3GS Led tail light mod.

Wired up the inner and outer tail lights so that the reverse light and the indicator lights function as one unit. Also installed V-led flasher module to prevent hyper-flashing. The flasher module from V-led keeps the functionality of the indicator lights blinking when you lock and unlock the car. I don't know what the law is on using white led indicators so do so at your own risk. 

Anh-Tuan's SC300 - Blast from the Past

The SC was definitely among the first for us, embarking us onto this journey into the VIP scene. If memory serves me correctly it was around 2005 when this was started. Bone stock 1992 SC300, black with tan interior was the canvas that screamed for attention and much needed TLC. The interior was pretty bad. The needles didn't work, carpet was real dirty, seats were torn up, all the dash stuff was dirty and stained and it badly needed a makeover:

To fix the interior, all the tan/brown parts were dyed to black.

The tan carpet was really bad, so some new black carpet and black floor mats were ordered. Black seats front and back were ordered too. Also the dildomatic shifted and was converted to a gated shifter. For entertainment the Pioneer ACI-Z2 was installed. All the updates to the interior along with the IS300 steering wheel and TRD badging for the wheel gave the car a nice updated look. 

The first choice of wheels and suspension were Tein Comfort Sports and Work Euroline DH. The Work wheels were bought used and they were powder-coated black. The wheels were re-powdercoated to silver and the lip was re-polished.

The stock motor started giving multiple problems. Gas pedal kept getting stuck, oil leaks due to a bad rear main seal, and a few other minor issues. To fix the issues, a 1JZ-GTE from JHOT Imports with only 40K miles on it was ordered.

While waiting for the motor to come in, an Auto Couture kit finally made it home after a few months. The stock 97+ grill, fog lights, and body moldings as well were ordered to flow with the revamped new look of the car. Fitment on the kit was excellent.

Some puddle lights were ordered and installed as well.

Once the motor came in from JHot, it literally came with everything you could possibly need for the swap. The wiring harness was extended, soldering every wire, and heat shrinking them. Another 8 hours to pull the old motor out, drop the new motor in and get her running with new fluids etc. Phantasm Motorsports did the engine swap and Danny did an excellent job putting everything together.

Once the motor was done, the braking needed to be addressed. An LS400 brake conversion ordered, calipers painted gold and was put on. Brakes were much needed for this baby.

Anh-Tuan has always been a fan of the Leon Hardiritt Beils so it was only a matter of time till they were ordered. 

With all the mods in place the only thing left to do was to get it painted and complete the transformation of this diamond from the rough. Fresh coat of 202 black paint and it was done.

Seeing this car transform from its infancy to the end is a pleasure in itself and luckily it has moved on to a fellow enthusiast who will undoubtedly enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed building her.

• Year/make/model. 
1992 Lexus SC300


• Engine Modifications.
-1JZ-GTE Swap
-Dual Flex-a-Lite Electric Fan Conversion
-NGK Platinum Spark Plugs


• Interior mods. 
-Converted Tan Interior to Black interior (leather seats, door panels, dash, center console, carpet, floor mats, ect.)
-Gated Shifter Conversion
-3-spoke IS300 steering wheel
-Junction Produce neck pads
-Junction Produce seat cushions
-Junction Produce Kurotsuna
-PIAA white interior lighting
-Recaro baby seat 
-Brush Aluminum Lexus Door Sills


• Body mods/paint. 
-Full Auto Couture bodykit
-97+ door panels, fog lights, and grill
-Puddle Lights
-Lip spoiler
-JDM Toyota window visor
-Sunroof visor
-Side Winker Mirrors
-Smoked tail lights
-Ceramic Tint
-New Onyx Black paintjob
-6000K HIDs
-Rolled fenders


• Audio/video. 
-Pioneer AVIC Z2 Head Unit
-Pioneer Steering wheel remote
-modded Metra faceplate
-Tein EDFC Module custom fitted inside ashtray holder


• Suspension/brakes. 
-Tein Comfort Sport Coilovers
-new Supra LCA, motor mounts, and transmission mount
-Daizen Steering Rack Bushing
-LS400 Brakes conversion


• Wheels/tires.[/quote]
-Leon Hardiritt Beil Wheels (18x9 front, 18x10 rear)

3rd Gen Lexus GS - Roof spoiler with third brake light.

The Lexus LS460 has the third brake light integrated into the roof spoiler, very subtle and a nice detail on the car. I wanted a similar mod ever since I saw it. Although not as clean as the LS, below is my attempt at integrating the third brake light into the spoiler. 

Started off with ordering a roof spoiler which I thought was subtle enough to add the definition without being too bold. Also I ordered a fiberglass wing and not urethane, solely for modification purposes.

