So the Lexus guys tell me the best mod for my car is...

M

MongooseGA

New member
Browsing the Lexus forums, researching power and handling mods for my '95 SC400. I find that the overwhelming advice from the Lexus owners for my car's first mod is the "sell the 4.0 and buy an SC300" mod. As some of you may know, the SC300 comes with the same 2JZ-GE 3.0L I-6 as the N/A MKIV Supra. That means everything in the world is availiable for their aftermarket.



On the other hand, the parts availiable for my car are pretty much limited to intake, exhaust, headers, new ECU's and computer chips. Then some miscellaneous handling mods.



I'm gonna be fricken original, and I'm going to find something worthwhile to do with this four-oh.



First mod is definitely an exhaust. The factory Lexus exhaust is complete with three cats, 2 mufflers, and 2 resonators. Talk about restriction. So far I'm leaning towards Borla. Then I'd like to stay subtle with a set of 18" wheels, and on to more practical handling mods.



So that's my rant for the day. I also broke my finger in a fight with a basketball in 1st block today, so any typos are to be excyoosed. :D
 
White95Max said:
New wheels and tires.
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:werd: I haven't decided on if I want to stay with factory 18" Chrome Lexus wheels, or look for a tasteful lightweight aftermarket wheel.



Most SC owners are looking for 2-3" drops on top of 20" chrome wheels. That's not really me.
 
My neighbor has a SC400 at his house a lot (close relative I'm assuming) that's dropped slightly, a nice tint, and very tasteful wheels. Compared to the SC300 that my other neighbor has, the 2-3" drop (I'm assuming that's the right measurement) looks awesome. You should consider it.
 
Biggest drop on my car would be a 1.5" for the sole purpose of lowering the CoG. I'll have to shop around for tasteful forged wheels.
 
1 Clean WS6 said:
When all else fails...put an N20 kit on it and you'll be just fine. ;)
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Eh, I've never like the idea of N2O. All throttle, no bottle. Heh, you said that exact line in your thread showing off Lola a while back.



I might have to wait a few years to pioneer some sort of supercharger or turbo system for the my engine. Or I could just swap in a S/C Tundra V8. Tons of crap for that motor.
 
the other pc said:
One could argue that the reason there's a lack of aftermarket mods is that your car doesn't need them because it was designed right in the first place.



Wheel wise, my own tendency is to avoid anything that remotely hints of bling and stick with companies that have a solid performance/racing background.
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Amen to that big time!



Or, it was designed NOT to have them. It's a perfectly sophisticated, elegant coupe.



I like how all the proposed mods are qualified with the word "tasteful."



Can someone say......RICERONI!! :woot:



Just busting chops!
 
I love the SC series, I was even considering it as a replacement for my totalled T4R. But the 400s are quite fast and with an exhaust, sound great. I would go with a dual exhaust set up. Not a true dual I don't think, not sure if they are made for the SC, but an HKS or a Borla sounds nice. About suspension, your car will look stupid with a set of 18s and no suspension. If I couldn't do both at the same time, I would go onto Club Lexus and read up on the suspension mods. Supra sways too. I would drop it more than you think, 1.5 is not a lot of drop for that car, and trust me, I'm anti-rice, dubs, and slammed cars. Then go for a set of 18s, but not overly cheap ones that will flex and bend easily. The SC is a heavy car! I would think that if you Black Pearl coated your badging, that would look good with your color. I can't think of much else... Good Luck!
 
Yup, I've been doing alot of my research on CL. LOC is geared more towards fixing problems than upgrading.



My car sports a 75 HP drivetrain loss. 250 HP- 75 HP= a measley 175 RWHP. For a 3,600 lb car, that's not much.



I think my car with stock 16's looks stupid with no drop. My exhaust sounds pretty good when you get on it, especially with all the restriction. I can only imagine how nice it would sound with a quality dual system.



