The upgrades start, Pics!
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Lexus Test Driver
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From: Sideways on the Yellow Brick Road! < Thats KS!
Cool, I know Inman well, used to date a couple girls from there. I also go to KC often (business) we should try to organize a Lexus meet in KC and see how many guys would be interested. Maybe we should start a post calling all KC and surrounding area Lexus people and see how many of us there are. What do you think?
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From: CA
The beauty of your mods is that you did the Dragon torque converter which makes all the difference in throttle response and lowend power, and then all your other exhaust mods which covers all your mid to highend power...Piggy back ECU gives you also a little topend....Unfortunately the Dragon Torque Converter does take away some of that topend power, but you should have seen really nice gains at lowend and some good gains at topend....Am I right or wrong? That's what happened with my car...
Thread Starter
Lexus Test Driver
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From: Sideways on the Yellow Brick Road! < Thats KS!
Well it did improve off the line performance a lot, I guess I didnt really think the TC took away from my top end. Anyway, this has pretty much all been the ground work for my supercharger project. Now that I am gathering the final parts for the supercharger install it should pay off soon.
EV ftw!!!
Joined: Nov 2002
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From: Lake Ontario
Awesome setup ScottURnot! 
You should dyno your car now to see what it's putting out.
Not trying to steal your thunder, but just sharing my personal experience with a similar mod to my 99 GS400 so that others on here can benefit from this as I also have a video clip so that others can appreciate how great this sounds too.
I removed all the piping and all three resonators from the cats up front all the way to the L-tuned mufflers at the back. I replaced all of that with 2.25 inch mandrel bent pipes and a Magnaflow 2.25 inch stainless steel Tru-X pipe - (specifically this one http://www.autoanything.com/exhausts...A2672A0A0.aspx ).
Pros
The sound is just so awesome!! The outcome exceeded my wildest expectations. It is very loud on WOT ONLY. That alone is worth the price of admission. On start up, the exhaust does not have a very deep note to it, however when you drive off and accelerate very hard, the exhaust note is pure music to my ears!!! It sounds like a more sophisticated version of a V8 mustang, however deeper than than a mid engine exotic car like a Lambo or Ferrari.
When cruising at city speeds or the highway and the tranny has shifted into 5th, you can barely tell the difference compared to the L-tuned mufflers by themselves (my previous only exhaust mod). So for example when I come home my neighbours don't know I am coming home. I was very concerned that the exhaust would be loud ALL the time, but that is not the case at all.
The exhaust gases are now flowing more freely (bigger 2.25 inch pipes and no resonators) and the X-pipe also contributes to that effect by creating a vacuum when one bank of cylinders pushes air out thus causing the other bank of cylinders to move its air out faster. The car definitely feels peppier, however I will dyno the car so that I can see what HP gains this mod made. I know I have not done a baseline dyno, however I will just take an approximate and average base number that others have done and use that as my base. Yes that is not exact or scientific, however I can't just afford to dyno the car so many times.
The nasty drone at 2100 rpm with the L-tuned mufflers is completely gone!
Cons
Some minor drone on part throttle at slow speeds (less than 30 MPH). Very minor. Not even worth mentioning, but I just wanted to share that the exhaust is not perfect that's all.
Some pics.
1. Stock Exhaust
2. Modded exhaust
Video
I would right-click on the links below and choose "Save As" and save the videos to your hard drive rather than trying to watch them as they stream as the first one is pretty big at 12 MB. I deliberately did not make it smaller just so that you appreciate the full effect better. Remember to turn up your speakers to full volume when listening.
When you watch the video, the start up does not sound that great in this video - the actual note of the exhaust is actually more deeper. I am not sure why the camcorder does not catch that. However on the second part of the video when accelerating away, it does a pretty good job of capturing the sound.
1. Start up, Drive away and Drive by
http://www.prudensconsulting.com/yah...00_Revving.wmv
I have not had a chance to dyno the car - been too busy. However based on research I did on this type of setup, I would safely guess I have gained at least 10 rwhp.
Here is a link to a similar setup on a Corvette - http://www.vetteweb.com/tech/0307vet...nfo/index.html
You should dyno your car now to see what it's putting out. Not trying to steal your thunder, but just sharing my personal experience with a similar mod to my 99 GS400 so that others on here can benefit from this as I also have a video clip so that others can appreciate how great this sounds too.
