LX's from that part of the world that have been supercharged and tuned. Once I get a full confirmation I will be selling/trading in the truck for a 2018 LX

 

Tuning the engine is one thing. But you have to get upgraded suspensions and brakes for that go go beast, too. Otherwise, a fast engine is not good if it can't corner or stop on a dime. I would venture to say that once you tune an engine under warranty, the only warranty you have is with the tuner. In UAE and other countries, those princes don't care for warranty. These cars are like soda pop to them. So unless you have millions to burn, I think tuning an LX in the States is going to be a very uphill tread. Go get an AMG or M, or an supercharged RR and be done with it in the power/performance category. Spend another $8K on some HRE rims can all it a day.

 

its just like deleting and tuning a diesel(like I have now) you have to pay to play.
I have no issues tuning these motors, the people in UAE do it everyday.
I will be doing it properly, supercharging, tuning the motor and transmission, along with adding wilwoods and doing HRE's. The thread will come once I get full confirmation and trade in my truck.

 

Well everything is a go! Having everything sourced from a very reputable performance shop located in Bahrain. They've been very informative and helpful through the whole process of getting this stuff squared away. They are also giving me a list of reputable installers in Texas that they would trust working on the S/C install. I will be putting my deposit down this weekend on a 2018 LX allocation at my local dealer. I'm like a kid at Christmas right now!

 

Join the LX family and you won't regret.


Let me share a few of my research findings on supercharing the 2016-2017 LX and why I do not recommend it. I am also typing it up to remind myself why I shouldn't supercharge.

- First, I remember the consensus is that few supercharged 3UR engines with factory internals last over 200k miles (320k km).

- Second, I suspect that the new 2016-2017 8-speed transmission does not hold as much torque as the 2007-2015 AB60F 6-speed. One evidence is in the new 8speed factory intro document. Toyota spent 20+ pages on all the great things about the new 8speed. But throughly the document they never talked about how much more torque it can handle. So it probably can not. Another evidence is that the more demanding Russia/New Zealand LX450d V8 diesel and US Tundras in 2016-2018 still use the older 6-speed transmission. We will see if it changes for the 2019 model year to shed morel light.

- Third, the final gear ratio changed from 3.9 in 2007-2015 model years to 3.3 in 2016-2017 model years. That means to achieve the same acceleration and/or towing, 2016-2017 models have 20% more wear/strain on drivetrain, including frame, engine rubber mounts, transmission rubber mount and drive shaft.


So here is a game plan if you still want to supercharge with reliability

- rebuild with forged pistons and stronger crankshafts and beef up the torque converter and transmission valve body

- there is a chance the 8speed internal gears simply can not hold the torque reliably (show stopper)

- be prepared to change engine / transmission mounts every 2-4 years. The engine mounts are a ***** to change. I changed them in my overhaul project. Basically you will have to remove the exhaust manifolds before getting to the engine mounts. The AHC suspension lines and bake lines also get in the way.

- you have to ensure you don't run into bad gas EVER. You must add top tier high octane gas every single time.

- change to higher viscosity gear oil / motor oil / transmission oil and change them frequently.

- Buy a name brand grease gun, fill it with mobil 1 synthetic grease, and lube all 6 drive shaft zerk fittings every 2-5 months

Good luck and let me know your thoughts.

 

In my honest opinion after overhauling a 6 year old LX570 and testing driving many LX570 with all kinds of mods, there are a few things I suggest before supercharging

1. Forged wheels, especially Rays Volk Racing TE37 wheels in 18x9.5J or 20x9.5J. Each wheel and tire combo reduces 7-8kg (~16lb) of unsprung weight on each corner. I measured myself against the 20inch stock wheel/tire combo. Rays wheels are incredible with almost zero unbalanced out of factory. The OE cast wheels come with 10-20grams of unbalance.

2. Still Forged wheels. The 18x9.5J Rays wheel actually gave 1-1.5inch of wider rim edge for better cornering support compared with the stock 18x8J wheels. I didn't expect it in my research so it gave me a big smile on my first test drive. If you do the math, the stock wheel/tire combo is a 203mm(8J) - 216mm(8.5J) wheel wrapped with 285mm tire. They do not match perfectly. The tires protects the wheel during off-road but will roll around the wheel during cornering. Bigger wheels alone will not solve the issue. the Rays 9.5J (241mm) wheel is the better solution.

