matt-c

Unless it's changed since I was caught being a naughty boy on the M1 back in 2000/1-ish, anything over 95 is an instant ban. Luckily, I was only being tracked on average speed, and mine was 94.6mph, so I escaped with 3 points and a £60 fine (I thought it would have been more, but I wasn't going to argue it!)

The PWR button is only available on autos, and doesn't increase the power output of the engine - just in the same way the SNOW button doesn't decrease the power of the engine, or affect fuelling.

Grab your Yellow Pages. There's a plethora of garages and mechanics in Barking and Dagenham. It's pretty much what the East End was built upon

Could be as simple as a loose joint, but then again it could be the cat(s) breaking down inside, which means replacements

Could you be a bit more specific in what the actual problem is? The exhaust "fell off the engine"? Do you mean the manifold nuts have all come loose and it's no longer attached to the head, or has part of the exhaust system broken/cracked?

Lexus didn't offer a turbo or a supercharger conversion on the IS. 280bhp from a stock 1G-FE is reliable. The £2500 quote is realistic (it's actually less than that). Lots of people don't know what's involved or where to look. It wouldn't be including me as I'm not looking to get any more power from my car. And most people only think the supercharger option is the only option. The difference between you and I, Knobby, is I actually speak to the people in the know - not just look things up on web pages and copy and paste it.

Yeah ok! £10k 2JZ swap for 320bhp, or turbo conversion on the 1G-FE (with "no need to change/play with cams, head, gaskets, pistons etc.. this is stock") and making a reliable 280bhp for under £2500 fully fitted (and no need for "the challenge will be making fitting them into IS200 chasis and making the wiring work")

The labour isn't the part that mounts the costs up. It's all the other bits you don't realise you'll need or have to fabricate. The 1JZ/2JZ conversions that have run into £10k plus, that I mentioned above, were both self builds, not paying someone else to do it. And both were done by more than competent mechanics (one was done by the guy that now builds, sells and install turbo kits on the IS, and it was one of his kits that hit 280bhp @ 10psi) My take on it, is if you're looking for moderate (i.e. under 300bhp) then turbo the 1G-FE. If you want big power, like 4 or 500 bhp, look at the JZ's. The stock internals on a 2JZ with a single turbo conversion (do not confuse that with the lesser single turbo 2JZ; I mean the twin turbo 2JZ converted to single turbo) will easily take 450+ on standard internals, and it's not a big deal to build these to a bullet proof 600bhp. The 1JZ with the correct internals can be just as bullet proof, and you can wind it up to the same power levels and sit on the redline all day long without it breaking a sweat.

Just remember that any engine conversion you're planning, whether it be 1G-GTE, 1JZ, 2JZ, etc - whatever figure you have in mind to do it - double it. the 2JZ-GTE conversion sounds simple enough and inexpensive, but 1JZ and 2JZ conversions often end up going into the £10k realm, and is that really worth doing on a £1500 car? Especially when you bear in mind the 1G-FE can easily be turbo'd (you're looking at under £2500 all in, although add more if you plan to swap out the duel-mass flywheel for a lightened one, and add a full, turbo-back exhaust), which on stock internals can safely hold 13psi all day (which is about 290-300bhp). If it was me, I'd be turbo'ing the 1G-FE, setting the boost limit to 10psi, one of which recently dyno'd at 280bhp @ 10psi, and spending whats left of your original budget on the suspension and brakes.

Yes - http://tinyurl.com/m4j2md4

In the car pics Home screen Nav app And of course, the obligatory video

Next on the list - swap out the actual tablet to one with an AV input (as mine turned up sans AV input) and run a reverse camera to it, and then try to hack TomTom to run on it. Be nice if I could find a way to change the boot up splash screen from a Manga cartoon girl to the Lexus logo too..... Anyway, finished pics in a couple days :)

