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New SC owner and new member to CL - My plans!

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Old 01-16-11, 03:33 PM
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SQ400
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Default New SC owner and new member to CL - My plans!

Sorry this is so Long!!


First I would like to say this is an amazing community. I’m a member of many forum around the net, Jeep communities as I love Jeep Cherokees, Mazda as I have a nice little Protégé, but mostly Car Audio Sound Quality Communities, As I’m very much into Sound Quality and Mobile Electronics. With that said here is a little about me and my plans for my new Baby and she is a beauty IMHO.

Name: Mark Brooks

Location: Home in Georgia for now. Moving back to Miami soon more then likely

Lexus: 1993 Sandstone Beige SC400 fully loaded. It still has very thing that came with it originally, it even still has the old school Cell Phone in the Center console. I even have the window sticker.

Short Bio:

Well let’s see how to make it short and sweet. I have always wanted an SC400 ever since my cousin owned one back in 94 when I was still in the US Army. It was Black with the Beige and Tope interior. I was in love with that car. So for years I want one. Well finally after I started to look for another car I could build kind of fast as my Show Car/ Sound Quality Competition vehicle #1 as there are plans for another Sound Quality Competition vehicle, but not Show Car level, well not pre-say, but Mega high Sound Quality Competition level to promote my small High-End speaker line.

I found my new baby in a small town in Kentucky. I Drove thru the snow to get to her back on Dec. 17 2010 and if you know people from Georgia that was not an easy thing to do, as we don’t do snow very well, but I made it and test drove the H**l out of her before forking over my funds. I was sold and I now own in my opinion one of the nice luxury sport coupe every built. So I’m all smiles now.


Plans (To be done on a budget or budget minded):

Ok I have been browsing thru the community for almost a month now and here is what I have came up with for my short term plans/goals for the Performance and Cosmetics of my SC400 I will now Nickname “Sand Storm”, It has been spoken, So it shall come to be!

Ok, first the problems I notice she had/has with fixes or plan fixes. Also about 5 months before I purchased her the last owner had, the radiator, water pump, time belt replaced.

1. Trac Off and Check Engine lights.

Fix: Checked codes and need to replace the front O2 sensors. So after some research here and from links I found here, I order the Walker Universal units, I’m very good with a soldering iron, so cutting the plugs off the old ones and adding them to the new universal units is not a problem for me. I also found out from research that it is best to replace them in pairs so I order 2. I think I will replace the 2 rears also in about 2 weeks.

Link (found it here, it is for the LS400, but from my research it is the same on the SC400 as the setups are the same.):
http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/EFI/m...gensensor.html

2. Drivers door panel and window trim was broken or cracked in several location.

Fix: Removed all panels used CA Glue to glue them back together and then used an old soldering iron and an some old broken peaces of plastic from my other cousin’s 90 LS400 and melted the plastic over the spots and at the same time melting some of the original panel plastic in with it, this was done from the backside of the panels. Results very strong fix. I’ve been doing this for many years. I use to own a custom Audio shop in Miami and made custom dash kits this way for a while then I started to used ABS Plastic mold and repair. It is great product.

I ordered a Leather/Vinyl repair kit, to fix the spots where to brakes came through are ripped the leather. I’m not concern about matching the color of the leather at all, as while I was in Maimi I had my old auto paint and product supplier to make me some leather dye to match all the colors in the car and along with some black. So I’m going to re-dye all the seats in the car. This is not the cheap stuff you buy at your local auto part store or even the SEM stuff. This stuff is amazing. When done correctly it will last for about 5-6 years with no fading, pealing or coming off on your clothes.

3. I notice a hard start, well not just hard it would basically die and then start. When I purchased her the previous owner (I’m the third, the second only had her for 10 months) told me about the problem. It would start slow and/or everything would reset in the car. He said he just replace the battery in it like 2 months ago and gave me the receipt for it Ever-Start, should be called Never-Start. So he said it must be the start about to go. I was like well I will replace it soon. And from my cousin owning a LS400 I know/knew the mission behind changing it.

Well before me and my son drove to Miami to spend X-mas with my daughters it died on us at the gas station and would not start. I was like man a fine time for the starter to go out. I was just setting there for a few moments and it hit me, Wait a minute, when it would do the hard start, it would not start for like 2 minutes then it would start. Also the car would reset everything. I told my son I will put money on it, that the battery is dead, weak or has a bad cell. So I called my other son to come give us a boost. Guess what, it fired right up after about 4 mins with him holding is gas panel down, a little small 4 banger 97 Mits Merge 2 Dr. I drive straight to Auto Zone and bought there best battery and it has started on the first turn every since.

4. Seat are in pretty good shape considering her age. Top of rear seats has what I found from my research to be normal for these cars, the slits in the seams in two spots. The driver seat has some ware, but not bad at all.

Fix: I went by a local upholstery shop and they quoted me $150 to repair the top of the rear seats. Basically he is going to cut the top off the seats and replace it with matching leather, they call it a topper. It will come down about 6”. Once more an exact color match is not important to me as I going to re-dye the seats anyway.

