New Gs Owner Checking In

[Mike_Mac]

Hi all – just bought a black Mk1 GS300 on Saturday and it’s turned into a bit of a project already!

It had good history and had obviously been looked after until its last owner where things had dried up a little. It had also had a knock at the rear, but this had been sprayed well, although the spoiler wasn't too well mounted. There were quite a few cosmetic things needing done and some mechanical things too – the first one being to put some air in the tyres as the NS tyres were at 21 and 17 Psi and the OS weren’t much better! Funnily enough after that it drove like it should and hasn’t missed a beat since then.

Luckily I’m on holiday just now as the whole of last week has turned into a dawn to dusk GS’a’thon. So far I’ve:

Flushed and serviced it (oil and air filter were both black).

Balanced the tyres and sorted the tracking.

Replaced damaged NS wing mirror.

Replaced damaged centre boot light.

Removed spoiler to re-fit it properly (no protection applied to the fixing holes so there were the beginnings of rust).

Begun deep-cleaning the interior (sodding beige leather and smokers).

There’re lots of other little jobs that have cropped up, but generally it’s been exactly as I expected – bomb-proof.

The main things left now are to repair a corroded AC pipe and finish cleaning up the interior - hopefully tomorrow so I can post up some pictures. The exterior is currently filthy thanks to the lovely British Summer weather, so i'll wait until i've corrected that before posting up some snaps.

Overall it’s proven to be a thirsty but incredibly comfortable cruiser that’s a real pleasure to drive. My plan is to convert it to LPG and then use it as my commuting car (already have a Supra). With LPG it’s more economical than my 406 diesel run-around!! :D

[TigerFish]

Welcome to LOC. Good choice of motor B)

[Monster-Mat]

Welcome

[Tony-Bones]

Hello :)

[Mike_Mac]

Well it's getting there. I finished cleaning the interior - it's now beige as opposed to yellow :D.

The spoiler is also back on properly and it looks like it was responsible for the amp going. Because there was no grommet or sealing around the mounting holes water was dripping in and landing right on the amp. The whole thing was rusty and several of the resistors had rusted off completely! No chance of salvage. Plus i'll need to check through the boot and clean/de-rust/paint any manky spots from the water. Should get new amp next week and that'll sort that problem out.

I've also hopefully sorted the AC. It had been re-gassed, but the 8mm pipe on the lower RHS of the engine bay had been corroded by a rusty bracket and let go big time. Initially an AC bloke tried to joint the two good ends, but then said that the join he tried to use hadn't worked, that I needed a new pipe and he then disappeared. The general consensus was that he'd decided it was too much effort to keep trying to join the pipe. Lexus over the phone told me the pipe was discontinued - until I turned up in a nice shiny Lexus showroom in my oily overalls brandishing said pipe. Funnily enough they quickly managed to find it on the EPC then :winky: and that it could be ordered... for £180!! After that I popped next door to a pipe specialist and got a pipe join before hacksawing throught the previous repair attempt and doing it myself. Moment of truth's today, as that when it's being pressure tested, but the join should be good for 350 Bar and it seemed to take well to the two ends. That'll be £3.50 vs £180 if it works!!

The fianl mechanical problem i've noticed, and it seems to be a common one, is vibration at speed and juddering while braking. After some testing last night it seems like the NSF caliper is sticky (other three cool while it was roasting after a run) plus I think there's some warping to the brake discs. I'll be looking at freeing the caliper and getting the discs skimmed today. After that it's tidying up the paintwork and correcting the panels before polishing and getting some pics up. I'll probably not get that done to day, but as it's the last job on the list to sort it's looking good so far.:)

[tonyricha]

Hi all – just bought a black Mk1 GS300 on Saturday and it’s turned into a bit of a project already!

It had good history and had obviously been looked after until its last owner where things had dried up a little. It had also had a knock at the rear, but this had been sprayed well, although the spoiler wasn't too well mounted. There were quite a few cosmetic things needing done and some mechanical things too – the first one being to put some air in the tyres as the NS tyres were at 21 and 17 Psi and the OS weren’t much better! Funnily enough after that it drove like it should and hasn’t missed a beat since then.

Luckily I’m on holiday just now as the whole of last week has turned into a dawn to dusk GS’a’thon. So far I’ve:

Flushed and serviced it (oil and air filter were both black).

Balanced the tyres and sorted the tracking.

Replaced damaged NS wing mirror.

Replaced damaged centre boot light.

Removed spoiler to re-fit it properly (no protection applied to the fixing holes so there were the beginnings of rust).

Begun deep-cleaning the interior (sodding beige leather and smokers).

There’re lots of other little jobs that have cropped up, but generally it’s been exactly as I expected – bomb-proof.

The main things left now are to repair a corroded AC pipe and finish cleaning up the interior - hopefully tomorrow so I can post up some pictures. The exterior is currently filthy thanks to the lovely British Summer weather, so i'll wait until i've corrected that before posting up some snaps.

Overall it’s proven to be a thirsty but incredibly comfortable cruiser that’s a real pleasure to drive. My plan is to convert it to LPG and then use it as my commuting car (already have a Supra). With LPG it’s more economical than my 406 diesel run-around!! :D

PLEASE do do the LPG job it just does not suit this engine, I did my 2002 GS300 after my Omega ran 200,000 miles on gas, but it just does not work on these cars. I had nothing but trouble and breakdowns in just 50,000 and had to bale out.

I have just gone hot & cold thinking about it !!!!

[Mike_Mac]

PLEASE do do the LPG job it just does not suit this engine, I did my 2002 GS300 after my Omega ran 200,000 miles on gas, but it just does not work on these cars. I had nothing but trouble and breakdowns in just 50,000 and had to bale out.

I have just gone hot & cold thinking about it !!!!

Any chance you could provide details on the problems you had (via PM if necessary?). All the reading i'd done suggested it was fine so long as you fitted a 'valve-saver' system and started and finished your trip on petrol.

[tonyricha]

PLEASE do do the LPG job it just does not suit this engine, I did my 2002 GS300 after my Omega ran 200,000 miles on gas, but it just does not work on these cars. I had nothing but trouble and breakdowns in just 50,000 and had to bale out.

I have just gone hot & cold thinking about it !!!!

Any chance you could provide details on the problems you had (via PM if necessary?). All the reading i'd done suggested it was fine so long as you fitted a 'valve-saver' system and started and finished your trip on petrol.

It NEVER ran properly, ignition, idle,problems burnt valves, £2 K head rebuild and had Flash lube fitted. LPG does not work with VTEC as it burns too hot and long. If it worked Lexus would offer it then sales would go thru the roof ! 9 months of a completly un reliable car will never be forgotten. NO NO NO as any Lexus dealer will tell you

[Monster-Mat]

LPG does not work with VTEC as it burns too hot and long. If it worked Lexus would offer it then sales would go thru the roof !

Lexus doesnt use VTec, it uses Vvti, and the early GS300 doesn't even use that, its a normal cylinder head...so thats not an issue

however Lexus do not recommend LPG on there cars, but that is more to do with the VVti equiped cars

[Lexus2D]

[Mike_Mac]

Well the cleaning is finished!! Only took a week to do that plus all the other small jobs that needed doing.

Some Pics:

In reference to the posts above about LPG - has anyone successfully converted a Mk1 GS to it and how did they find it to run? Bit concerned about this now!