I'd love to have the kind of car that has every style of wheel going for it, but with the car and the color, very few aftermarket wheels look good, IMO. Chrome seems to look best. Maybe it'll look different when the car has a different/lower stance. That's a while down the road as this 15 year old is also putting money towards the payment of the car. All gas and mods come from my pocket.



For those of you who haven't seen my car (pre-paintwork by me), there are some pictures of it floating around the site somewhere. It's only the 2nd SC I've ever seen in the color- Teal Mist Metallic. That could mean it's really ugly, or really rare. Maybe it's realy rare because it's really ugly :nixweiss If I had a white, black, or red car, it'd be so much easier to pick different aesthetic mods for it.
 
GSRstilez said:
My vote goes to a set of iForged rims.





www.iforged.com
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No bias there or anything though, right? :p



Here's my current album of the SC4 before I did any paint work on it. http://photobucket.com/albums/v196/Mongoosega/Lexus SC400/



You can see how odd the color looks, and the slight chrome bubbling on the back of the wheels. The front face of each wheels looks like it was cleaned regularly with a stiff bristled tire brush or something. Tons of tiny swirl marks that refuse to be polished out. I could have the chrome repaired and be stuck with very expensive stock wheels, or I could upgrade.



The exhaust has so many bends and restrictions, it's the first thing my mechanic neighbor pointed out to me. He reccomended to me and Dad that it be replaced first if anything was to be upgraded. That made me happy :D



The car has some wetsanding and touch up work coming its way as well. That shouldn't cost me anywhere near the ~1k a set of wheels will ;)
 
MongooseGA said:
Eh, I've never like the idea of N2O. All throttle, no bottle. Heh, you said that exact line in your thread showing off Lola a while back.



I might have to wait a few years to pioneer some sort of supercharger or turbo system for the my engine. Or I could just swap in a S/C Tundra V8. Tons of crap for that motor.
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Indeed...I did. The difference is that there is a ton of stuff available to hop up the LS1 motor without going the forced induction route. With the 4.0 SC...if the number of mods available are limited then a small shot of the goofy gas will settle the score and level the playing field.



Given the choice though I would definitely try the NA route.
 
So I checked out the IForged wheels Sean suggested. I thought, "Damn, these things look great! And they're cheap, too! Only $1,000 for a set!"



Then I realized the prices they showed were per wheel :(
 
MongooseGA said:
...slight chrome bubbling on the back of the wheels. The front face of each wheels looks like it was cleaned regularly with a stiff bristled tire brush or something. Tons of tiny swirl marks that refuse to be polished out. I...
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Ever seen chrome on the wheels of an F1 car? A rally car? At Le Mans? The Nurburgring? Suzuka?



Thereâ€â„¢s a reason for that.





PC.
 
what are you planning on using your car primarily for? street? drag strip? road racing? i guess that would dictate what sort of mods you would get.



if it's primarily for street and it's your only ride, maybe go for some of the simple bolt-on mods first (exhaust, intake, synthetic oils all around, suspension)? while it may not be the fastest thing out there, it probably be better than most, and still be reliable.



have you thought about changing the rear end gears? that might help with the acceleration a bit as long as you don't get too crazy with the gear ratio.



just a few of my thoughts.....:)
 
the other pc said:
Ever seen chrome on the wheels of an F1 car? A rally car? At Le Mans? The Nurburgring? Suzuka?



Thereâ€â„¢s a reason for that.





PC.
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What's that??
 
The best upgrade I can think of is advanced driver training.



As for everything else, the question should be, is it affecting the efficiency of the system ie is the exhaust causing a notable restriction (back pressure)
 
SpoiledMan, the reason you never see chrome on any race car of any sort is because the acid bath process used to make chrome wheels actually slightly weakens the structure of the wheel. This is not a terribly large concern on a street vehicle, because most wheels are overbuilt for their purpose so a chrome plating will not weaken them enough for it to be a hazard. However, on a race vehicle, the wheels are built to the exact specifications of the car and for the lightest weight. So, chrome plating would compromise them enough to be a problem.
 
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