Well a very productive afternoon - it's all in and working! No pics of the final finished article because it got too dark, so here's a couple from the install. First, the unit plug was soldered to the wiring I bought, to make a "loom" With that done, it was out to the car and the bit I was dreading - cutting into the radio plug wiring. My poor virgin Lexus - the one I've had that hasn't been messed with and was all stock (well, apart from the mirror closure kit I did the other week - so I suppose at least that popped it's cherry!). Following the pin out guide, we cut and spliced the wiring with the new nav loom, and at least did a nice tidy job of it, using heat shrink and sleeving to make it look as factory as possible Here's where the pics end. There wasn't an awful lot more to see, although I do wish I'd got some of the next bits. After the above, we wired the female 12v socket to the wiring for the original 12v socket (cig lighter) under the lower console, to provide power for the GPS tablet. For this we just tapped into the live (switched) for the cig plug, and crimped the negative to a ring terminal and used one of the bolts going to the gear shift cover. Then we had to figure out what to the with the GPS tablet itself, in regards to turning on and off. My work mate (who did all the soldering for me, cos I suck at it) resoldered the wires that broke off the PCB when I've been messing around with it (the charging wire from the battery, the positive wire from the battery (that broke while we were handling it today) and the two wires from the on/off button. We then tested it to see what was what - basically one of the switch wires was a constant live, showing about 3.5-3.7 volts, and the other showing nothing - make the connection by depressing, and holding, the button and it completes the circuit, turning it on - press and hold again and it powers it off. Problem was, we couldn't see an easy way to give the PCB a short burst of 3.7v when turning on, or again when wanting to turn off. We looked at using the motor - so that when it opened it turned the tablet on, and when it closed it turned it off, but there were two problems with this. Firstly, the motor was kicking out between 9 and 10 volts, so too much power, and secondly, the red and black wires from the motor weren't positive and negative, they're forward and reverse! We ummed a bit about connecting up both wires (forward to turn on, and reverse to turn off) and using resistors to step down the voltage, but then decided against at. as 1) that's a PITA, and 2) having both wired into the same wire on the tablet's PCB would probably short it out. Also, the power button on the tablet power button acts as a home button - so when you're in any app (such as sat nav, music app, etc) a single short press of the power button takes you back to the home screen; just like an iPhone. So, had we wired in using the motor, then pressing the tilt button would constantly be kicking the tablet back to the home screen. So...... We decided to extend the wiring from the tablet PCB power button down behind the dash to the heated seat and TRC button panel, and fitted a teeny tiny little press button. So although the tablet doesn't power on and off with ignition, it's a simple little button press, which is tucked out the way where it can't be seen or knocked, and I also retain the "home button" function too - useful for changing the backlight brightness without having to exit the sat nav app to do it in the main screen. More pics of it up and running in the daylight on Wednesday, as although I'm off this week, I'm being a hero and going back into work tomorrow to help out with the backlog! In the mean time, here's the "skeleton" in and working in the car;

Agree'd. But always make sure to view the car in the dark under or near street lights. You can see a car in the daylight and the paint looks great - view it under streetlights and you can spot a repainted panel a mile off. And it's also good to see the car when it's raining too, firstly it makes you check things you often overlook when buying dry, and also if it's raining nice and heavy, you can spot any leaks the door, sunroof and boot seals may have, and you can check to see if there's a windscreen leak.

Trouble is with that, is if it has a permanent live, I can't see how it will stop recording and turn off when ignition is switched off, as it will still be receiving 12v power. My van's 12v sockets are perm live, so I have to physically pull the cig plug out before it will turn off, because even with the key removed from the ignition, it's still receiving power so it continues to record

What did it need a permanent live for?

I highly doubt you will find a GReddy lip designed to fit a UK spec bumper, in fact I'd bet there weren't any made. So you'll have to do some trimming to fit.

