rjssci

Thinking about pu a SC and wanted to get some opinions on what's best, year and model, to mod on a tight budget. And what gives you the most bang for the buck performance wise?

1JZPWRD

iTrader: (59)

Bfi and exhaust. On a budget. If not swap a 1jz or a 2jz with a r154, then smile!

rjssci

Thanks, 92, but I'm pretty green on here and not up on the Bfi or r154. I know the 1jz and 2jz are different engines, but...

shboni

iTrader: (2)

HOnda Civic:is what you need buy and mod on a tight budget....

SC are not going to be cheap
ur looking at 8 to 12k deep for good mods
and if u have too restore the car...OOooooh boy...not going to even go there

You might want to check this link:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...a-used-sc.html

Search,Search,Search.....

Nova

iTrader: (21)

LMAO @ shboni, he hit the nail on the head. im not cheap with my SC and it shows in the time ive had my car vs how much i put in it. def not a car you want to hack up and throw ebay parts or cheap rims at

if your gunna do it, do it right. that being said it will cost u money if u want cheap pick up a honda

cmh

nahh.. u can can hook up any car on a budget... he didnt say what the budget was.
example:
cheap to my bro is 4k for rims
cheap to me is 1500 for rims
cheap to a lot of ppl i know is 400 for rims

he sounds determined to get an sc, otherwise he wouldnt have signned up for the forum. so point him in the cheapest direction. i say go with 92-96 sc400. Intake and exhaust, enjoy the ride. whats expensive on these cars is fixing them to stock. so id say find one in the best condition possible. gl

search.search.search

rjssci

Thanks, CMH. Now that's advice I can use. Did any year of the sc400 come with a manual tranny. Really want to go that way. Prob spend $10k out the gate and add to that over time.

Tabaka

iTrader: (8)

Pros and cons for any year SC my friend. Some people love OBD1 and find it's easier to deal with when it comes to inspection time. But, obviously with OBD2 you can trouble shoot things a bit easier with more sophisticated code scanners.

Now, to your ballin' on a budget idea...not going to happen as easy with a SC. Yes, you can throw on $500 wheels, $300 megan exhaust, $600 megan coilovers, and $150 cross drilled rotors and pads. Just keep in mind that it's your hard earned money and cheap chinese made stuff warps, rusts, cracks, breaks etc. Why do you think it's so cheap? Some people say it's the labor...which is true. But they also use cheaper materials in most of their products. I always hear horror stories about coilovers seizing, rotors warping, cracking, rusting. Just be careful and think about your safety.

Any SC is going to need a little bit of work to run great. Timing belt, waterpumps, general tune up, and gasket replacements is key to durability of the engine.

Good luck and hope you can join us soon.

cmh

no sir, but u can do a manual swap on it for about 1500 bucks on the high end... ive heard of ppl doing them for cheaper but with the 400 u will need a specific flywheel to make a manual work... youtube it, i hear that the manual on the v8 is very worth it.

edit:10k is a high budget... dont know about where u r, but here in miami 10k will get u a 400 with a 2jzgte in it.

IOWNALEXUS

iTrader: (14)

Buy the newest/cleanest one you can.... its MUCH cheaper to mod than it is to restore AND mod, even OEM parts are expensive (price a new headlight lol) If you are going SC400 they had the most power between 98-00.

SC300 is slow and boring stock... turbo's take care of that but its expensive, IMO there is no such thing as "bang for the buck" performance mods.. anything with noticable differerence in power is gonna cost you.

For $10k you should be able to get a clean 97+ and have some cash left over for rims.

You must not have seen the prices of Honda's lately, go on the honda forums and look what they sell for you will be SHOCKED. you can get a MUCH cleaner SC for the same price as a ragged civic/integra.

levie

iTrader: (1)

no sc is cheap to mod, but if you want to heavily mod one id do the 1j swap, everyone eventually dose it, plus 1j is much easier to do mods on but if your gonna do it, please do it right. good luck

levie

iTrader: (1)

no sc is cheap to mod, but if you want to heavily mod one id do the 1j swap, everyone eventually dose it, plus 1j is much easier to do mods on but if your gonna do it, please do it right. good luck

CrazySC300

iTrader: (16)

Best year to mod in my opinion would be the '95 year model SC300.

It's the easiest to convert to '97+ spec because of the little trinkets/features that you don't have to worry about like...

1) Glass high beams
2) Fog lights
3) Butterfly cup holder
4) No "Hyper Flash" when converting to '97+ tailights
5) Manual transmission was still an option

It's also the best year to do an engine swap since it was the last year model to have OBD1.

levie

iTrader: (1)

im sorry, im not trying to thread jack, and i am fairly new, but whats OBD1? :s

Hil

iTrader: (61)

99-00 sc400