Hey Guys, I had a couple difficult decisions come up, and unfortunately I'm not really into the car thing as much as I was at one time.
I'm going to be letting my SC400 go. It's been a really long project. lots of fun, lots of time and money.
Basically my focus has just gone to other things. I was hoping you guys might help me decide what’s a fair price to ask for the car. I don't really have a whole lot of other cars to look to base my asking price on.
Any Ideas?
e-mail me at rdm20fan@yahoo.com for any interests.

Thanks for letting me be part of this Lexus community.
I've truly enjoyed it.
Bob

 

That's sad, Bob. I hope it's not economic recession related? The best way to sell performance parts is to sell them by individual parts. People don't usually have the $$ to buy the whole thing.

 

Sorry to hear.. I was anxious to see your car completed. With the way the economy is, might be hard to get what you want for the car. Good luck.

 

Bob...

I feel for ya man, I really do... I once had a project car that I tried doing every little thing to get every last hp out of... I spent too much money, too much time, so much that I just lost interest in the car and the whole car scene itself...

that is one of the reasons I urged you earlier in this thread to do it the simple route... at the same time I was doing mine the hard way, a good friend was building a similar car the easy way... long story short, his makes 700 hp now, mine has been parted out and I ended up giving away the shell a few years back...

I hope now that you can understand why I was urging you to do it a little simpler... real big projects like what you had intended are harmful on your wallet and you must have extreme amounts of determination to keep throwing money at something without real results...

Which actually leads me to another similar story... 10 years ago, or so, a friend in San Antonio was building a 3000GT VR4... it was at a shop in California... similar to you, he was going all out, probably spent 80k on the car... had it all - big twin turbos, etc... the car was gone for 5 years and when he got it back, the most hp it ever made was 690... Not bad, but with what he had, he was wanting more, like 800-1000 (and by all rights, it should have done that). At the same time, another little shop in Arizona was building a Stealth TT on a budget... might have had 8-10k in the car... needless to say, that shop made over 700 hp...

Even if the simpler route doesn't net you as much power, many times it is much more rewarding because you actually get to drive the car and enjoy the fruits of your labor (and money)

 

So what exactly is wrong with it? I guess a better question is what's the good/bad list on the car?

 

MitsuGuy, I understand your point, but I disagreee with one part of it. The success of a project as far as top HP goes is not dependant upon building it simply or more complex. It is dependant upon how well the project is designed, built and implemented, and especially, tuned. Many a project has been built that were either tuned improperly, or were not designed properly to put out the HP people want.

Bob, good luck in selling your beast. may you get a good price for it, and may all gfo wewll for you.

Ryan

 

Who cares about HP anyways, its all about torque

anyways, i wish you did finish it! but I know what you mean. GL with everything!

 

Nothing is wrong with the car. I guess it's more of what’s wrong with me. I’ve driven the car with the 6-speed, and very low boost. About 5 psi and it was fun. On a side note, changing the car from an automatic to a manual made a world of difference. The car actually takes off out of the hole. ;-)
But after I drove the car I wasn't excited about the whole thing like I used to be. I don't get the enjoyment of hanging out at the shop working on the car anymore. I find myself coming up with excuses to not go out cruising with my buddies. It truly is a case of me just moving on from the car.
I'm not looking to get dollar for dollar what I put into the car, and I don't want to take the time to part it out. I truly would like to see someone get excited about it. Be up all night cause you can't sleep because you’re so excited about the chance to drive the car again. I used to be like that, but unfortunately I'm just not anymore.
I seriously think I'm going to put it in the paper here in Chicago for a couple weeks, and if nothing happens I'm just going to put it up on eBay with a $10,000 reserve maybe. I mean the cars go for 65-7500 in its conditional original Forged Rods, and pistons, Getrag 6-speed, Torsen LSD, to mention a few has to be worth somethin.

Any thoughts?

 

id say 10k is more than fair. ive seen 2jz/1jz swapped cars locally go for 12k+

 

Hi Guys, Sorry I haven't been on in a long time. I just wanted to post that unfortunatly I had some trouble with the motor i built. I put a stock motor with MLS head gaskets. The motor is in the car, but I haven't had the time, or money to put the car back together.
I was wondering if anyone would want to make me a offer for the car.
Anybody interested in a 93 TT SC400 6-speed?

 

Hey Bob sorry to hear the bad news. This now seems to be a trend with the UZ family builds.
1. CowboyBebop
2. RDM20FAN
3. SC400TT ?

Anyone else? Please do share what ended up braking the back of this project so others do not follow suit!

Nick from Toronto.

 

Nick from Toronto, I am going to take the high road here and assume before the "Forum gods" that you did not intend any malicious intent in your post above. Bob, I also want to apologize for what may look like a slight "hijack" of your thread. So let's get down to it:

Nick, why you feel the need to lump me in with the other 2 projects, insinuating that my project may also be going the way of the "Dodo" (No offense to Bob or Cowboy), I do not really understand. While I cannot speak for Cowboy, or Bob, it appears that at minimum, funds became a major issue to completing their projects. That is not only understanding, but quite normal with many "Car projects" across the nation. Many people start their dream projects and then just run out of money. So, to answer your question, the major issue to steer clear of so that you can keep from "breaking your back" on a major project such as turboing the SC400: Make sure you are clear on your goals of your project before you start it, make sure you understand and plan out your project and the costs it will incur. Especially make sure you allow a 20% cushion for unexpected costs, and then make sure you have done your best to select the proper fabricators and companies to do the work on your car. If you do these things, and you do not lose interest, as Bob did, then you should be able to complete your project.

