Help With Mods.... £1000 Budget

[ridgersIS300]

I have about £1k burning a hole in my pocket. Thinking about doing some stuff to my IS300, but don't know what :-/

A bit of background - I have a 2003 IS300 with 104k on the clock, full Lexus service, Cambelt done at 67,000 and she is a peach. The only mods I have done so far are LED sidelights and number plates, 4 wheel refurb - finished in smoked/black/chrome, red painted calipers, grom audio with BT. Also treated the leather several times and got a touch up pen (only £9 all in at Lexus dealer!) but that's about it. Oh and just put a private reg on it and spent about £100 on cleaning stuff lol!

Soooo..... What now??? Would love a nice back box that will show off the puuuurrrr of the straight six a bit more or do I just have lots of little bits like iridium plugs etc etc.....

Help?????????

Ps, replies with prices would be good :-)

[steve2006]

I can tell you are struggling with which way to go, what I suggest is that you send me the £1K and I will think of some great mods for you. :D

Seriously you really need to think where you want to spend the money, induction,exhaust or suspension improvements or simply some cosmetic improvements.

[ridgersIS300]

I'm quite tempted with an exhaust, but I don't want a loud boy racer one. If was to just get a decent back box would I get the sound I'm looking for? Just want to hear the engine through the exhaust a bit more?!?!?

[steve2006]

There are places that will custom make a ss cat back system to your personal requirements for around £300.00. I don't know the quality but it may be worth making some enquiries.

I heard HKS mentioned regularly again I have no idea but another avenue to explore.

I'm sure some of the IS owners will come in with further ideas as time goes on.

[mikeyv]

I love the sound of a burbly exhaust, as long as it belongs to somebody else.

From a sound point of view, I preferred induction kits - no noise unless you're booting it, though I'm not sure that most kits increase performance.

[ColinBarber]

Swift racing intake.

Not sure if anybody has fitted one of these to a UK vehicle, assume it will work with the UK engine ECU.

http://swiftracing.com/SRT/specials.aspx?specialsKey=1

[sprinter2012]

If you want a really good exhaust that sounds awesome then grab yourself one of these...

I always wanted one, but they are about £600 after import costs.

However when this little beauty came up for sale from another member I couldn't resist it at only £250!

[sparkystav]

im selling some TTE coilovers for £200.

Quality product, bilstein make the shocks.

Full height adjustable

in good condition.

Pm me

[ridgersIS300]

Right, well settled for a power flow straight through ss exhaust today £240 all in. Chosen a tip with a muffle in it so it won't be too loud. Getting it fitted in the morning so looking forward to it.

Thanks for the offer of coils but tbh I wouldn't really benefit from them :-)

Was thinking of looking at air filter next. Do I just get a k&n filter or a k&n typhoon induction kit, or any other that anyone recommends? Or would a ruddy good service using higher spec parts be just as good? (although it only had one in dec)

Sorry for all the questions

[sprinter2012]

im selling some TTE coilovers for £200.

Quality product, bilstein make the shocks.

Full height adjustable

in good condition.

Pm me

^^^Good shout, coilovers are an excellent addition to the IS200/IS300. They will improve the handling massively over stock, and if you drop if a few centimetres it will look much better too.

[sprinter2012]

Right, well settled for a power flow straight through ss exhaust today £240 all in. Chosen a tip with a muffle in it so it won't be too loud. Getting it fitted in the morning so looking forward to it.

Thanks for the offer of coils but tbh I wouldn't really benefit from them :-)

Was thinking of looking at air filter next. Do I just get a k&n filter or a k&n typhoon induction kit, or any other that anyone recommends? Or would a ruddy good service using higher spec parts be just as good? (although it only had one in dec)

Sorry for all the questions

When you say 'straight through' do you mean they are taking out all the catalytic converters and stuff? That's not normally recommended on NA cars as you lose the 'scavenging' effect of the exhaust because they exit the pipe too fast. The end result being a very slight increase in high rpm bhp, but a loss in torque. Sometimes even a loss in both.

As for air filters, if you have an IS300 with the 2JZ engine, I would say go for the full K&N induction kit. It looks great and will make it sound so much better.

[ridgersIS300]

I'll try to explain in my best technical way lol, from what I saw the standard exhaust has the front bit where it comes down from the manifold. Then it has like a silencer/muffler then a middle pipe connecting to the back box and tip. From what he told me he will remove the middle pipe and silencer just after the sensor and replace with a straight through pipe and a larger backbox and tip of my choice.

Hope this makes some sort of sense

[sprinter2012]

In that case, what he's building you is known as a 'cat-back exhaust system' because the first box in the pipe (the short one at the front with the heat shield around it) is the main 'cat' so he is replacing everything from the 'cat' back.

