changed out the stock air struts for bc racing br extreme low and the ride quality is much better now, more firm all around 16k front and 14k rear. The front end clunking when ever I go over un even roads is much much more quieter if not almost gone.

 

Changed out my steering rack bushings today, I'd been noticing the car was hard to hold in a straight line as of late at highway speeds and the steering was very vague. Not to mention there was some vibration that didn't seem to come from the wheels but could be felt through the seat and a little through the steering wheel. I took a quick video of the driver side rack bushing area while turning the steering and the amount of movement around the bushing area was more than any other video I've seen, so I knew it was time to replace them. I used the Daizen poly bushings to replace them. Installation was pretty straightforward and took me and my dad around an hour, the hardest part was getting the driver side rear bushing out due to clearance. The new bushings easily went in without issue, reinstalled the studs then tightened the nuts to 87 ft lb. Took it on a quick test drive, immediately noticed the difference in steering just turning out of the driveway, much tighter and more responsive. Got it up to around 65mph and the wandering has vanished along with most of the vibration I had been feeling.

I have a slight amount of vibration still, but made a sad discovery that my replacement passenger side hub has gone bad, shaking the wheel at the 12 and 6 o'clock positions produces a decent amount of felt movement and I know it isn't the ball joints as I just changed those. It only has 14K miles on it as well. I used a Moog hub, I didn't realize at the time that they had stopped using the Koyo bearings. I took a look at the back of it and sure enough it doesn't say Koyo Japan on the back of the sensor. Damn it. Hopefully I can warranty it, but we'll see.

 

Detailed, drove her and enjoyed every minute of it

 

Installed my tuned ECU since I was bored.

 

ohhh one from All4swap? Did they do a good job at tuning the ECU? How does transmission feel during accelerations? Any noticeable changes in fuel economy?

 

Give me like an hour and I'll write my thoughts, I'm still wrapping up since I had it do the relearn while I did some other tasks around the house

Okay so 1/2 of my test run is done as of now, drove from my house in Lewis center to my parents estate near Marion being highly aggressive the entire drive intentionally. I got .2 MPG more than normal on vs when I drive calmly, I'm turning back now to see what cruise control yields. Power and response is greatly improved, in PWR mode the throttle responds instantly and the transmission doesn't gear hunt at all anymore. Very easy now to take advantage of any gap in traffic and it's impossible to launch without tire spin anymore since TC doesn't react in time to the increased TQ.

 

Are you on the 5 speed or 6 speed trans? Debating on ordering from them as the improved throttle response is something I really want. That said, I have the 5sp without any way to manually shift up and down, so not sure how effective it'd be.

 

Im on the 5 and it's no joke as reactive and fast as a ZF8 speed now. Instant response gear to gear and doesn't hesitate anymore, I can't stress this enough that the throttle is 1:1 now and instant to pedal movement. Almost like a cable controlled car, any gap in traffic can be taken with ease and I wove three packs of cars on the trip up with a very controlled flow and no need to predict the cars shifts. It kept up very well to what I asked it to do.



Way back I saw 26.2 mpg and over 30 the entire time on 23 before and after Delaware, huge improvement since I normally got 22.4 on that exact stretch and speeds at about the same temperature. That's including a 130mph on ramp pull and 6 red lights with moderate acceleration, feels like a 460 now honestly and I think the cars should have come this way stock. It's awesome having the option of "430 lazy" in normal mode and sharp and direct in power.

 

All4Swap posted a video on their social media showing that essentially 1:1 connection between the pedal and the butterfly plate. The layman in me thinks the quicker shifts would be better for the health of transmission.
Amazing that it can be done on a ToyoLex ECU AND persist.

 

I have to get her back on the road...pretty much this thread will be a timestamp of when last driven. I actually noticed algae growing on the lower lip of the grille, wow....we were supposed to return to work every other week after Labor Day, but now the talk is maybe by next summer. So might be time to get rid of 2 cars....btw working from home is no picnic last week was a 7 day work week, 5 AM on Sat, 7 AM on Sun., and 2 AM on Mon....being on call = no good when one has young kids. But at the same time, we have to count our blessing too so many are hurting nowadays.

 

I like the idea of tuned ECU and how it positively impacts transmission shifting speed and overall behavior of the car, but what currently stops me from purchasing that unit is that my stock ECU was repaired by SIA which fundamentally fixed the rough shifting issue. I worry if ALL4SWAP ECU may (or may not) reverse the effect, because from what i know is that they do not alter / resolder the internals.

So here i have to balance between "software tuning" vs "hardware fix" which i will lose if i swap the ECU.

 

My shifts are better than my stock ECU and their tuned one fixed a 1-2 upshift hunt/bump and too soon 3rd shift issue that my car always had. In addition to the power mode changes the normal mode feels much better than my 217k mile stock ECU did. Not pushing you in any direction but just mentioning that my shifts have improved in quality for normal low throttle driving, very seamless now with no ability to give just the right amount of throttle to confuse the car into shifting into 3rd then back to 2 and then back to 3 in about 1.6 seconds at very low throttle.

In my case at least I have seen no drawbacks at all.

An option if you have your original computer is to send the SIA repaired one to all4 and have them perform the work on that one and temporarily live with the shift issues on a non SIA repaired stock unit. That may allow you to have both the physical repairs and the tune on the same ECU

 

Drove her unexpectedly yesterday. Wife's GM wouldn't start all f'd up, check stabilitrak and airbag? Car was only sitting for 6 days and battery 2 years old.

Used the Lexus to jump it, Lexus was last driven 8/15 or so and 4 y.o. battery.

Had to use the scanner to clear out the traction and airbag codes after documenting them. Took her battery to Costco and they gave us a new one no questions asked and even $1.06 cash which was weird. The tech said the price went down $1 so that's a refund. No wonder Costco has such loyal customers, that's the first time I ever was given a replacement battery no questions asked. Usually it's a hassle.

 

sold my 01 UL pearl white/ivory interior with grey wood with 90k. Feel sad but had a good three year/12k history. R.I.P.

 

Found out that left front strut is clunking. It's a KYB Excel-G installed in June. Right side seems ok, at least compared to the noisy left side. I can easily feel the clunking in the strut by pushing down on the fender with one hand and holding the strut with the other. I'll report back how the warranty process goes.