3. Forged aluminum brake calipers and two-piece brake rotors. The stock brakes are pathetic and heavy. Each front stock 4-piston cast iron caliper weighs 8.44kg (18.6lb). A stronger 6-piston AP Racing CP9040 forged aluminum caliper with adaptor weighs less than 4.4kg (9.7lb). That's a 4kg (~9lb) unsprung weight reduction. You can shake off another 1-2kg by getting rid of each stock front rotor. For the rear, something like AP Racing forged 9202 4-piston caliper might not provide as much weight savings, simply because the OE rear caliper is a single piston junk that they dare to put on this 6000lb luxury SUV. That junk caliper still weighs 4.62kg. The 4-piston AP 9202 with adaptor weighs less than 3.5kg. Getting the brake upgrade on rear also provide much better brake comfort as it provides a higher percentage of braking force during daily gentle braking, thus reducing the annoying nose diving. In extreme braking, the front still does the work so nose diving is inevitable.

4. ARB safari snorkel? That is a solid cold air intake

5. carbon/aluminum hood?

6. The US spec LX570 already comes with the stainless steel 4-2-1 exhaust manifolds. They are as good as it gets with equal length for each cylinder. I will get them on my Middle East spec truck.

 

All the thing you mentioned on your previous post I ad asked the performance shop about and they were able to answer the questions with no hesitation. They say the trans is just as solid in the 16+ LX as the older 6spd but they do require a little tweak for firmer shifting under hard acceleration. I don't plan on keeping the vehicle for longer than 80k miles so the motor taking a dump isn't a huge concern. As far as wheels and brakes, they will both be done at the same time as the S/C but I plan on doing Wilwoods. The snorkel is definitely unneeded. the new intakes grab as much air as almost any aftermarket intake. and a carbon/aluminum hood is not useful to me, I am wanting a "normal" vehicle but with more power. With a vehicle that weighs almost as much as new 3/4 trucks, it lacks power and thats what I want.

 

Please understand that I do not fully trust what your local performance shop says, because the dealer of magnuson supercharger (TRD OEM) in my country was not sure about the 16-17 8speed strength when I asked them. It is just too new a transmisison to claim anything. By the time you get your truck broken in, I hope there is more clarity on this issue. Believe me, if reliability is not an issue, I would have supercharged already. I just want to be on the cautious side.

Regarding the lightweight aluminum hood, if any manufacturer ends up making one, I would get it and paint it white. I don't like unwanted attraction either.

snorkel, if you don't live in some part of Australia or other dusty areas, sure you won't need it.

You can not go wrong with any name brand brake kit. Just make sure you choose two piece forged calipers with rubber dust shields. For AP lines, 9040/9202 are two examples of such forged calipers. 7040 is not.

Good luck and I am jealous of what your ride will be.

 

That is a lot of work and $$$. Before it was discontinued you could buy a supercharged Tundra 5.7 with 8 year/100 or 125k mile factory warranty. Plenty of time to enjoy it before selling it on.

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...elCode1=TUNDRA

 

Also, they might have offered the factory supercharged LXs here but claimed emissions prevented them from offering it.

 

This is the perfect example of diminishing return on engine life. Squeeze out 1/4 more power reduces the engine life by 3/4. So the million mile engine doesn't pass the 200k mile mark. Does it matter? Well where I live, a brand new 5.7 engine (no crazy tax on replacement parts) installed only costs less than 10k USD. so why not enjoy it supercharged. so sure. let's do it.

 

it's actually not a local performance shop to me. I live in San Antonio, TX and had to source a performance shop from Bahrain who will be sourcing the parts stateside from the manufacturers and only shipping me a tuned M.E. spec ECU. The performance company is Kanoo Performance, they have done quite a few LX570's since 2016 and have invested a lot of time in research across the platform. But you also have to remember what im
coming from, a tuned and deleted 3/4 ton duramax diesel. At the end of the day I can source a 5.7 motor/trans for half the cost of a duramax motor and Allison transmission. More than likely the 8spd can be sourced and installed for less than what an Allison costs to be built. Im coming from an extremely expensive vehicle if something went wrong to a vehicle with a higher initial price tag but cheaper to fix. I'm excited to get the ball rolling, I have an appointment at the dealership Saturday to order a fully loaded Nebula Grey/Cabernet 2018 and once I have a vin I can order the tuning,etc.