Just got my '92 SC400. I Really like the car, very smooth and quiet with sporty handling. My only issue is that it feels so sluggish and SLOW in stop and go traffic (off-the-line). I know the car is heavy (3500-ish lbs), but I have an '04 Honda Odyssey and it's about 1000 more lbs and 30ish less hp/tq numbers and it feels very zippy compared to my SC.

However, once I'm on the highway going 60mph+, it's a different ballgame.

Is this normal or... can I do something about it?

 

Sounds normal to me. Run some seafoam through the car, might help a little. Do a full tune up as well.

 

 

I'd say do the whole tuneup ,plugs, wires ,dist cap ,fuel filter,timing belt ya know....

Mine woke up,but i have 300

 

It's completely normal. The auto transmission Lexus put in our cars made it for luxury, not speed. So when you're taking off it is slow and smooth and when you want to "get on it" at the higher speeds the transmission is not in the lower rpms so it doesn't have the "luxury" slow take-off.

 

change the torque converter, at the expense of jerky shifts

 

The SC400 is a slug off the line. A stall converter will help a lot. Shouldnt make it shift jerky.

 

Where do I get a stall converter that will accomplish what I'm looking for? How much are they and how much would it cost to get one installed?

 

If you punch it from a stop will it spin the tires?

 

with stock everything, I can never spin the tires because OEM wheels weigh as much as the car. But once I switched to my volks, they are MUCH lighter, and If I punch it even in the dry it sometimes chirp

 

That isn't normal at all. The car is suposed to run 0-60 in around 8 seconds, but if you time it, you will discover that it runs more like 12-14 seconds. Lexus messed up fuel maps in early 1UZ ecu's and wont hold up to it.

 

Manufacturer specs say 0-60 in 6.9 seconds. Doesn't feel like that at all, so I think you're right about the 12-14 seconds. Maybe I'll time it soon.

I don't care if I'm only getting 18-20mpg with premium fuel, but only if I'm sacrificing that mpg for V8 torque and speed (at least that's what I thought when I bought the car). It's not worth it if my car is slower than my stock Van that takes 87octane, AND half the gas mileage. Kind of the worst of both worlds if you ask me.

So how do I fix this? Stall converter? Remapped ECU? I'll do it, just need to know what route to take.

 

how many miles are on the sc400? your tranny could already be slipping.

 

Tranny isn't slipping, I would know what that feels like.

Anyway, there are a little over 100k miles on the car.

 

Daudi, does it ping sightly around 2500-3500? The "ping" sound may not be as pronounced as on other cars, but I bet its there.