Hey everyone!

I got my SC back in August as a 30th birthday gift from my step dad. The car was in desperate need of love and needed more work than the car was worth, so he gave it to me with the intention of fixing it up and flipping it.

On the drive home, the steering wheel shook violently, the door subs were blown, and I had every intention of just doing some quick fixes and listing it on the market.

However, after driving it around for a couple days, I really started to fall in love with the car.

Here it is in all it's glory. It's survived a couple hurricanes on the west coast of Florida, my mom sliding it into a tree in Colorado, and years of driving in Cincinnati, so it's a little rough around the edges.



I popped the hood to see what I was dealing with, and quickly decided she needed a little love. A couple beers later and I think the engine bay now looks presentable.







First thing that needed fixing was new front rotors and pads. So off to Rock Auto I went and settled on the Power Stop Z23 Evolution Sport kit.

A couple more beers later and she's looking even better.






A quick drive around to bed the pads in and WOW what a difference. No more steering wheel vibration, on or off the brakes. Before, the wheel would vibrate when driving, and under deceleration would shudder something fierce.

The rear trunk wouldn't stay open, so off to eBay I went and got some new struts. One beer and 15 minutes later, the trunk now stays open like it should.




Eventually, my buddy convinced me to chop the muffler off so he could fab up a new exhaust. So back to eBay I went and bought a couple 90° bends, some straight 2.25" stainless, and some new slanted tips.

A sawzall blade and many beers later... the car finally doesn't sound like a sewing machine. It's easily one of my favorite modification I've done to the car so far. The only downside is I now get less MPG because I love to hear her sing.







That's all for now... more to come tomorrow.

 

Looking good.

 

Thanks! Wait til you see what I have on order

 

We also need to hear your exhaust tone

She deserves the love. Nice work.

 

Looks like you are making good progress. It is looking better already and it sounds like it is becoming more enjoyable to drive also. Keep up the thread. I'm also interested to see where this goes.

 

Watching your progress , I know what you mean about gas consumption increasing with exhaust mods lol , thanks for sharing

 

Thanks dude! She still needs a lot more love, but I plan to give it to her. I'm just glad she's in better hands now.

I still need to install those swaybar adapters you sent me. I was planning on installing them at the same time as my coilovers, but unfortunately production got delayed 6-8 weeks after I ordered them.

I uploaded the two videos I took right after we finished the exhaust install. They're not the best, but give some kind of reference.


Thanks! I'm pretty happy with how she's turned out so far. Still a long way to go , but every little project I do makes me love the car more and more.

I have a surprise being delivered this weekend that is most definitely going to hurt my fuel economy.

 

Shortly after doing the muffler delete, I was looking at the maintenance records my step-dad gave me and realized the car was still on the original timing belt/water pump. I promptly parked the car and vowed not to drive it until at minimum those were replaced. Further digging revealed original spark plugs and who knows when the last transmission drain was done. At this point, my do-not-drive maintenance list grew substantially. A week later, I had all the parts in hand and was ready to knock everything out. In hindsight, I now realize I should have replaced the radiator while I was in there, but didn't know at the time the greenish yellow coloring was an indicator of brittleness. I plan to swap it out in the near future, but luckily everything is still holding up leak-free.

Timing Belt/Water Pump time!



First order of business - Remove engine cover, airbox/evap assemblies, and radiator



Next, I removed the serpentine belt and cam covers




Then off comes the Alternator, AC Compressor, and Idler Pulley sub-assembly



Next, loosen the Crank Pulley



Set the crank to TDC, verify markings at the cams, and then rotate to 50° ATDC (indicated by the metal nub on the right)



Crank pulley and timing belt cover off. I then made some markings with a paint pen on the belt and three pulleys.






Once you are confident, remove the tensioner and belt.



Here is the . It comes with everything you need to do the job, minus crank pulley holder, FIPG, and coolant.


Next, I taped both old and new timing belt together, ensuring all teeth aligned and everything matches up. This might not be a necessary step, but gave me peace of mind I was on the right track.




