P.Lindblom

They are narrow and full of spikes. You do not want to end up under them :) You can also get ice tyres for crotch rockets. That has to be scary :P I suppose so, but you get used to it the first winter when it gets cold and snowy :)

Driving on a frozen lake is the definition of AWESOME... i am just jealous It's a lot of fun, but you need even better tyres to go fast. At some meets you can borrow ice racing tyres for your car. Here's a friend of mine

I thought I recognized one of their pictures :tsktsk: It's mine!

I'm afraid I don't know what you mean by top end, but I didn't notice anything dodgy :) Thank you :) I will have the bonnet painted to match my front bumper. I don't want it to look like it's just been smacked onto the car with no real care. I originally wanted to cover the middle of my standard bonnet in black 'striping', but the edges would look bad so I decided to get a new bonnet and paint the sides. I'm sorry, mate :P For the last two months I've been worried that the CF bonnet would destroy my theme, but even though I think it will look nice it's actually a bit of a sacrifice. I often visit car shows and the car is such a rare model that few people even notice it. Carbon fiber seems to get people's attentions.

Thanks a lot mateys :) Your nice comments motivates me even more. Thanks :) I'm not afraid people will know it's a fibreglass replica. I doubt many people in this country know what a Legana bumper is anyway :P The problem is I know it's a replica. It sounds silly, but it just doesn't feel right. ___________________________________________________________ Anyway... guess what arrived the other day, from California :) Fits like a glove. It took 10 minutes to replace my standard bonnet. I just test fitted it, though. Next week I will get it to the paint shop :)

Hello mate, A fellow LOC Sweden member fitted 20" rims and lowered the car 35mm without doing anything to the arches. I'm not sure about their offset, though, and I doubt he can turn the wheels as much as you'd want to. Regarding the exhaust question, there's a good exhaust thread here: http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/ind...?showtopic=9140

I just bought a set of brand new TRD side skirts off ebay, for £99, but I was just told they do not ship anything abroad. Would somebody be willing to help me by sending them to my address? I can of course pay for the trouble. Cheers Patrik Lindblom

In the smaller towns of Sweden we have a certain group of people commonly known as “Volvo-raggare”. They’re usually around 18-25 years of age, wear baggy clothes and baseball caps saying “Volvo 240 racing” or similar, depending on what they drive. Every evening when the supermarkets have closed you can see rows of sometimes up to 20-30 cars, all Volvo 740s, just standing there in the big parking lots with their engines switched on. If it starts to rain or snow they all take turns doing one wheel “drifting” (No LSD). As I mentioned the cars are almost solely Volvo 740s. In fact you can hardly find a 740 these days, which hasn’t had its springs sawn off (farmer lowering) and the mufflers removed (farmer tuning). Inside the cars you usually find a bunch of wunderbaums, hairy dices, a few beer cans, a “rattmuff” and a blonde 15 year old girl who’s super cool for hanging out with the older guys with driving licenses. Another thing that seems overrepresented among these cars is the confederate flag. I have no idea why, though. I just thought I’d share this with you as I’m sure all countries have their own equivalent… maybe not Japan as they all seem to be born with a set of keys to a Silvia S15 or a Supra. I’m very curious about the UK “Volvo-raggare”. What do they look like, what sort of cars do they drive and where do you usually find them? A few examples: Cheers

Thanks :) I'm very happy indeed. Now there are just four more exterior mods in the pipeline; my Seibon CF bonnet (will hopefully get painted this week), my TRD side skirts, my new rear lights and a bit less height. EP Racing are very cheap. If you don't mind modifying fibreglass it's definately worth bying theirs. Thanks Stav. My summer wheels will be fitted as soon as it's legal, April 1st :) Two more pics:

Finished! Just a quick pic from the car wash. I will add better ones later :) If you think my rims are small they are my winter rims.