I've been using one of these for the past month or so in my work van; (link just for illustration, not the seller I bought from nor the price I paid) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1080P-HD-Car-DVR-Vehicle-Dash-cam-Camera-Video-Recorder-G-sensor-HDMI-GS8000L-UK-/191013664239?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item2c794d35ef Not all singing and dancing, but gets the job done, and I'm not worried about it being on a suction cup or unsightly as it's in a work vehicle that has no interior mirror, so it's just stuck up the top of the screen and I ran the USB cable behind the headlining, down behind the A-post, and tucked it out of sight behind the dash to a 12v socket. For my IS, I'm planning on one of these - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-720P-HD-Small-Dash-Car-DVR-Camera-Video-Recorder-Register-Cam-G-Sensor-UK-/281602962267?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4190d8335b The idea being it's much smaller and more compact, and with no screen I hope to fit it behind the mirror, so that I can't see it at all. Plan with that is to run the cabling behind the headlining and A-post again, and tap the wiring into the cigarette lighter wiring, so it's on a switched live and turns on and off with ignition. I'll need a screen to plug it into to get the initial set up (angle, menu options, etc) but hopefully after that I won't need to view it or do anything other than leave it to do it's thing. If I need to review footage from it, it should be as simple as popping out the card, plugging it into my computer and watching the video file(s). If it's good, then I might install one in the rear screen too, but I'll need to figure out what wiring I can tap into down that end of the car, for a switched live...

http://m.ebay.ie/itm/281123390035?nav=SEARCH

Just to add, I've not changed the standard stereo in my car, so I personally have not fitted or used the amp bypass cable. So please research before purchase just to be sure you're getting the right one. Also, look into the "yellow wire modification" - there's something you have to do with the bypass cable to stop it leaving a permanent live to the clock, or something like that, that results in battery drain. As I haven't done it I can't give you the complete answers, only point you in the right direction. However, I've read enough to know that it's far easier, quicker and simpler to use the bypass cable than it is to chop up the wiring, and it's also fully reversible - which is never a bad thing

You will have to consider a pre-owned kit, as no one makes a supercharger kit for the IS anymore. Expect to pay around £2000+ for a second/third/fourth hand TTE kit, but make sure you get one with EVERYTHING you need, as separate parts are even more hard to come by than a complete kit, which in itself isn't easy to find. Power increase is around 50/60bhp.

You certainly could. But expect it to cost a lot, and not be worth it. You're talking about a 2litre naturally aspirated engine. So whilst you might up performance by say 25 or 30bhp, possibly 40, and maybe even get a better fuel map for better MPG, is that really worth the time, money and effort involved in getting that in, up and running, and trying to get it to control all the other aspects of the car? Nearly everything on the IS is ECU controlled; from the clocks to the mirrors and windows, lights and seats. So why bother? Turbo it, and enjoy the same car as before, with around a 90-100 (or more) bhp upgrade, and everything working as it should.

You can remap an IS200 to do just about anything you want. However, as soon as you start it up and drive it, the new map will be erased and the old parameters will reinstated. It's a self learning ECU, and you can't override it to increase power or better mpg. The ECU also limits torque to what Lexus wanted you to have. Your options are; 1) live with it. As someone said, no one buys an IS for power or MPG. You buy it for comfort, fun, great handling, and build quality. 2) change the engine. Common swaps are 1JZ or 2JZ engines, great power can be had from both with not a lot of tinkering (a 2JZ-GTE is good for about 600bhp on stock internals and single, large, turbo conversion. 1JZ's have seen over 800hp with work) 3) Sell it an buy an IS300. N/A 2JZ engine makes about 60hp more than the IS200 as standard. 4) Boost it. A supercharger kit will give about 50-60hp gain, more if you fit a larger pulley wheel. Expect to pay £2k+ for a genuine TTE kit, but you'll be lucky to find a complete one, as they are very thin on the ground. You can build one up from parts, and you'll need to find someone to lend you their mounting cradle for you to have CAD copied (there is a guy on the FB group that has a jig made up, and rents it out for people that have cradles made), which will cost you a lot less, but involves more work finding and sourcing parts. Route 2 is turbocharging. A complete kit (available on the FB group or eBay) is just over £2k (£2100 I think) supplied only, or just under £2500 supplied and fitted. Standard 1G-FE engine can take up to 13psi on stock internals, which is about 280bhp. These kits are usually fitted and set up to make between 6 and 9 psi, so expect between 225 and 240 ish. If it was me, I'd be looking at running it at 10psi, and hoping for circa 245bhp. Doesn't need a new management system or live mapping, just an FCD will do the job of "hiding" the boost from the engine and letting the ECU do it's job.

Do you have a pic of said lip(s) ?

The 200 doesn't have a MAF sensor. It has a MAP sensor, which is behind the throttle butterfly, iirc.....