5. Next is the Climate Controls display, yep the hard to read in some spots problem. But here is what I have noticed. It is temperature related, well in my SC at least. As long as it is cold it has the problem. It has the dark spot all the way across the bottom of the display. I can still make out everything on the display, but man it looks bad. Now when I drove it to Miami, and it was quite warm there. The Display completely cleared up. It will also clear up quite a bit after I run the heater for a long time.

Fix: To order one of the rebuilt units with the new upgraded display.


Now on to the Performance and Cosmetic of "Sand Storm".

6. Need to get the front bumper repainted as the last owner back his truck into it. It did not harm the bumper, just put a really nice mark between the hi-beams, I had enough paint made to repaint the entire car if I want to. It was color matched to the car as it is now, not just by the color code. Very important if your plan to paint a panel or do spot painting.

Performance:

1. BFI: Love this mod. Easy to do and I planning to used a flat Carbon fiber sheet for the top plate.

2. Exhaust mods nothing to crazy: But this is the one I not sure which way to go. First I do know I will use some free flow mufflers round or oval/flat I like both, but the round ones are the least costly and I would like to have a carbon fiber finish on them as that is kind of the theme of the car, Black StoneStone Beige and Carbon fider.

But here is what I’m not to sure about. I have found from researching. The Magnaflow X-pipe to replace the secondary cat or use a 2 – 1 Magnaflow free flow muffler or just put a 3” straight pipe there. All seem like that work great. It seem like most around here used the X-pipe. Here are some links I found about the other options:

3” Straight pipe option and more then likely the least costly:
http://www.lextreme.com/greddysc.html

This like was more then likely my favorite and where the Magnaflow 2-1 muffler option came from along with a few more of my performance ideas, well most of them, with more research to back-up my findings on the below right up.
http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums...pic=30822&st=0

Next with out a doubt some nice headers. Just have to find a good place to buy for the best price for direct bolt on units. Once I have the headers I will delete the 2 man cats and either just go straight pipe or do the resonator idea from the above link, depends on how loud the exhaust note is.

3. Solenoid #4 bypass: I found this to be a neat little mod and if not used everyday or for daily driving it should not have any adverse side effects on the car. Just when you want to show off a little. Using a relay to wire it to the ECT power / Normal switch is a amazing idea and very easy to do and with cutting the wire at the ECU makes it even easier. For me it will more then likely almost never get used, but will be nice to know I can just flip the switch for a little more kick off the line.

Link:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/per...-its-free.html

Torque Converter upgrade: This one sounds like a very nice option also. Again from the above link ( http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums...pic=30822&st=0 )

I was looking buying this one as it seems like a good option over the very costly Precision Dragon unit. http://www.lextreme.com/tc.html

4. Suspension upgrades: I would like to do the 95-97 Supra Stock suspension as from my research lowers the SC’s .5”. Please correct me if i’m wrong, the front string and stocks/struts are the same and are inter-changeable. If you want to use the stock Supra rear springs you have to have the stock stocks/struts also. I’m not sure how much I will need to come down to acquire the stance I want, but I now exactly what I want the stance to lock like. Front I want the fend about an .5” from the top of the tire. In the rear about the same or about .75-1” as long as the stance looks like the rear is just light higher then the front.

5. Braking System upgrade: 95-00 LS400 front 2 piston calipers with the same year crossed drilled rotors. If I remember correctly I will need the LS’s caliper bolts also. I do remember reading, that a couple of people had issues with the brake lines fitting.


That is it for now, but in a few months the piggy back ECU and a 75-100 dry shot of Nitrous Oxide, which once more will more then likely never see any use/to every little, as I know I will used it at some point, even if it is just to smoke a few of the little Civic friends I have. Then in about a year or see Super Charger and may if funds allow a 4.7 bottom end.

Cosmetics real fast as I very tired of typing now.

1. Rims and Tires: I know some of you will say they are a little narrow, but I went with some 18x8 with +40 off-set all the way around. Got a great deal on them and they where the style I was looking for nice 5 spoke with inserts that can be color matched to the car. Tires are 235/40/18 upfront and 245/40/18 in the rear.

This car with 18x8's and 235/40/18 all the around looks nice and it made me go ahead to pull the trigger on the 18x8's myself.



2. The front factory lip with get a dry carbon fiber look Di-Noc vinyl over lay. So will the windshield wiper arms, B-pillar outside window panel, plastic around the seat controls, Back plastic of the front seats, all wood grain will be covered in it, around the speed cluster and the climate controls, Radio trim/monitor trim(doing carPC), ash tray door and around the shifter.

3. Will add a roof/rear window spoiler and it will also be covered with the Di-Noc dry carbon fiber vinyl. With a touch of Gold/SandStone Beige added.

4. Smoke factory taillights with the little channel that divides the top and bottom part of the lights with be Gold/SandStone Beige to give to look as if the rear panel of the car is dividing the taillights.

