Jimxms

Hi Guys, Right - here's my situation. Had a HKS Cam Gear installed a short while ago but just found out from other forums that the one I got was a 'version 1' that got discontinued because the coating on the teeth wore out pretty quickly (or sommit like that), and it fudged up a few peoples engines. Anyway, that put the wind up me so now I'm sitting here with a nice AEM cam gear and nobody willing to fit it for at least 2 weeks :( So I've been looking around and it doesn't seem THAT hard to do - other than I'm a computer engineer by trade so none of my puny screwdrivers fit car engines :P My understanding of the process is: 1) Rotate the crankshaft clockwise using a wrench until the white line (TDC) matches up with the '0' marking on the timing belt cover. 2) Check that the markings on the cam gears (usually white dots) are lined up with the notches on the top of the cam gear cover. If they're not, rotate the crankshaft clockwise a full 360 degree turn, then everything should match. 3) Rotate the crankshaft counter-clockwise until the yellow line (60 degree BTDC) matches up with the '0' marking on the timing belt cover. 4) Loosen the timing belt using the two bolts on the tensioner located underneath the car near the alternator. 5) Remove the timing belt from the cam gear so that when you go to undo the cam gear it doesn't muck up the position of the crankshaft. - At this point it doesn't matter too much if you accidentally rotate the cam gears as the crankshaft is set at BTDC and you can always re-align the cam gears with the markings made - 6) Remove the exhaust cam gear, transfer the alignment 'mark' on it to the new cam gear. bolt on new cam gear. 7) Tighten up the belt again via the tensioner. 8) Make sure that both cam gears are lined up correctly with the notches at the top of the cam gear cover. 9) Make sure that the crankshaft still has its yellow line aligned with '0'. 10) Rotate the crankshaft clockwise using a wrench for several revolutions. If it goes round without interference/resistance then you;re ready to roll. Does that sound about right? I think the special tools I'm going to need are a 17mm socket for the cam gear bolt and a wrench to rotate the crankshaft. Any ideas what size wrench I need though, and it looks like it also needs to be angled too...:/

Ooh cheers bud I'll go take a look. Tenzo rings a bell for some reason, but I'm guessing they're not a jap brand?

I'd be the unlucky f*ker who's paint cracks or something and ends up with rusty arches :P But good to know the camber can be adjusted without 'extras'. Now where the hell do I find some decent 50mm springs! Lowest I've seen so far is 35mm Apex's

What do you reckon they are mate? If I have to fork out straight away for coilies because the wheel shop f*ked up the order of my wheels I'm gonna go caveman on their *****. I told them the stock wheels were et50 and I wanted to stay as close to that as poss :@ Can you get that much camber with stock suspension (if i was just to get springs)? Does it affect tyre wear much?

I'll be up front and say I know nothing about wheel sizes, but I cudda sworn the guy in the shop said the wheels were et42?? (maybe i'm speaking pap) Anyways I've taken some pics... Front wheel A good 55mm between the top of the tyre and arch. Only thing that worries me is that as you can probably see from the ruler, the tyre is flush with the arch. Rear wheel About 65mm here - probably because I'm running with no spare in the boot. When lining the ruler up with the front of the tyre, it sits about halfway into the arch lip. What ya think?

Not the best, but by no means the worst - Avon ZZ3's http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Avon/ZZ3.htm

Looking at getting some lowering springs for the weekend, but thought it best to check first how low I can go with the new wheels I had fitted. I'm now running on 8x18" with (i think) 42 offset on 225/40R18 tyres. When at rest, the wheels look 'almost' flush with the arches (although I've not got the tape measure out), so I'm wondering if these wheels will tuck under the arch when going over bumps, or if i'm in for trouble if I want to lower the car a further 20mm (35mm drop springs).

Mk1 IS300 in your area :P

Not sure if its the same for the iPod Grom, but for my USB one I had to flash it with a new firmware before it worked nicely with my headunit.

Nice dude. Do you have some very flat roads where you are??

Yeah I'm having a hard time deciding whether to go for arb's or coilovers at the mo. I've already spent about 1/2 what I paid for the car on upgrades in the past few months and the wife is threatening to leave me :P I was hoping the slightly wider 18's that I put on the car would help make the back end a bit more sticky, but after i exited a roundabout almost going backwards the other day, it doesn't seem to have worked.

