Jimxms

I did see some of the lights with the projector conversions on them, but I couldn't work out what it did exactly? Is it just increasing the spread/intensity of the light by magnification lenses?

I am LOL! And cool, TBH I didn't even bother to ask, but now I know - awesome :D

No the OEM cannot be adjusted as far as I know, the actual lights are different. I thought you were talking about aftermarket lights, of which some have adjustment so they work all over the world.

Bummer. I found a company that uses OEM lights, black chromes the insides, adds angel eyes and makes it all plug and play idiot proof.

I just dont trust myself to make a good job of it.

USA light beam will look like __/__/ and you need \__\__, so you will be blinding oncoming traffic constantly

From what I've heard, USA beams are straight rather than angled, so it shouldn't be toooo bad? I'm just wondering if the OEM lights have the neccesary adjustments to point them far enough to the left to pass an MOT.

I guess a similar question would be: can the UK OEM lights be adjusted to point straight ahead. If so, the USA ones should hopefully be able to point far enough left.

Ormi, I was going to ask you a question along these lines actually...

I was going to get some new headlights imported from USA. However I hear that their beams face straight ahead, rather than slightly to one side like UK cars. After speaking to a local garage, they said that this would constitute an MOT failure?

If that's true, is it easy to re-align the headlights to meet UK spec (they are OEM)? Or would they be so far out-of-whack that it wouldn't be possible?

Thanks, thought as much jst wanted make sure, where in Essex u from mate ?

Wickford mate :)

Whats the other site you were looking at?

http://www.my.is

According to the US site my.is, Lextasy are a bunch of cowboys. I'd steer clear.

Nah I've not yet, but I want to get a piggyback ECU before I do so that I can get it all tuned up at the same time.

Megan downpipe is good quality, but works best with their own headers which I haven't got yet :(

The gas pedal has a spring under it that gives the pedal a kind of spongey feel and helps compensate for accidental harsh pedal usage (kind of like a buffer).

The mod basically involves wrapping a bit of plastic tubing round the spring to remove the springs function. It makes the pedal feel a lot more direct epecially when stamping on the gas.

For the IS300 nope. Probably the best single, reasonably priced upgrade is a new exhaust manifold. But even then you need a solution to stop the engine check light from coming on with the removal of the precats.

I've spent a fortune on my IS300 so far, and the gains are relatively small. I only did them because I wanted a unique UK 300 and they will eventually compliment a F/I setup when I can afford it. To give you an idea:

Performance Exhaust - ~5BHP

£200 - £400 w/ £40 fitting.

Decat performance manifold - ~10BHP (bit more with whole new exhaust system)

£300 - 400 w/ £100 fitting.

Performance Intake - ~8BHP

£200 - £250

Adjustable Cam gear - ~2BHP (but improves power band slightly)

£100 - £150 w/ £50 fitting.

Replacement cam shafts - ~20-25BHP

£500 - £600 w/ £500+ fitting.

With the IS300 its easier to make the car go faster by loosing weight than it is to make it go faster by increasing torque/bhp. Get lighter wheels, ditch the spare wheel, replace the sun roof with a plastic insert, aluminium driveshaft, bucket seats, carbon fiber bonnet and boot...etc. But then its not a Lexus anymore.

EDIT: Also if your priority is to make the IS300 more fun to drive, then I can suggest the accelerator pedal spring mod and also the throttle cable mod. They both make the car more responsive to what your foot is doing and make the car feel like there is more power on tap.

Tigerfish has pretty much covered it. You've got a sports grille so that ticks that off. Only other thing I can really think of is de-badging/changing rear badges?

I've heard conflicting stories tbh. Some people say that the UK fuel mappings are different to the USA models and as such the R-ECU will screw everything up, whereas SRT themselves say it'll be fine. Of course there's a big risk in buying as if it doesn't work you'd have to return all the way to USA before you could get a refund (and you cant use it without the R-ECU).

My advice to you would be to buy the K&N FIPK v2 which gives the biggest gains from any 'standard' intake, doesn't suffer from heat soak (because its not made of metal) and if you buy a piggy-back ECU in future, can be tuned to give same/better results than the SRT intake.