I removed all the piping and all three resonators from the cats up front all the way to the L-tuned mufflers at the back. I replaced all of that with 2.25 inch mandrel bent pipes and a Magnaflow 2.25 inch stainless steel Tru-X pipe - (specifically this one http://www.autoanything.com/exhausts...A2672A0A0.aspx ).
Pros
The sound is just so awesome!!
The outcome exceeded my wildest expectations. It is very loud on WOT ONLY. That alone is worth the price of admission. On start up, the exhaust does not have a very deep note to it, however when you drive off and accelerate very hard, the exhaust note is pure music to my ears!!! It sounds like a more sophisticated version of a V8 mustang, however deeper than than a mid engine exotic car like a Lambo or Ferrari.When cruising at city speeds or the highway and the tranny has shifted into 5th, you can barely tell the difference compared to the L-tuned mufflers by themselves (my previous only exhaust mod). So for example when I come home my neighbours don't know I am coming home. I was very concerned that the exhaust would be loud ALL the time, but that is not the case at all.
The exhaust gases are now flowing more freely (bigger 2.25 inch pipes and no resonators) and the X-pipe also contributes to that effect by creating a vacuum when one bank of cylinders pushes air out thus causing the other bank of cylinders to move its air out faster. The car definitely feels peppier, however I will dyno the car so that I can see what HP gains this mod made. I know I have not done a baseline dyno, however I will just take an approximate and average base number that others have done and use that as my base. Yes that is not exact or scientific, however I can't just afford to dyno the car so many times.
The nasty drone at 2100 rpm with the L-tuned mufflers is completely gone!
Cons
Some minor drone on part throttle at slow speeds (less than 30 MPH). Very minor. Not even worth mentioning, but I just wanted to share that the exhaust is not perfect that's all.
Some pics.
1. Stock Exhaust
2. Modded exhaust
Video
I would right-click on the links below and choose "Save As" and save the videos to your hard drive rather than trying to watch them as they stream as the first one is pretty big at 12 MB. I deliberately did not make it smaller just so that you appreciate the full effect better. Remember to turn up your speakers to full volume when listening.
When you watch the video, the start up does not sound that great in this video - the actual note of the exhaust is actually more deeper. I am not sure why the camcorder does not catch that. However on the second part of the video when accelerating away, it does a pretty good job of capturing the sound.
1. Start up, Drive away and Drive by
http://www.prudensconsulting.com/yah...00_Revving.wmv
I have not had a chance to dyno the car - been too busy. However based on research I did on this type of setup, I would safely guess I have gained at least 10 rwhp.
Here is a link to a similar setup on a Corvette - http://www.vetteweb.com/tech/0307vet...nfo/index.html
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From: CA
What are your goals for the supercharger set up? Is it the M90 Eaton Australian charger you are going with?...100hp increase seems to be the norm when super chargering these SC's...A small charger is really all that you can squeeze under the SC hoods anyway....
I love the chargers but for 100hp vs 5 or 7 grand you will spend for it to be fully setup you may want to ask yourself is it worth it?...I know for me the additonal 100hp would be a tease for about 2 to 3 months until you get smoked by a Porshce or Vette then you will be saying shoot maybe I should have turbo'd to bring out just a little more juice....It's just a shame they haven't made a stronger charger setup and or a reliable turbo kit for bigger power gains for our SC4's yet...You pretty much have to fab and custom build everything when turbo'ing...Just ask SC400TT... If you can make a consistant 300whp or more when it is all said and done you should have one fast SC regardless.. Nice work and keep us posted on the charger work....
I love the chargers but for 100hp vs 5 or 7 grand you will spend for it to be fully setup you may want to ask yourself is it worth it?...I know for me the additonal 100hp would be a tease for about 2 to 3 months until you get smoked by a Porshce or Vette then you will be saying shoot maybe I should have turbo'd to bring out just a little more juice....It's just a shame they haven't made a stronger charger setup and or a reliable turbo kit for bigger power gains for our SC4's yet...You pretty much have to fab and custom build everything when turbo'ing...Just ask SC400TT... If you can make a consistant 300whp or more when it is all said and done you should have one fast SC regardless.. Nice work and keep us posted on the charger work....
Thread Starter
Lexus Test Driver
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From: Sideways on the Yellow Brick Road! < Thats KS!
What are your goals for the supercharger set up? Is it the M90 Eaton Australian charger you are going with?...100hp increase seems to be the norm when super chargering these SC's...A small charger is really all that you can squeeze under the SC hoods anyway....