There's a mod you can do to the stock amplifier that adds phono line-outs. It involves a bit of soldering, but that's about it. I can't quite remember where I saw the mod- may have even been on here. But it's deffo possible.

Yeah that's the one I went with IIRC. I haven't got around to sorting it yet, but from what I've read over on my.is, it looks like I need to chop an inch off my K&N induction kit to get it to fit nicely. I'd imagine that those with IS200's or standard airboxes wont experience the same issues as me though. @steveboiboi - Yeah I imagine if you're running coilovers there's little point in a brace as you're not going to get much body roll. For me its helped make the car a bit more nimble. Though i still need to sort out the 'drifting' issue I get at roundabouts :P

Cheers mate. Found some high tensile ones on eBay that seem good quality. Only thing is that they aren't black like the stock Lex ones :( Might have to do with silver

Yeah it's the stock one I've got and yes its cat-back. I need to give it a going over with a wire brush to remove some of the surface rust, but from what I can tell it's in good nick other than needing a spit and polish.

After installing my strut brace I noticed a couple of the strut tower nuts are badly corroded. Do any of you guys know where I could puck up some suitable replacements as they look fairly specialised. Cheers Jim

My install went like this.... 1) Took off induction kit because it was overlapping the bolts on drivers side. 2) Realized that none of my sockets were deep enough to clear the bolts and get to the nuts. 3) Found a spanner that fitted after lots of hunting around house. 4) Got the nuts on one side off, fitted the tower part of the brace, realized that couldn't do nuts back up with spanner! 5) Put car back together and drove to halfords to find a deep socket. 6) Only had imperial markings on spanner, halfords only had metric. Purchased wrong one. 7) Got home. Took induction kit off again, realized that socket was wrong size 8) Put car back together again, drove to halfords, got correct socket this time! 9) Got home, took it all apart. Had trouble with one nut that was rusted to f*k 10) Had real trouble getting it all to bolt in - one of the bolt holes was about 0.5mm out and there was absolutely no give. 11) Finally got it all bolted up nice, then noticed that a little black box (Denso Ignition) which was originally bolted on to one of the suspension bolts wouldn't go back in its original place due to its mounting bracket not clearing the strut tower. 12) Had to bend the crap out of the bracket to get it to fit nicely somewhere else. 13) Job done! The easiest jobs are always the hardest with me :@

Well i went for the Japspeed exhaust and its loud as f*k - so I'd avoid that one if you're after a peaceful life :P Lots of people seem to like one called BlueFlame (i think thats the name), which is a bit louder than stock. You could also get a custom one made and have the noise levels tuned to your requirements. Or rub down your exhaust, see if its just surface rust? Could even get it powdercoated silver maybe so it stays shiny? I've got my IS300 exhaust in my garage still and might be willing to sell it once I've given it a clean.

Hi guys, Just installed my strut brace this evening (took about 4hrs with frequent trips to Halfords for tools!), and wow it's made a big difference. Steering feels tighter, cornering is less rolly-polly-like. Great purchase IMO. There are a few changes that I wasn't expecting though: - engine pitch sounds 'different' - i can feel engine vibrations through the pedals and steering wheel. - everything is a bit louder I assume this is because the strut brace sits within mm of the engine, and the vibrations get fed through to the steering etc via the suspension? I just wanted to make sure it's normal, as I've never heard anyone else mention similar observations.

How about you and rajesh get together and 'knock bumpers' :P I hear its all the craze at the moment :)

Welcome...to trouble-free motoring, sponsored by Lexus :)

IS300 and IS200 exhausts should be exactly the same mate - at least I put an aftermarket IS200 exhaust on my car and it sits nicely with the bumper. The only way it would be different is if you had a bumper from a USA IS300 as they are quite a bit deeper and need a longer exhaust tip.

I can vouch for the GROM MP3 adapter. I've got it stealthed away behind my headunit with only a little USB cable going into the glove box, so I can plug in whatever USB stick i like and play away :D

You could have probably dismatled the rest of the car with your foot :P

Is it used? Whats the price? Basically I had it imported from the USA less than a week ago. It was taken from a showroom car at a Lexus dealership (not sure what model). It looks brand new and in immaculate condition (and i'm a picky bastid). £50 with free P+P (or you can barter and not get free p+p) Cost me £60 - and took 2 weeks to arrive. So a good deal imo.