ajmccarrel

I just had the Lextreme unit installed today.

I'm not sure what to make of it yet. My car was out of commission for about two weeks while the TC was sent out and my tranny was being rebuilt, so having not driven the car for that long it's hard to tell the difference. I was driving the 03 GS300 sport during the time and I'd say the SC is now every bit as spunky as the GS. I'm not yet sure what difference is attributable to a new transmission and what is the Lextreme torque converter.

So far, my car seems to lurch off the line. I still can't make it burnout. The shifting is smooth and you barely notice shifts at all. Vibration at lower speeds is more noticable than in the GS, but it's 10 years older too. The 1st gear surge seems diminished somewhat. My car used to stall out and stop accelerating during the shift and I'd lose a lot of ground in a short distance drag. 1st gear still surges to redline, but it is still accelerating at a very even keel. I'd say overall my 0-60 time is better than it was. With the intake, exhaust and transmission mods, I think I'm closer to a 6 second 0-60. I need to time it to be sure. I don't notice any real difference between power mode and not.

I'm curious what other experiences any of you had with this particular mod?

scviolence

iTrader: (17)

is this car turbo???

ajmccarrel

No, that will come next year. I'm doing the upgrades one at a time. So far I have BFI, exhaust, Lextreme TC, a tranny rebuild, tune up, timing belt, water pump, etc.

stockhatch

iTrader: (12)

You mention "lurching" and "surging". Generally, both are considered bad things that indicate problems. Can you elaborate?

ajmccarrel

Just the typical SC gremlins of 1st gear taking forever to shift to 2nd when it's floored to the point where it goes to 6K rpms. The SC400 autobox sucks. At least I think this behavior is normal since most everything I've read on this car says that everyone seems to have this problem.

ajmccarrel

What problems would those be? The tranny was just rebuilt, so I don't think there's anything there to worry about.

I'm a newb here and I have no prior experience with SCs and nothing to gauge my particular car against. This is the first "performance" type car I've had that was an automatic. Any other automatic I've had was something horrible that was temporary like a Ford Taurus. Any other car I've had that is a comparable was a stick, like a 330i, Eclipse GTS, RX7, 80's Supra, multiple Taurus SHOs, etc.

MooJohn

I cut the wire from this thread and will leave it that way forever.

There's a reason this trans was used for 15+ years in everything from the Supra to the Tundra. It just needs a little un-Lexusing to drive the way we want it to.

ajmccarrel

Yes, I had the plug unplugged until the rebuild. It's plugged back in now, but I'll cut the wire at the ECU instead. I'll leave it off and see if I notice any difference. On other threads, those with different TCs said they didn't notice any difference. I'll see what happens.

MooJohn

Traction is an issue in 1st gear and when it downshifts from a roll, things really happen. I like it a lot.

In stock form the trans will slip on purpose, and that's regardless of what converter is there. All this does is prevent the slippage and put that power to the ground. I'll take whatever the engine can make!

stockhatch

iTrader: (12)

Tough to say without more info. I was curious about the surging and lurching you mentioned. I was hoping you could provide more of a description of them is all.

ajmccarrel

I'm just not getting much of a response out of it. Traction is no issue at all. I matted it in power mode during a hefty rain and it didn't break traction once. I wonder what the issue is???

ajmccarrel

It's that it takes a while for the car to get moving in the first place. It seems like there's too much time between pushing on the gas and the car actually moving. It seems slushy, then it lurches into gear. By lurch, I just mean it's not as smooth as my wife's 300GS, not that there's anything wrong. Her car shifts very precisely and cleanly. This is still a bit unpredictable. For example, on the way home today I hit power mode from a stoplight and I was doing 40 before I hit the other side. Other times it seems like it's driving underwater it's so slow to accelerate that even mini-vans are keeping up with me. I'm just not having an easy time driving it after the TC and tranny rebuild. It's just slushy and unpredictable. You can stomp on it and there's no loss of traction, no burnout, just slow forward acceleration. I guess I just expected more from this upgrade.

stockhatch

iTrader: (12)

What is the stall speed for the converter you bought? Is it supposed to be higher than stock? It sounds to me like you have some issues. You should take it to a shop and let a pro diagnose it for you.

ajmccarrel

Lextreme said 2700-2800. It just CAME from a shop. Does anybody read the posts?

lookEVO

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like you got hosed and someone did a ****ty job rebuilding your tranny.