Hey Lexus fam I'm hoping you guys can help me once again I recently got a 1993 Lexus ls400 and I absolutely love it and I'm considering doing some mods to improve performance gas mileage give it my own personal touch and hopefully increase the life of the car itself can you tell me any popular mods to help with these things I was looking at the EGR delete kit was thinking maybe a small turbo and upgrading basic things (radiator, battery, stereo, headers, cat, performance chip, and etc) but it's still my daily in a perfect world I would like to get the hp between 350-450 be able to take it to the track for some fun but still be able to daily commute and take long road trips and not overall hinder the longevity of the engine I am new to car modifications so I would like to know the do's and don'ts good brands and how I should go about this thank you in advance and I look forward to your advice

 

Error, division by zero, this is impossible.

Generally speaking, if you increase the power of an engine, you're shortening the lifespan of SOMETHING. Rods, pistons, valves, transmission, differential, etc, etc, etc. Whatever is the weakest link in the driveline will have accelerated wear and will fail at an accelerated rate. If you're STARTING with a car that's already 30 years old, it's going to happen incredibly quickly. What if you make 400 horsepower, and the axles can't take the power and you keep snapping them? Are there upgraded axles for the car? You may be able to get a better axle from a different car, but what if you have to replace the wheel bearings to make them fit, and now you're modifying the rear suspension... adding power causes a cascading series of problems when done to a car that isn't desgined for it.

For this car, there may be a way to do a forced induction. I think most people do a roots style supercharger? But I'm not aware of anything off the shelf. Most people just cut the exhaust system and intake system, help it breathe better and get a little power that way. Is there even an off the shelf cam for this car? I think any significant power adder would have to be fully custom.

This isn't a sports\performance car, and even if the parts existed (which they don't), you can't modify it into being one. The chassis is just not rigid enough nor setup for it. If you want a sporty performance car, I would recommend starting with one that's been built as such. There will be a ton of community support and mods available. It would be a fun project to see if it's possible on the LS400, but to have that as your daily driver and road trip car? Oh no.

By far the most popular modification route people go is either VIP\show car route, slammed on bags. Or drift car. Not many people are doing power-adders.

I'm sorry to kind of trash on your ideas right out of the gate - but this is just the reality of this car\platform. It's a very reliable luxury boat, that's what it's good at.

If you still want to go down this route... this video will give some color on what you will have to do (spoiler - it's a lot):

 

No need for apologies as i said I'm new to the modding and I appreciate this kind of input more than you know the more ik the better it's better to be shot down than blow my car lol thank you

 

If it's your only car, I'd really recommend against putting a custom aftermarket turbocharger on it. That will just bring up tons of reliability problems that will make it... not a daily driver.

Great project car idea, but it won't be reliable.

 

My suggestion would be to get it in good running order and maintain it that way. The original build is robust and reliable which makes it nice in itself as a daily driver. A purpose sporty car would probably be a more direct route over building one up. Depends if a project build is what you desire too. Many options that can readily be bought like Mustangs, Camaro, Subaru, BMW, etc. They all have a massive aftermarket of performance parts to choose from.

 

not really advisable to track such an old car when it's your daily driver. i know because i did it for years (not the LS, another 90s car) and it drained the wallet pretty quickly!

here is the ubiquitous formula:
- fast
- reliable
- cheap
you can only choose 2.

i want to echo RA40's sentiment. get the car running well first before tackling some mods.

 

This logic applies to auto repair shops too. Oh god is it ever true.

If you're sitting there thinking "well my guy is pretty cheap, and he gets stuff done fast\same day"... well, my friend. Guess what you're missing?

Personally, I got fortunate. My shop is fast, turnaround is always the same day when we schedule it up. They're reliable, they've only ever ****ed up one thing and they fixed the problem the moment I brought up a solution. And they quote fair prices for parts, but their labor rates are... not cheap. It is what it is. Plus it's within walking distance so I don't have to wait around or get an Uber.

 

I couldn't agree w/ you more. Well stated!!!