Neil E

There's a big difference in the purpose of the two cars so it's hard to compare them, really. If you were playing top trumps you might say the LS is better in every respect except the SC is smaller, lighter, a little more 'sporty' and of course it has a very clever folding roof for top down motoring. The LS has far superior ride quality, space, driver aids and creature comforts so if you can live without the huge list of extras the LS has, the SC430 could be for you. It's rewarding to drive, reliable and fun but if it is your only mode of transport it's worth thinking about the practicalities. You can't fit 4 adults into it and it doesn't have very much boot space with or without the roof on.

Good luck with it. PPE make the headers in the US to fit to the original cats but I'm informed they haven't produced any for the rhd SC430 yet. Their manifold pipes don't appear to be of equal length so I can see the logic in thinking that they could be improved upon by another specialist manifold builder to attain more power. 350 may be optimistic but from what I've read, significant gains have already been achieved by US owners with similar mods using the PPE headers.

I wouldn't worry about your present car not lasting Steve, they are pretty robust. The engines go on for ever.

I would try to source new or second hand parts and continue on air. To convert, Meister R supply coil-overs for Lexus but they don't list any for the LS it may be worth contacting them as they enjoy a good reputation with many Lexus owners.

Whoever quotes, I would just check that each quote is like for like and includes everything you want done. Cam belt Water pump tensioner assembly 2 pulleys drive belt anti-freeze Anything else to be done at the same time, filters, plugs, diagnostic checks, inspections, etc, etc. All genuine Toyota parts, courtesy car? Number of hours labour will depend on the experience and ability of the engineer or the dealers may just book the time allowed according to their schedule. Sometimes jobs can take a little longer due to unforeseen issues so quotes may factor that in.

I don't have one fitted to mine but Grom has a tutorial for the SC430.

Hi Steve PM sent. They are mini DRLs. You may be able to find some better ones with a nice clear lens but I quite like these.

There are some other nice looking kits out there but those that I like are far more expensive and mostly of equal quality. Yes I fitted the kit and took time changing all the minor bits I wanted to then gave it to a trusted professional to finish it properly and paint the whole car. Most GRP kits need a lot of work to make them look good and this was no exception. If the kit hasn't been made yet you might ask them to delete the bumper side marker lights if you don't like them. I know a lot of owners don't like them. I didn't like the front fog light arrangement either so changed that too but I had to do all of that myself. Apart from a little modification to the front air ducts I did the kit and all the electrics in such a way that the car can easily be restored to it's original condition. The little led reverse lights came from the far east off the usual auction site. They are fairly bright until the led brake lights go on. I didn't put the Lexus fit reverse sensors back in because they didn't work and the system is poor compared with the ones I'm used to from the GS and LS. It's a dealer fit option and there's evidence the dealers don't make a great job of it.The body shop will have no issue fitting your originals back in but it might be worth thinking about a back up camera too. The headlamp washers were not as bad as I thought but lining up the front bumper is probably the hardest part of all. If I can do it on my own, a professional installer should be able to make a good job of it. It was a lot of work for me in spare time but they will probably do it in a week or so if you supply everything needed to complete it. Mine's documented elsewhere and I know there was an earlier one in the UK with quite a long build thread. Several with a few variations have been completed in the US. If you search around you may find a few alternative solutions. Some haven't bothered with the headlamp washers but they are an MOT requirement where Xenons are fitted in the UK. Right, it seems we need Nos next......I might pass on that.

Hi Craig As per pm, this may not help very much but here are a few pictures with the bumper removed so that you can see where the headlight washer and reservoir components are located. The headlamp washers are attached to the bumper so I removed them in the course of adding the kit. When I put them back they were attached below the headlamps but yours will be in their original mounting secured to the bumper itself.

Also check the window guides are free from debris. I recall some of the earlier Soarers suffering from slow working electric windows.

Reply sent. Look forward to seeing the pictures. I've seen a few different versions so it should be interesting to see how yours is configured. Mine is quite similar to the original layout so that it isn't too wild but others use a separate pipe on each side after the centre cat, cross over or Y piece.

No worries, ask away.

Lol.... a bit provocative and a shame to detract slightly from a good thread but okay I'll reply and if discussion is required, perhaps you could start a separate thread for debate on the merits and motives of exhaust modification. In experienced hands the SC can be driven very fast but if your son didn't keep up on the road with a genuine 340 bhp on tap, perhaps he sensibly chose not to. Some might say it's about making a great car better still but each to their own I guess and why not? If I'm listening to music while driving I like the car to be quiet, very quiet.....LS quiet. That really was designed to be quiet. Others say the sound of the V8 without the original silencers is music to their ears. To use Craig's words 'the V8 in all its glory.' Many of the auto engineers I know would agree with that view but it's not for everyone. I for one am looking forward to hearing about Craig's new exhaust system. I'm not an engineer but it interests me and I suspect many others too.

Yes John it's important to appreciate what you have in the first place, we are attempting to provide the answers to the question you asked the service centre that rightly told you it would cost thousands. I completely agree with what you are saying, the SC is quick already and it will cost a small fortune to make it that little bit quicker. I've seen many a good car ruined by modification and then abandoned or stuck in a garage waiting for enough cash to be saved up to get it running at the next level. If you think this is beginning to go in a little too deep you would love some of the other forums I visit and visited in the past. It can easily become an obsession. My motivation for tweaking the SC comes from selling both Soarers a few years ago. When I did so I said I would find time a little later to have a go at an SC430 so here I am 6 months in to it. Steve, I think your Polish kit supplier will come through okay.

Well good luck with the kit. Have you got someone lined up to fit it or are you doing it yourself? Does it look something like this perhaps?