A slight cleanup of the lines to make it a little smoother and fitment was on point. An outline of the third brake light was made and transferred onto the spoiler. The outline was cut and trimmed to fit the third brake light. 

Also a small hole was drilled in the corner of the wing to run the power wire, not visible once on the car. Fuzor was used to fill in the gaps and hold the third brake light in place. Also the drilled hole for the wire was filled in with fuzor as well. 

After cure time, verified again that the LED's are working and continued to smooth the fuzor to match the lines of the wing and was primed.

The whole wing was then sanded smooth and primed again after fixing more manufacturing defects and went in for paint to Jeremy @ The Body Shop. I would like to thank him at this point for doing an awesome job on it.

Will post pics on the vehicle when everything else falls into place. Till then the parts pile up continues.

2006 Lexus GS430 - D2 Air Ride Install

With all the maintenance addressed it was time to move on to suspension components. I was pretty set on getting a 3rd Gen GS after the accident. So set, that I had ordered my suspensions before I got the car. Like my previous setup, D2 and Ridetech was my choice this time as well. Only thing I did different was add ride height sensors and another compressor to speed up fill times on the tank.

Along with the coilovers and bags got some goods from Figs as well:

Figs Rear LCA, 

Figs toe links 

Caster bushings. 

Also a good time to install all my other suspensions components:

SPC Upper Ball Joint (SPC part #67525 - IS300 upper ball joint)
UPDATE:
{Figs just informed me that SPC released the ball joint that is specific for the car..crap...lol.. guess I should have waited. New SPC part number is 67530. In order for the IS300 ball joint to fit the hole it had to be shimmed a little. Figs also informed me that the IS300 ball joint has an incorrect taper and can egg out the hole over time. So get the right part since it is available now. Figs also has the bushings for the Upper Control Arm now.}

Moog inner tie rods EV800244 (x2) 

Moog Outter tie rod Left ES800212

Moog Outter tie rod Right ES800213

Moog Ball joint Left K500123

Moog Ball joint Right K500124

Before getting the suspension stuff installed I wanted to go ahead and make a pod setup for the trunk. Trying to keep the footprint small so tried a couple of ways to mount things and this is what I thought might work.

Built the structure out of mdf, made sure all the parts fit well on the mount and in the car.

While the tanks was out, decided to get the tank painted before it goes in.

Wrapped the bottom mount with suede and the top half was wrapped in high gloss black. Wired everything up, all wires were soldered and heat shrinked also used loctite 567 for all the air fittings to ensure a good seal.

All wired and mounted.

The tank looked a little bland so threw this design together and cut it out to spruce it up a bit.

Onto the fun stuff. Matt helped me again for this project and Turbo Time let me use their facility to do the install as well and again it was going to be a long night.

First task: Front upper ball joint.

SPC Front upper ball joints for an IS300. Slight simple modification to the control arm to make it fit.

The outer ridge of the UCA was shaved down a bit to allow full range of motion for the adjustable ball joint.

The caster bushing from Figs Engineering slid in without any issues. Check out stock vs the polyurethane bushing video from Figs. 

Removed and replaced inner, outer tie rods and ball joints.

Installed coilovers. All the lines were ran through the frame rail underneath the car and tucked out of the way to avoid any issues.

Installed the Rear Figs LCA and the toe links.

The biggest hurdle in this whole ordeal was the installation of the ride height sensors. It might have been exhaustion kicking in but Matt and I had to take a break and walk away from setting up the ride height sensor. 

The sensor wires were ran through the inside of the car and everything junctioned off in the trunk.

In the rear this is where we ended up mounting the ride height sensor. A bracket was welded to the arm so that the sensor can be functional. 

In the front a bracket was welded to the LCA for the sensor to be functional.

When mounting the sensors there were a lot of issues we had to think of. 

1) The sensor not getting in the way of the wheels when wider wheels were put on.

2) The sensor being out of the way when the wheel is turned inwards

3) The rods attached to the pivoting arms not being in the way of any other moving components.

4) The range in which the sensor is functional.

For the range for the sensor to work it meant a lot of tweaking / cutting / re-drilling etc to get the sensor to read right. 

After a break and a much needed snooze we wrapped things up and dropped off the car to get aligned. 

Started at about 8:00pm on Saturday and got done about 10:00am on Sunday. A long weekend !!

Got the car aligned and at the ride height in the picture I am at -0.3 degrees in the front and -1.2 degrees in the back. 

A big thanks to Matt for helping me with this again and to Turbo Time for letting me use their facility. Also want to thank Phantasm for letting me cut my stickers for the tank, Import Motor Werks for getting my alignment done. Also a big thanks to D2 Racing and Figs Engineering for working with me to dial my suspensions in.