^^ man has a point.

love the car photos koko. can people also give general advice on how to keep your car from breaking down etc

*snip*

looks sweet lad! once u get them bumpers on it will really finish it off! U nat putin on tte side skirts as well?

I've got a TTE front bumper and TTE rear valance (both genuine), but I have to admit i'm not a fan of the TRD side skirts much, so I'll be leaving that as-is.

ps car looks amazing..

oh also you had the alighnment done?

Cheers man. Yeah I got the alignment done at Elite who have a few of those super special Hunter machines or w/e their called. Cost me a fair fed bob to get done though as everything on all wheels was out :(

Im sorry but my car sits the same as yours and ive used 50mm springs. I take it you can go lower??

Love the wheels

Aye could go much lower if I wanted to, but I have to admit those pics of the side of the car don't really do the lowness any justice. The tops of the rear tyres are tucked under the arches when car is empty, and when the kids are in the back the tyres partially tuck under (which is a relief for et30 offset!). Also need to remember I'm running without a spare in the boot which was what made the car look like a cat that had be kicked up the arse previously.

But overall I'm most happy with the ride quality now. The car sits flat no matter whether I be stamping on the gas or brakes and round corners the weight of the car stays fairly evenly distributed and the grip is massively improved. Whats even better is that with the damper settings on the coilovers set mid-way, it still feels much like the Lexus it did previously.

you on coilovers mate??it looks amazing do the wheels catch the arches?

Yeppers mate :D :D. I knew I was never going to be happy with the drop springs would give, so I just bit the bullet :P

Funnily enough, even tho it looks like they would catch the arches, I've not seen or heard any signs of it yet and today I hit a LOT of varied size/shape speed bumps.

The only problem I did have was going over a speed bump that had stupid f*king spikes coming out the top of it. I heard them scrape along the entire belly of the car :(

welcome to my world lol.....

how much did you drop it by?

Well bearing in mind that I didnt have a spare wheel in the boot, the rear went down by 80mm and the front by about 50mm. Here's a few quick pixx...

heres a better one put it in the garage as the car is sh@t in the snow..

Better hope for no snow @ crimbo or the Mrs will bloody divorce me if the "car i bought" cant make it off the driveway :P

Seriously though - it cant be any worse than a 2.8 capri in the snow :P

you on coilovers mate??it looks amazing do the wheels catch the arches?

Yeppers mate :D :D. I knew I was never going to be happy with the drop springs would give, so I just bit the bullet :P

Funnily enough, even tho it looks like they would catch the arches, I've not seen or heard any signs of it yet and today I hit a LOT of varied size/shape speed bumps.

The only problem I did have was going over a speed bump that had stupid f*king spikes coming out the top of it. I heard them scrape along the entire belly of the car :(

Yeah will have to get some proper pics tomoz after its had a wash its a bit lighter outside :P

Its a night and day difference tho. Especially as the rear has been dropped about 80mm and the front around 50mm

May be a lon shot, but were any of you at Lakeside today in a Black IS 200/300? We crossed paths and gave each other a wave :P

Yeah don't worry about them mate. Loads of websites out there use them and they can't get at any of your personal info (not that you should keep any of it on a forum).

From this (rear)....

To this (rear)....

and from this (front)....

to this (front)....

Spent FAAAAR much more than I wanted to, but the ride...oh the ride makes it feel like a totally different car. I can throw it round corners now without worring about the Mrs falling out the door :P

I suppose I was naive, but when the car was relayed to the local Lexus dealer I expected that due to the public safety nature of the fault Lexus would want to intelligently investigate this incident to prevent a potentially lethal incident, particularly after all that had happened in America. Unfortunately from the beginning I received a standard corporate response of denial in that they had received no other reports of similar incidents in the UK. Well, that may well be true but how does that help me?

Yeah its unfortunate that this is how all companies operate. Deny deny deny, don't say sorry (because that's admitting the fault), make customer think it was their fault, hope it all goes away.

I do hope you get it resolved to your satisfaction though mate.

Think Rory might be referring to the 'intellitext' like adverts that underline certain words in posts with links to semi-relevant websites.

For me it's quite slow, but not to the point where it annoys me. However, if the admins ever need any help with hosting then they can take this as an open invitation to chat with me. I host a fair few Invision / vBulletin boards along with several very high traffic websites using my own servers located in central London.