I can's say it's perfect, but I'm satisfied by the outcome of this cheap replica :) I actually had a supercharger account where I kept £2000 in case a kit would come up for sale. Unfortunately I had to use a lot of it for something else, not car related, but soon I will be ready again. Thanks mate :) I was about to cut the small outer vents out, but then I noticed the vents on the geniune bumper are just painted black. Thank you :) I'm sorry there isn't much to read between the pictures. If only I knew what the different tools and methods are called in English I would add decriptions to everything. Thanks a lot mate :) Finally the temperature has dropped and the water/road salt mixture is turning into ice. In a few hours it will be worth giving the car a good wash and then it's time to fit the new bumper. Tonight I will have a lot of pictures for you. Cheers

Cheers mates :) Hopefully I can fit it tomorrow night, but I will probably leave the car in the garage until sunday when the temperature has dropped below zero again. The photos are from the paintshop, they did everything except the 'grilles' :) Thank you :) I had it painted according to a picture of the original Legana bumper. The only difference is that I wanted the part below the number plate black.

Cheers mates :) I hope I do not do the same again with the following pics ;) Hello mate, I've actually bought a Legana replica and the only thing I'm going to replace that one with is a genuine Legana :) Thank you anyway, though. Back from the paint shop!! :D

I can't even imagine how hard it would be to drive in snow with high performance tyres fitted. In Sweden it's illegal to use summer tyres between December 1st and March 31st. I use Nokian Hakkapelitta 5 (and Hakkapelitta RSi) and my IS200 goes steady as a train. Quite a lot of people meet up in the weekends and go racing on frozen lakes.

I will take a few more pictures soon. The rear skirt is now fitted :) I’m not sure my judgement in car sound is something to trust. I haven’t had a sub in any of my earlier cars, so I can only compare before to after fitting this one :P A lot of yanks seem to have made their own LED tail lights, but I haven’t really tried to find out how. It’s certainly possible, though. Thanks :) Sorry I didn’t shoot anything yet. I will do that later on. I must say I’m overwhelmed with all the positive comments from you guys, that gives me a lot of motivation to continue my pursuit :) I probably won’t finish this project soon and when I do it’s time to start working on an IS250. We’ll see when that happens. Yeah, there are a lot of US IS300s with custom LED lights. I wasn’t sure whether or not the owners made them or if they had someone make them. A group buy may be the way to get them made. I just hope I don’t get to tempted to buy those, then I would have four sets :P I’m glad you mentioned the projector headlights. I’m currently waiting for a quote from a company in the US, for a set of Lexus RX330 projectors. I actually had a set a while ago, but they were another brand and didn’t fit at all. The new ones will definitely fit as they are the most common IS300 retrofit projectors. I can’t wait to start working on this upgrade. Again, a million thanks for the nice comments :) Cheers ______________________________________________________ Yesterday it was time to fit the TRD rear skirt If you don’t have the proper tools, then try to make your own :)

I got free shipment of these, so I guess it's a good buy anyway. As long as I get the same type when I order the front discs later on :) Dave, are you reading this? ;) Thanks a lot mate :) Initially I was going for gloss black, but the guys at the paint shop told me matt black would look fantastic so I went for that. The black details on the front bumper will have the same color. I just went to see how the front looks, by the way. It's currently all platinum ice but on thursday It should be finished. I've always doubted the shallow mount subs, but I know Rockford Fosgate don't want to damage their reputation by making a bad one. When a friend of mine was going to sell his I bought it and I'm very happy with it. After I replaced my front and rear speakers with Infinity ones I was overwhelmed by the clean sound and deep bass, but the sub makes a great difference now :D I'm not sure if video cameras can pick it up, but I could record a short video tonight if anyone is interested :) Concerning the lights I agree with you. The standard lights look great and they started the whole 'Lexus lights' trend, but I'm very fond of LEDs. For a while I thought about taking the red lenses from the standard lights and fit them inside my current LED ones to make them look standard when switched off. I'm afraid I will change my mind about my new rear lights, but right now I think they look stunning :P

I think the smoked ones would look really nice on a black car, but I'm afraid they'd just look dirty on mine. A dark inside with clear lens would match my fronts better, but we'll see how it looks when my new lights arrive. They will be shipped out today :) I might do that tonigt, but I've already managed to find a buyer who's going to pick them up tomorrow :) ________________________________________________________________ Yesterday my new 3G rear brake discs arrived and guess what... they were also the wrong type. I ordered 10gr without dimples, but it doesn't matter. I don't have the energy to send them back. I've made my own photo studio, using pillows and bed sheets :P