Very interesting, do tell us more about the kit, I'm trying to finish a big rear spoiler at the moment and it's a real pain. (My skills with fibreglass are quite limited) There's quite a lot of good info about cold air intakes, apart from SRT there are other suppliers including at least one in the UK that make them specifically for the SC. I haven't seen anyone install a mini freezer ahead of the air box yet but no doubt someone has tried. I do remember fellow Soarer guys testing all manner of filters and intakes but couldn't get a better flow than with the original clean filter. 10 years ago someone also told me that replacing the filter with fine silk stockings was the definitive answer. Oh, I forgot to say, alloys can be re-furbed for around £65 a wheel or you can go for very wide wheels and tyres. Just do a search and you will find excellent charts with recommended sizes and offsets.I have 285 30 19 Continental on 9.5 inch rims on the back of mine (with correct rolling circumference) and there's still room in the arches.

Okay, I'm trying not to get too excited but I have read that the later 6 speed box does have the dial/adjustable valve that permits the quicker shift setting but I haven't seen anything conclusive yet. By that I mean I haven't found anyone to confirm they have actually done it and it works. That may change when I get time in Feb/March. It's definitely been widely tried by the US SC and GS community with the earlier transmission and reports appear to be very favourable. I agree with Craig's views however I'm not aware that the original ecu can be re-mapped. Aftermarket ECUs are not cheap and though there is plenty of knowledge on Supras and the like, our cars are rarely seen on a dyno so whilst there may be tried and tested maps for various forced induction solutions, don't expect it to be easy to produce a good map for any scenario. There are a few already but it would be great to see some more UK cars getting 'the treatment. I would urge that before anyone gets too carried away, it's best to determine what you want from the car in the end, absorb all the knowledge that's out there, then form a clear plan with an end goal that suits your needs. I dare say just like Craig's in fact. Read the threads and the views of the owners that have blazed the trail. If straight line acceleration is the only aim, that's fine for the quarter mile shoot out but if you want to be quick on a circuit then handling is perhaps the first place to start.

My V8 Soarer took 2 days including cat removal but the SC was fairly straight-forward and took one engineer about 6 hours. There are different ways of doing it depending on what you want. Have you specified how you would like it or are you going to take advice from the fitters? Sometimes I'm happy that mine is still pretty quiet and other days I wish it sounded like the Soarer did....full on power.

Thanks Craig. I've seen some of their mods. I will take a look.

Thanks Mel You could write several fascinating books on your car history. I'm comfortable with that side of it but need to establish the best solution at the steering wheel. I haven't had much time lately so there may be a delay to starting this mod.

Steve, from the little I have read in the past, SRT build high performance engines at great expense so if they claim an increase of 15 to 20 bhp with a cold air intake and a chip that's worth investigating. Improved exhaust flow by custom built headers or exhaust manifolds via 2 sports cats and a custom exhaust should make a noticeable difference, It's custom fabrication work so it won't be cheap. There were a batch of headers made in the states at reasonable cost but I believe some suffered cracks after a short while. You can't delete the cats if the car is to remain road legal but it's okay for the track. I'd say that's probably going to cost £2.5K + Swapping the torque converter to get off the line quicker, faster shifting, etc and we're really getting into competition territory now. There is a gearbox adjustment setting for faster changes, I think it can be adjusted on both the earlier and later models with the sump removed, I would need to do a search to check but that would be a cost effective improvement. Add Peter's sensible, essential, improved suspension, so coil-overs, stiffer anti roll bars, then consider wider wheels and tyres to grip the tarmac, a big brake upgrade kit and you are on the slippery slope to spending a lot of money for fractions of seconds saved. Mel I like your thinking on the 460. Perhaps the ISF set up may be the way to go. I would love to do something like that to a Soarer. And yes you and Peter make the point well, the SC is capable of going quite quickly in standard form.

Sounds like very good value for money Craig. It's a 4-5 hour job to do the cam-belt and water pump for those that are well practiced, most would book longer. I'm quite sure Toyota Lexus Guildford couldn't match that price. Genuine Toyota cam belt, drive belt, tensioner assembly, 2 pulleys and a water pump would be £300 in parts alone.

Well done John.

Hi Mel I'm not aware that anyone has developed a mod for the original ECU other than a replacement/piggy back. I agree a £30 filter on its own will do nothing to improve the performance over a clean standard paper filter but in principal, a good hi flow, cold air intake might gain a tiny increase. It's all perception but a less restrictive custom exhaust made my SC 'feel' more powerful and quicker to pick up in the mid-range but the dyno confirmed what I expected to see, max power 280.9 bhp. I think Lexus say it's 279 standard for the later car and 282 for the earlier one so I was very happy to see that figure from an engine with 101k on it. To put some rough numbers to John's post. The race tuning company that did the dyno test offered me a twin turbo solution with ECU and a tried and tested map for £10k but I think if you factor in everything that an SC is going to need to cope with 600 bhp, £15k is more realistic. Clearly you wouldn't run it at 600 all the time but it would turn a refined cabriolet into a fire breathing monster. I've seen a 5.0 litre supercharged Soarer in the flesh and the experts had no end of trouble trying to tune that to work properly. Toms do a complete supercharger kit, I think it's around £8k but that's just the start. It all sounds very expensive but if you have those kinds of funds to do track days or trips to the Nurburgring and can't quite afford to get on to the waiting list for an LFA, it's a cheap and exciting alternative.

I'd be interested to see some dyno/acceleration figures to back that up. I am aware that some of the guys in the states (and one or two in the UK) have experimented with cold air intakes. The car produces around 280 bhp and with a good launch, should reach 60 mph in 6 seconds or slightly less. It's possible to improve throttle response and slightly quicker shift changes but apart from taking some radical measures to save weight, noticeable or significant gains will require serious effort, expertise and expenditure. I could suggest likely costs but it makes me wince. :)