5. Headlights will get very light smoke and will had HID’s to both Low and Hi beams.

6. All emblems are being change over to black with a little Di-Noc dry carbon add to the Lexus “L” emblem

7. I changed out the factory motorized antenna as it was broken with I bought her. I change it to a very short black aluminum and carbon fiber unit. Looks nice.

8. All seats will be re-dyed as stated above, but the center of the front and rear seats will be dyed black.

That is about it I think. Details on the Ultra High-End Sound System to come later.

Also Please any comments are welcome. Once more I’m glad to be here and I even happier to be the owner of such a great car.

Here are some photos of “Sand Storm” in her current state. I forgot to get a photo of the Cell phone in the center console. I just removed to antenna about 20 mins before I took these photos.
































Last edited by SQ400; 01-17-11 at 06:41 AM.
Old 01-16-11, 03:45 PM
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Hoovey689
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Very thorough man. Car looks to be in good shape!!
Old 01-16-11, 04:04 PM
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lamar411
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Car looks great and your doing good. welcome to the club also.
Old 01-16-11, 04:07 PM
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boostinsc
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very clean car welcome
Old 01-16-11, 04:12 PM
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Kira X
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That's a very clean SC. You made a great write up too with a lot of detail. It's awesome to see someone take the time to do that.
Old 01-16-11, 05:35 PM
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Joey-E
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Awesome, congrats and welcome
Old 01-16-11, 05:44 PM
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msc300
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Car looks very clean
Old 01-16-11, 11:02 PM
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97RSPSCTT
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welcome mark, great write up, and good luck with sand storm (love the name) i know it will come out great. this IS the best forum on the internet, i.e. info, great members, and every question you have will be answered... remember the search tool is your best friend on here. laters bro!
Old 01-16-11, 11:47 PM
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hey, you're my twin! i have a 95 sandstone 400 and upgrade to those OEM 5 spoke wheels from the 97-00... mine are the chrome though.
Old 01-16-11, 11:51 PM
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DWPsc3
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welcome! the car looks pretty clean
Old 01-17-11, 08:17 AM
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supra1
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Nice ride.......
Old 01-17-11, 11:22 AM
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welcome mark. let me know how the dyed seats turn out.
Old 01-17-11, 11:43 AM
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shern
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Nice car and color...but I am a bit biased.
Old 01-17-11, 12:46 PM
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How's the reception with that new antenna? Saw them on Ebay!!!
Old 01-17-11, 01:40 PM
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SQ400
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I would like to say thanks for all the kind words. She is very clean for a car her age and runs great. Since I purchased her back on the Dec 17, I have put over 5000 miles on her already. I just had to make sure she could hold up and i have driven her pretty hard. She take it all and smiled and ask for more.

Originally Posted by magneti
welcome mark. let me know how the dyed seats turn out.
I will post up photo once they are done. I will dig up some photo of a custom CLK 430 that was done with it and it looks very nice.

Just like with anything you want done correctly prep work and take you time is Key for great results. Cleaning the seat with a cleaner that has no oils in it is key. Something like a wheel cleaner is kind of strong works great. Now that is not something you want to do if your not planing to dye your seats as it will give the leather a really dull like to them. It just has to be strong enough to remove all oil from the seat, Also something like purple stuff works great also that is what I use.

Let them dry and it works best when the seat are warm (not hot) so doing it in the summer time in the sun works great. If not just have yourself a heat gun or hair dyer handy. Heat them up a bit soften the leather up a bit then spray them. Let them dry for at least 12 hours before you reinstall them. The SEM prep products work pretty good also, but this way is cheaper and works great.

If your going to two tone like i'm going to taping off the section is very important make sure you get down up to the seam. Use a Body filler spreader to push the tape down into the seam, this way when you spreay you can spray down into the seam on both sides with both color for a very factory or custom look.



Originally Posted by kbb
How's the reception with that new antenna? Saw them on Ebay!!!
Will honest to me it is more for looks. What you have to do is find yourself I nice standard antenna setup that works pretty well without the antenna screwed on. Then you can used this little unit.

I hope I that was clear, I mean it set should pick well with having the antenna itself screwed on to the body or base. Before when my stock motorized unit was broken, I could not get any station clearly. I test a few bases (just the base and then plugged the wire into the SC's stock wiring some work well some didn't. The one i went with was a Toyota Tundra unit I think it was I will look it and see. I had them from when I own my Custom Car Audio shop.

Now the problem was the angle mount was smaller then the SC's angle mount hardware so the unit would pull thru the opening. I cut some ABS plastic, heated it up and shape it top the under side of the fender so it would fit flush against the curve of the underside of the fender where the antenna mounts. A little panel bond to handle it in place then drilled a hole in it so the antenna would pass thru and then some sound dampen over the added ABS plastic peace just for good measure. Then i mounted the Tundra unit. I also used the little rubber gasket or seal from the stock antenna to help with the seal from the outside as you could see the edges of the opening from the outside the car, being that the angle mount hardware from the Tundra was smaller.

Sorry I got so long winded I just do my best to explain things in detail.

Last edited by SQ400; 01-17-11 at 01:48 PM.


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