With the SC400, everything is custom, and usually "One Off", so that adds massive amounts of time and money to your project timeline and costs. That is the hardest part of completing a project such as this. Nothing else. So, before you decide to post up what I consider to be an inconsiderate, and rude post, with no real understanding, I must request that you stop and think before you type....

While I am not going to defend my project to you, it has taken over twice as long as I expected, because I lost time and approximately $10,000 from companies that either ripped me off outright, or went out of business while they had my car. And the biggest issue with sending your car out to a customizer/fabricator is that they never work on your car "exclusively", until it is completed. They work on multiple projects at the same time, and some of them are better at managing this than others. This sometimes means they have your car for a freaking year or longer, and practically nothing happened. This has by far been the number one reason why my project has taken so very long. That is also why I am very, very careful about who I take my car to now, for any work at all.

Nick, for you information, my car is running, and is in the last stages of completion. But I must ask you: Do you really have any idea what it is to take on a major project such as this? I have changed and replaced or rebuilt practically everything on my car. It is really not much of a Lexus anymore...It is a custom Lexus, and I mean "CUSTOM". When you strip a perfectly good running car to its shell, and then build everything from performance to interior to electronics, to stereo, to paint and body, that takes a bunch of cash and time. I have paid strict attention to the details, so I will take whatever time I need to complete my project within my budget, and my time frame, not yours, or anybody elses. And so do these other guys.

So again, the next time you decide to type such an uninformed question, why don't you consider carefully what you write, because it shows that you do not understand what you are stating....

Ryan

 

BTW, Bob, good luck selling your car. If you decide to part it out, let me know. I may have some interest in a few parts.

Ryan

 

"Nick, why you feel the need to lump me in with the other 2 projects"

Hey Ryan, given your ability to step up to the plate as these other two gentleman have done with such an ambitious project has put you in the same class respectfully.

"insinuating that my project may also be going the way of the "Dodo" (No offense to Bob or Cowboy), I do not really understand."

My apologies if you took it the wrong way, I am not this type of negative person.I wanted to hear from you. Read on regarding why....

"While I cannot speak for Cowboy, or Bob, it appears that at minimum, funds became a major issue to completing their projects. That is not only understanding, but quite normal with many "Car projects" across the nation. Many people start their dream projects and then just run out of money. So, to answer your question, the major issue to steer clear of so that you can keep from "breaking your back" on a major project such as turboing the SC400: Make sure you are clear on your goals of your project before you start it, make sure you understand and plan out your project and the costs it will incur. Especially make sure you allow a 20% cushion for unexpected costs, and then make sure you have done your best to select the proper fabricators and companies to do the work on your car. If you do these things, and you do not lose interest, as Bob did, then you should be able to complete your project."

Bingo! spoken like a scholar. We get a lot of ambitious individuals coming to my brother's shop trying to turn their Hyndais to RTs. 9/10 cases fall under what you described above. As these young member see such projects on forums much like this one, they start getting way over their heads. It is almost like we are selling them fake dreams. They need to be educated on the true sacrifices, not a bunch of "SWEET", "ALL SEX" etc.. types of pictures.

"With the SC400, everything is custom, and usually "One Off", so that adds massive amounts of time and money to your project timeline and costs. That is the hardest part of completing a project such as this. Nothing else. So, before you decide to post up what I consider to be an inconsiderate, and rude post,"

Right now we have 2 SC400 shells, 2 fully built 2UZs, 1 scrapped 2UZ, 2 TT Kits, 2 V161s, 2 complete TT rear ends, 2 P&P ECU, waiting on 2 sets of cooling systems. Each customer put in ~30K in hardware and 0 ratchets turned as of yet. These customer have many worries money is not one of them.

" with no real understanding, I must request that you stop and think before you type...."

Please sir, I know you as being the honest and gentleman that you are. There is no need for such comments. You don't even know who you are talking to. Again, respectfully.

"So again, the next time you decide to type such an uninformed question, why don't you consider carefully what you write, because it shows that you do not understand what you are stating...."

Being a PhD student, I cannot put so much time into these threads, however; I would like all these youngsters to know, such projects can bring you down to your knees. Mod guru's please say it how it is, not how it seems to be.

Ryan, I would love for you to come uo here and see what we are doing, we do have some talented Mech engineers here in Canada, but USA will always be big brother. Kudos on the hard work I do hope it dioes work out for you. Hell, I will even come down to see this thing.

Bob, I wish you good luck on the sale, as hard as it may be can you please enlighten us on where the project went wrong. Success stories are good to hear however; it is the failures that we learn the most from.

Mods, you should know that this is not a thread hijack, please see the bigger pic here. There is no exchanging of harsh words, at least not from my end. Let the truth be told as Ryan has so thoughtfully done.

Nick from Toronto.

 

i don't think anyones in over their head though, clearly this project worked, the OP has just changed plans. built motors go out from time to time. to the OP, drop another one in and grip it n rip it, or part out, you prob won't get much as a whole if its not together/running.