I had no idea until I saw this. He must have worked hard, though, as he apparently restored it to its original state :) Brings back old memories. I took that picture the same day I bought the car. If it is your pic mate i'd email ebay and complain. Stav I just did :) I don't really mind him using my picture but he could have asked me first. That's very, very naughty ! If he sells it I should have at least 10% of what he gets :P

This guy is selling my car, apparently :D http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...ries%26_fvi%3D1 Item number: 300286591993 Why is it LHD in the first picture?

Thank you :) I’ll be smiling a lot more when I lay my hands on a supercharger kit. That’s my end of the rainbow :P Thanks mate :) I wouldn’t personally call it the prettiest, though. We’ve all got our own nice ways of personalizing the look of our cars. I wish there were more IS200/300s in Sweden. I’ve never seen one at a car show here. It will be great to come to one of your meets this summer. Thanks. I will try my best :) Today I will pick up my new brake discs and pads. There are still quite a few things on their way from the UK, US and Japan and it feels great that everything is paid already. It’s like waiting for a lot of presents :D Yesterday my new rear lights arrived. Unfortunately, the yanks sent me the wrong ones. I ordered red + clear lens but got dark smoked clear lens. They offered me a refund of $80 to keep the lights, but I told them I don’t want them and that it would be more or less impossible to sell them in Sweden. Anyway, here’s a photo of one of my current lights. I might send them back, but I’m not sure the retailer thinks it’s worth it.

Thank you, mate :) I do my best, but sometimes I believe that my camera helps a bit in making things look better :) That would be nice indeed. I'm just waiting for the next supercharger to pop up for sale ;) I bought the bumper from EPracing.co.uk, through Ebay, and it's only £195. For that kind of money I guess you can't really expect a perfect fit. Before I bought it I sent them an e-mail, asking about the fitment. They sent me an honest reply, telling me they had just sold ten of these kits and one of their customers had complained about how it fits. The exact date and venue haven't been announced yet, unfortunately. But keep an eye on the "Club Meetings" forum where there are a couple of threads on the subject. As soon as the date/venue is announced I'm sure it'll be posted up there. I will keep my eyes on the JAE threads, then. Thanks :) _______________________________________________________________ The day after I finally fitted my bumper I spent a few hours modifying the middle part so that the grille fits as it should. I see now why many replicas are being sold with their grilles integrated. Yesterday morning I left my bumper at the paint shop and I really hope it's done on friday. The same morning I picked up a package from Japan. My fog lights from japanparts.com had arrived after just four days. This is what's included:

If you do that you have to take pics, it would be like the photocopier scene from Office Space :D With the work you've done to make that one fit I'm sure you could sell it easily when you have the new one on the car? I certainly will. I love that Office space scene :) I have made mine fit, but if you look closely you can easily see that this is not an oem part. I really don't like fibreglass. I mentioned a bit about it in my project thread: http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/ind...showtopic=54957 It wasn't a good fit at all when it arrived. I could probably have sent it back and got a new one, but it wouldn't be worth doing that from Sweden. However, fibreglass turned out to be a really easy material to work with and I think most people would be able to modify it with the proper tools. I mentioned that in the Legana bumper thread, actually :) Since every other body part I've bought is either Toyota, TRD or TTE it just doesn't feel right using a replica, regardless of whether or not anyone else knows it. But you're right, I should at least use it until I break it. My current TRD front lip is really scratched underneath, so I suspect it might happen soon. http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/ind...showtopic=56369

Yep, that is correct :) My temporary solution until I find a second hand genuine Legana. Then I will crush this one with a sledge hammer :P It's currently at the paint shop. Hopefully I can fit it on saturday.

that would look smart Well, I've actually been in contact with a company that specializes in 'covering' things with carbon fiber weave. As the IS200 roof has got very distinct edges they say they can CF it. I'm tempted but I'm not sure yet. We'll se when after my bonnet has been painted and fitted :)