[ridgersIS300]

Right, that makes sense. So when the middle pipe gets replaced and the silencer removed is that not classed as 'straight through'??

[sprinter2012]

A 'straight though' pipe means that the only thing after the manifold is just empty round exhaust tube. No silencers, no catalytic converters, just pipe. It's common for turbo'd cars, like SparkyStav who posted above offering the coilovers. He has a special turbo manifold, then all that goes from the turbo to the back of the car is an empty 3" diameter tube, which allows the exhaust to flow through the turbo much faster.

If you did that on an NA car, it would be loud as hell! lol Because believe it or not, the turbo does dampen the sound slightly as the exhaust passes through the turbine.

[ridgersIS300]

So do you think £240 is a fair price?

[sprinter2012]

I'd say so yes, I was quoted a fair bit more than that when I asked them to do a twin exit system.

It's a good service considering they literally build and weld the whole system while you wait!

[noby76]

I have about £1k burning a hole in my pocket. Thinking about doing some stuff to my IS300, but don't know what :-/

A bit of background - I have a 2003 IS300 with 104k on the clock, full Lexus service, Cambelt done at 67,000 and she is a peach. The only mods I have done so far are LED sidelights and number plates, 4 wheel refurb - finished in smoked/black/chrome, red painted calipers, grom audio with BT. Also treated the leather several times and got a touch up pen (only £9 all in at Lexus dealer!) but that's about it. Oh and just put a private reg on it and spent about £100 on cleaning stuff lol!

Soooo..... What now??? Would love a nice back box that will show off the puuuurrrr of the straight six a bit more or do I just have lots of little bits like iridium plugs etc etc.....

Help?????????

Ps, replies with prices would be good :-)

scrap the back box stuff mate Am tempted my self to have this kit but trouble will be finding a good tuner in UK who could install it reliably. cost falls into your budget perfectly this alone will be putting 330 rear wheel horse power which equates to roughly 420 bhp to the crank on all stock internals. This four door baby Supra will be rubing shoulders with ISF, M3's M5's on the road/track

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Supra-SC300-GS300-IS300-Soarer-Turbo-Kit-2JZ-GE-or-GTE-/120814195426?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1c211652e2

[noby76]

this might be thier UK site..

http://www.xspoweruk.com/product//supra/XS10382-2JZGTE-Single-Turbo-Conversion-2JZ-450-550WHP-Kit.html

[mikey's IS]

So the OP says hes got a grand to play with then you post up something thats going to cost over the grand deliverd then the price of fitting plus an ecu and a remap ?

[ridgersIS300]

Well, got the exhaust fitted today, I think it looks mint and the sound is just what I was looking for - more of a 'warm' sound than a rasp. Will try and post a pic up later.

Turbo charging doesn't appeal to me at the minute, she drinks enough fast juice without the extra oomph lol!

Does anyone know what gains I would get with a remap? I know it will prob be minimal due to it being a) petrol b ) naturally aspirated. Just want to know if it's worth it or not :-/ I plan to put it on the rolling road anyway over the weekend (just for my own personal pleasure to see how she's doing!) but if I get a remap I would wait for that.

[ColinBarber]

if you take a look at the SRT link it has dyno reading before and after. For the intake and ECU remap it gained 22bhp. Doubt you will get too much with just the exhaust

[noby76]

So the OP says hes got a grand to play with then you post up something thats going to cost over the grand deliverd then the price of fitting plus an ecu and a remap ?

if he could stretch the budget a little bit then would be ideal but hes not interested in going the full monty(Turbo)...

[fjcfarrar]

Well, got the exhaust fitted today, I think it looks mint and the sound is just what I was looking for - more of a 'warm' sound than a rasp. Will try and post a pic up later.

Turbo charging doesn't appeal to me at the minute, she drinks enough fast juice without the extra oomph lol!

Does anyone know what gains I would get with a remap? I know it will prob be minimal due to it being a) petrol b ) naturally aspirated. Just want to know if it's worth it or not :-/ I plan to put it on the rolling road anyway over the weekend (just for my own personal pleasure to see how she's doing!) but if I get a remap I would wait for that.

If only it was as simple as a that. I think you would have to have a chip upgrade or a piggy-back ECU because just like the IS200, the IS300 ECU cannot be remapped as far as I know. So more power needs a turbo/charger or nitrous.

[ridgersIS300]

Have read up a bit more about tuning the IS300 and as a lot have said it is quite difficult. With regards to a turbo, can the stock internals cope? and what would be the FULL cost eg, turbo kit labour, remap etc?