Back to the car, water inlet housing comes off, followed by the water pump




Pro-tip - Transfer water pump bolts to your new pump as you work so that you ensure they end up in the right place. The install your new pump and gasket.

 

Next, clean the old FIPG off the inlet housing so that we can install some fresh. I realllly wish Lexus used a MLS gasket here instead of the FIPG. I decided to clean the assembly up, then re-install. Don't forget your O-rings. Also, lubing them up first helps immensely.






Compare old/new bearings and re-install. Then belt goes back on, ensuring all marks line up.








The Aisin kit comes with a new tensioner, might as well use it.



Once you're confident all marks line up, pull the tensioner pin, and rotate the engine over twice to make sure your timing marks line up at TDC like we did originally. Timing belt/water pump job complete! Just reassemble in reverse order. I'll spare the pictures because this thread is already overloaded.

 

Very nicely done st3rnly! Thanks for the DIY, very helpful.

 

Next on the agenda, fluid flushes and spark plugs.

FIPG on the water pump inlet housing has cured by now, so time to add coolant. I used a gallon of this non-diluted TLL coolant supplemented with a gallon of distilled water rather than using two gallons of TSLL.




I drained the oil and replaced the drain plug with this low profile . I run one of these on my Tacoma and love it, so figured I would install one on the SC too. Once I install coilovers, I will probably switch back to the OE plug, solely because this one unfortunately hangs slightly below the frame. Fresh filter, fresh fluid, and we're off to the races.





I then replaced all spark plugs


I was throwing a bank 2 sensor 1 o2 code, so replaced that as well. Total pain in the *** to get the sensor plug off, but no more code so it was worth the effort.



Next up, transmission drain flush. I bought 12 quarts of T-IV and 5 drain plug crush washers since I was going to flush it multiple times. I was originally going to fill and drain from the cooler lines, but opted to do it over the course of a couple days to that I could drive the car around after each fill to ensure the fluid fully circulated before re-draining each time. Look how disgusting the trans fluid was on the first drain. Poor thing was long overdue.





I found this disingenuous message on the dipstick and couldn't help but laugh.




Next thing on the list was Differential flush. Two quarts of synthetic 75w-90 and a couple crush washers later, she's much happier.

Double pro-tip: Soak these bolts with penetrating fluid at least an hour ahead of time. And most importantly, always remove the fill plug before the drain plug.







A couple things I forgot to take pictures of. I replaced the air filters (engine and cabin), cleaned the MAF, and pulled the throttle body and fully cleaned it.

That's it for this round of long overdue maintenance. I plan to flush the brake fluid and power steering fluid very soon.

 

Thanks Harold! I know it's not the most comprehensive tutorial, but if it helps out a couple people, it's worth the effort to me.

 

I forgot to include this earlier, but the headlights were extremely dull along with the paint being heavily oxidized. I restored the headlights and decontaminated and compounded the paint. I was planning to do a full correction but after compounding the front bumper, I realized how many rock chips were in the front end and decided to hold off until I could repair those. I've ordered a chip repair kit and plan to do that in the near future.



Here you can see how bad the paint is, as well as the headlights



Sanded and compounded

Polished

Sealed

 

It felt like driving in a fishbowl, so next on the list was tint.

I went with Formula One Pinnacle Ceramic. 15% all around and 50% on the windshield. I absolutely love how it turned out and have zero issues with nighttime visibility. I think a huge part of that is going with ceramic vs the traditional dyed tint.

 

The wheel fitment on this car always bugged me, and I wasn't yet ready to buy new wheels and tires, so I decided to add spacers.

I went with 25mm in the front and 38mm in the rear. They are hubcentric T6 with grade 12 studs.



Before




Whatever shop serviced these wheel last must have botched the keyed lug nut on this wheel because it was missing and replaced with an inferior nut. It was the only nut that was corroded and instantly sheared when removing. Luckily my other vehicle is a 2009 Tacoma 4x4 which shares the same lug nuts, so I was able to finish the job that night.




And here is the final result. I'm extremely happy with the new fitment and have zero vibrations from the new spacers. I can feel the difference in driving now too with a 2 and 3" wider footprint front and rear respectively.