I love the chargers but for 100hp vs 5 or 7 grand you will spend for it to be fully setup you may want to ask yourself is it worth it?...I know for me the additonal 100hp would be a tease for about 2 to 3 months until you get smoked by a Porshce or Vette then you will be saying shoot maybe I should have turbo'd to bring out just a little more juice....It's just a shame they haven't made a stronger charger setup and or a reliable turbo kit for bigger power gains for our SC4's yet...You pretty much have to fab and custom build everything when turbo'ing...Just ask SC400TT... If you can make a consistant 300whp or more when it is all said and done you should have one fast SC regardless.. Nice work and keep us posted on the charger work....
I love the chargers but for 100hp vs 5 or 7 grand you will spend for it to be fully setup you may want to ask yourself is it worth it?...I know for me the additonal 100hp would be a tease for about 2 to 3 months until you get smoked by a Porshce or Vette then you will be saying shoot maybe I should have turbo'd to bring out just a little more juice....It's just a shame they haven't made a stronger charger setup and or a reliable turbo kit for bigger power gains for our SC4's yet...You pretty much have to fab and custom build everything when turbo'ing...Just ask SC400TT... If you can make a consistant 300whp or more when it is all said and done you should have one fast SC regardless.. Nice work and keep us posted on the charger work....
I hope to get 350WHP but who really knows. As far as cost for supercharging I will probably have about $4000 invested. Not bad really, I will say I know a turbo car will out perform it but its not about that for me. I have turbo’ed a car before but never supercharged one so this is more to gain the life experience.
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Thread Starter
Lexus Test Driver
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From: Sideways on the Yellow Brick Road! < Thats KS!
Driver School Candidate
Joined: Oct 2006
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From: nj
do any of you guys have a part number for a 2.5in exhaust x pipe i got mufflers already and would like to not have to make a x pipe i got a sc from california it has a third cat at the y pipe and is really restictive i would like to get rid of it then maybe later think about headers and new cats up front
Scott, what are those chassis stiffening bars you appear to have in place? Where did you get them. I do not recall these as stock items...
Ryan
Ryan
Awesome setup ScottURnot! You should dyno your car now to see what it's putting out.
Not trying to steal your thunder, but just sharing my personal experience with a similar mod to my 99 GS400 so that others on here can benefit from this as I also have a video clip so that others can appreciate how great this sounds too.
I removed all the piping and all three resonators from the cats up front all the way to the L-tuned mufflers at the back. I replaced all of that with 2.25 inch mandrel bent pipes and a Magnaflow 2.25 inch stainless steel Tru-X pipe - (specifically this one http://www.autoanything.com/exhausts...A2672A0A0.aspx ).
Pros
The sound is just so awesome!! The outcome exceeded my wildest expectations. It is very loud on WOT ONLY. That alone is worth the price of admission. On start up, the exhaust does not have a very deep note to it, however when you drive off and accelerate very hard, the exhaust note is pure music to my ears!!! It sounds like a more sophisticated version of a V8 mustang, however deeper than than a mid engine exotic car like a Lambo or Ferrari.
When cruising at city speeds or the highway and the tranny has shifted into 5th, you can barely tell the difference compared to the L-tuned mufflers by themselves (my previous only exhaust mod). So for example when I come home my neighbours don't know I am coming home. I was very concerned that the exhaust would be loud ALL the time, but that is not the case at all.
The exhaust gases are now flowing more freely (bigger 2.25 inch pipes and no resonators) and the X-pipe also contributes to that effect by creating a vacuum when one bank of cylinders pushes air out thus causing the other bank of cylinders to move its air out faster. The car definitely feels peppier, however I will dyno the car so that I can see what HP gains this mod made. I know I have not done a baseline dyno, however I will just take an approximate and average base number that others have done and use that as my base. Yes that is not exact or scientific, however I can't just afford to dyno the car so many times.
The nasty drone at 2100 rpm with the L-tuned mufflers is completely gone!
Cons
Some minor drone on part throttle at slow speeds (less than 30 MPH). Very minor. Not even worth mentioning, but I just wanted to share that the exhaust is not perfect that's all.
Some pics.
1. Stock Exhaust
2. Modded exhaust
Video
I would right-click on the links below and choose "Save As" and save the videos to your hard drive rather than trying to watch them as they stream as the first one is pretty big at 12 MB. I deliberately did not make it smaller just so that you appreciate the full effect better. Remember to turn up your speakers to full volume when listening.
