Jim's 1997 SC300 build thread
 

I bought this car in July 2014. I will go into all the details throughout the build but here are the first 2 pictures of the car when I picked it up. A clean 1997 SC300 with 179,600 miles.https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...d9631c9610.jpg

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...3053cc8d41.jpg
I took it into the shop to swap the wheels because the previous owner kept the GS spyder wheelshttps://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...a51183ab3a.jpg

Then I had it detailed and brought it home and took a few pictures to introduce myself herehttps://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...c6001d9a13.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...52a8a8c60c.jpg

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...1e2a70c76b.jpg

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...de84abea51.jpg

Black/Tan interior was in good shape aside from the driver's seat and shift boot being torn.

I moved from Peoria back to Chicago in August 2014. Here it is just parked in the garage waiting for me to do something to it.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...6253f3dbba.jpg



https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...2cb874bfdf.jpg


So I had some 18" wheels laying around and purchased a wingless trunk lid from a member here. I saved the old trunk because this car is completely original and has all the matching vin tags too. I painted and removed the emblem holes on the trunk, removed the license plate holes on the front bumper, and installed the 18" wheels in September 2014.https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...911d372120.jpg

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...65f252ec96.jpg
So it sat over the winter of 2014 into 2015. I didn't do much to the car. Had the windows tinted, cleaned it from time to time. Put some 18" GS wheels on it

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...2be5e15127.jpg

So nothing more really happened. I started buying parts to swap my tan pieces out for black. It took a while to find all of the parts in the condition I wanted them to be in (still waiting on the headliner pieces). But I was happy with the progress. It was geting cold out and it was time to put the car away from the season anyway. I think I put 1000 miles on that summer!
Over the winter of 2015 I really started to focus on the car. I had it repainted at the Lexus body shop. Stayed with factory 202.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...e01516e60b.jpg



https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...8a326e2b1e.jpg

Door panels in black in excellent shape were hard to find. I disassembled and prepped my door panel pieces and had them professionally sprayed with sherwin williams interior paint. They look amazing. I also had the wood trim tinted with clear coated and a small amount of black paint. When the light hits you can still see the wood grain nicely but without light it appears gloss black.https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...43220e08b1.jpg



https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...cac7adc78c.jpgThis was taken before it was cleaned

Around the same time I added supra lower control arms to the front, Stance coil overs, a different set of 18" wheels that we custom painted a flat bronze color (until the ccw's get here) installed 245/40/18 michelin super sports, installed all that black interior, 1996 supra front seats which i recovered in black, an aftermarket double din kenwood radio with bluetooth. Supra TT rear brakes, LS400 front brakes...

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...938ca62f63.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...ec40063f71.jpg







https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...592e950c66.jpg

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...0c426f52a9.jpg

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...5c0a385422.jpg

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...c2ade325ec.jpg

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...e452584771.jpg

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...9c46a72e0e.jpg

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.clu...950416ff98.jpg

And that's how it sits today. This winter will bring an engine and trans swap, new wheels, front and rear sway bars, lsd diff, and a batery relocation. There might be more... I'll keep everyone posted

Nice work my friend ...

time for a 6speed GTE swap .. hahaha

Gerrb, just waiting for you to sell me a drivetrain. I'll cruise down to Atlanta to pick it up when I drive to NC to have lunch with Steve!

haha .. just buy my Red Mamba Two then ...

Text me some info. I just might pick it up!

Let me think about it if truly I want it gone, lol. When you have built a car from engine assembly to a running car , it is so hard to let go of it .

Every damn detail about the car is on my build thread though. If you want a 2jzgte setup though , I have one.

Wow, paint work is amazing! Nice, I couldn't really see the detail in the pics you txtd me...but online, super clean. Yeah, got a few good spots to eat when you come down? Then we can go to Gerrb's and drink beer? LOL. I'm back in America! Woo hooo!

steve

Wow, your paint looked like it was still in good condition before you painted the car. Your car looks great. What kind of CCW rims did you get?

The paint looks very nice. I really like the job you did on the interior. Awesome work.

Yeah Steve, my painter is amazing so it is flawless! And I am holding you to lunch and then beers with Gerrb (does he know we are coming? lol) Glad to have you back state side. I'll send you more pics of the 99 sc3 i bought now that I completely removed the interior and cleaned it all. Also put new water pump, timing belt, drive belt, cam and crank seals, new vvti gear, valve cover gaskets, wires, plugs, radiator, oil change. breathing life back into this car that was destined for the junk yard. 222,437 miles on the original timing belt! I should have taken a pic of all the cracks in it!

Thank you! I went back and forth on the black interior just because of cost and finding good condition parts. So i just slowly started piecing it together. Love the car and am glad I did it.

I haven't purchased the CCW's yet... I am waiting for a club member to sell me his extra set. (I don't think it's going to happen as he's a bit attached) but I will either go with Classic 18" or SP500's

and yes... the paint was in GREAT condition before I painted it. It had 1 flaw on the passenger side 1/4 that bothered me. To paint the 1/4 correctly the glass has to come out and you have to paint the roof and other 1/4 panel so there are no blend lines. So i took the glass out and decided to just paint the whole thing lol

Jimmy, the car looks stunning! I bet it looks even 10X better in person since black paint is hard to photograph to really show how nice it looks.

Would you be down to do some photoshoots/ small get together with maybe some driving around this year? A few of my friends with SCs and Supra would be coming as well.

We used to do alot more meets in this area back in the day, would be nice to get that going again!

Dmitry, just text me to let me know when and where and I'll do my best to meet up. Or swing by Highland Park sometime with that beautiful sc of yours! Bring the sp500's for me lol

Either one of those wheels will be a great choice for your car.

I had the same issue with my car, and looking back I wish I had just painted the entire car like you did. I had some damage on my quarter panel, so they painted both quarters and my roof. My car has a 3 stage paint job, so the paint match is pretty bad between my door and the quarter panels.