When you watch the video, the start up does not sound that great in this video - the actual note of the exhaust is actually more deeper. I am not sure why the camcorder does not catch that. However on the second part of the video when accelerating away, it does a pretty good job of capturing the sound.
1. Start up, Drive away and Drive by
http://www.prudensconsulting.com/yah...00_Revving.wmv
I have not had a chance to dyno the car - been too busy. However based on research I did on this type of setup, I would safely guess I have gained at least 10 rwhp.
Here is a link to a similar setup on a Corvette - http://www.vetteweb.com/tech/0307vet...nfo/index.html
You should dyno your car now to see what it's putting out. Not trying to steal your thunder, but just sharing my personal experience with a similar mod to my 99 GS400 so that others on here can benefit from this as I also have a video clip so that others can appreciate how great this sounds too.
I removed all the piping and all three resonators from the cats up front all the way to the L-tuned mufflers at the back. I replaced all of that with 2.25 inch mandrel bent pipes and a Magnaflow 2.25 inch stainless steel Tru-X pipe - (specifically this one http://www.autoanything.com/exhausts...A2672A0A0.aspx ).
Pros
The sound is just so awesome!!
The outcome exceeded my wildest expectations. It is very loud on WOT ONLY. That alone is worth the price of admission. On start up, the exhaust does not have a very deep note to it, however when you drive off and accelerate very hard, the exhaust note is pure music to my ears!!! It sounds like a more sophisticated version of a V8 mustang, however deeper than than a mid engine exotic car like a Lambo or Ferrari.When cruising at city speeds or the highway and the tranny has shifted into 5th, you can barely tell the difference compared to the L-tuned mufflers by themselves (my previous only exhaust mod). So for example when I come home my neighbours don't know I am coming home. I was very concerned that the exhaust would be loud ALL the time, but that is not the case at all.
The exhaust gases are now flowing more freely (bigger 2.25 inch pipes and no resonators) and the X-pipe also contributes to that effect by creating a vacuum when one bank of cylinders pushes air out thus causing the other bank of cylinders to move its air out faster. The car definitely feels peppier, however I will dyno the car so that I can see what HP gains this mod made. I know I have not done a baseline dyno, however I will just take an approximate and average base number that others have done and use that as my base. Yes that is not exact or scientific, however I can't just afford to dyno the car so many times.
The nasty drone at 2100 rpm with the L-tuned mufflers is completely gone!
Cons
Some minor drone on part throttle at slow speeds (less than 30 MPH). Very minor. Not even worth mentioning, but I just wanted to share that the exhaust is not perfect that's all.
Some pics.
1. Stock Exhaust
2. Modded exhaust
Video
I would right-click on the links below and choose "Save As" and save the videos to your hard drive rather than trying to watch them as they stream as the first one is pretty big at 12 MB. I deliberately did not make it smaller just so that you appreciate the full effect better. Remember to turn up your speakers to full volume when listening.
When you watch the video, the start up does not sound that great in this video - the actual note of the exhaust is actually more deeper. I am not sure why the camcorder does not catch that. However on the second part of the video when accelerating away, it does a pretty good job of capturing the sound.
1. Start up, Drive away and Drive by
http://www.prudensconsulting.com/yah...00_Revving.wmv
I have not had a chance to dyno the car - been too busy. However based on research I did on this type of setup, I would safely guess I have gained at least 10 rwhp.
Here is a link to a similar setup on a Corvette - http://www.vetteweb.com/tech/0307vet...nfo/index.html
Thread Starter
Lexus Test Driver
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From: Sideways on the Yellow Brick Road! < Thats KS!
Ryan,
Yeap, I see what you are talking about and Mark is right, that is someone elses car. Those do look like a nice adder, maybe I should make some up. When I am doing my Tranny swap I will research it.
Yeap, I see what you are talking about and Mark is right, that is someone elses car. Those do look like a nice adder, maybe I should make some up. When I am doing my Tranny swap I will research it.
I thought the bottom end looked a little different...I thought perhaps because your car was a newer year...I guess it was a hi-jack pic...Make them up, and be sure to make some for me...I am glad to pay. I wna to do all I can to increase structural rigidity due to the power and torque I will be throwing down... Chrome moly would be a good material...
Ryan
Chrome moly would be a good material...Ryan