ubersonic

9 minutes ago, GMB said:

This reminds me of the situation where you buy a used car and the insurance ask about modifications and you answer None.

• Insurance: Any mods?
• Customer: Nope
• Insurance: But you said it was imported, don't they need modifications to be road legal?
• Customer: You charge for those!?!
• Insurance: *laughs in banker*

44 minutes ago, jeffrosie6 said:

Facelift dash, but not converting to MPH 😕

Ahh sorry, I was just quoting the manual, maybe they just didn't add that feature to the JDM cars 😞

On 3/6/2024 at 9:44 PM, jeffrosie6 said:

Read about that in your thread. If I had the std type speedo, I probably would have gone that route. But as I already have the facelift speedo, was looking for a solution. 

Need to see if a speedo converter in the speed signal wire will work. Not too bothered as I'm using a HUD in mph.

Wait, you have the facelift digital speedo?

Press the button that switches between trip/odo so it shows the odometer not the trip count, then hold it down until the speedo switches between KPH/MPH

Simples 🙂

NB: This will also switch the units used by the multifunction display (I.E range in miles not km) but I figure you want that too.

*laughs in ISF*

(The Euro ISFs don't have TPMS, it was only mandatory on American cars back then as manufacturers still had faith in Euro/Jap drivers to check our tyres were up before driving the car).

8 hours ago, B1RMA said:

I guess it would depend on how much it weighs

Well the standard LBX is 1280KG for the FWD version and 1415KG for the AWD version, and that has a load of batteries weighing it down.  So even though the sporty one will have a slightly heavier engine and a sporty body kit it should come in under those numbers whichever powertrain Lexus use.

Personally I would prefer to see it electric or V8, putting such a weedy engine in a Lexus seems a bit weird, but from a reliability point of view it seems flat out wrong.

I would hope they just make it an F-Sport like they did with the IS500, as like with the 500 it would probably damage the F badge.

20 hours ago, steve2006 said:

Funny quirk with importing a car from Japan.

If you go and live there for at least a year, buy a car there and own it for at least six months then return to the UK with it you don’t have to pay any import duty and VAT.

So what you need is a mate who is going to work there for a year, get him or her to buy a nice ISF, bring it back with them and then sell it to you 😀

While a cool idea I can see two practical flaws (Ignoring the downsides of a JDM ISF as the upsides pretty much cancel each other out) at least under my understanding of the law.

Firstly, if he brought it back and then sold it to you at market value, that would exceed his personal tax allowance for the year, so he (meaning you) would need to pay tax on the remainder of the value (and he would also have the inconvenience of having zero tax allowance for the rest of the year.

If he sold it to you for considerably less than market value, then ISF's aren't going to go down in value so if you ever sold it on you would be on the hook for tax (or a considerable hit to your tax allowance) on the apparent profit made.

I could be understanding it wrong, and obviously the point was made more for comedy than an actual scheme suggestion 😛

1 hour ago, RichGS11 said:

Good price? Any damage caused to the injectors?

Great price, well in contrast to what I was expecting it to cost.  £1564 and that included replacing the radiator which needed doing anyway, but obviously price may vary from car to car and whatever crops up.  As far as injectors go I didn't get charged for one and the cars running great so I assume all good 🙂

As per recommendations I took the car (well, the RAC took the car) to Westfield Motors for the work.  Excellent service, would definitely recommend to anyone else who needs the VP resealed.  Very happy.

On 12/7/2023 at 11:03 PM, Grey One said:

This is what I have in my ISF: https://www.modinjapan.com/toms-racing-japan-air-cleaner-super-ram-ii-drop-in-air-filter-for-lexus-is-f-rc-f-and-gs-f-17801-tsr35-tms-17801-tsr35.html

Same, really easy to clean, sounds better than the OEM filter, and maybe makes an extra HP or two, all good

On 12/2/2023 at 1:59 PM, EP80 said:

Should your ISF have been an original UK supplied car with the black stereo surround

The 08's have grey stereo/dash, the ISF made the switch to black in 2009 as part of the overall 2IS facelift.

On 10/27/2023 at 11:33 PM, Jgtcracer said:

All, so ended up getting Michelin Pilot Sport 5 tyres from Camskill.

Pilot Sport 5 or Pilot Sport S 5? They're two different tyres.

The Pilot Sport S 5 is the successor to the Pilot Sport 4 S (which was the successor to the Pilot Super Sport).

The Pilot Sport 5 is the replacement to the Pilot Sport 4, which replaced the Pilot Sport 3, etc.   

Samiboost on YouTube uses that radiator, good reports if I recall.

On 10/9/2023 at 11:32 AM, ISF855 said:

Has regular Lexus service history from birth to 2023 with an approx 4 year gap with no service history available. This seems to be because they have no paperwork or record of work done besides where it's happened at Lexus. Thus it comes across as having a 4 year gap with no services. 

What's most likely happened is that the entire service history has been lost, and Lexus were only able to duplicate the paperwork and stamp a new book for the work done on the car by Lexus dealers.

Obviously that doesn't help with the issue, but it does explain it.

Are you planning on selling the HKS coils?

@northerndan

4 hours ago, NothernDan said:

Got a new car lined up and am selling all the stuff that isn't bonded on (or too much of a pain in the azzle to remove) on eBay. Listings start at 7:30 tonight.

Do you have a link to your listings page?

Thanks for the info guys, is this the right place yeah? https://www.westfieldmotors.co.uk/

Hey all,

Got home yesterday to discover coolant dripping from under the car.  Quick inspection today with a borescope reveals it's coming from the valley plate seal, yay.

I know some people in the UK have had this repair done so I was wondering if anyone could tell me what it cost you? And was it done by Lexus or a specialist?

Thanks in advance.

Nice car, looks a beauty 🙂

I've just ordered a set of ISF wiper/washer stalks from Japan, hopefully thye arrive first 😛

The biggest problem with dropping to 18" (aside from most wheels that look good on an ISF looking better in 19") is that unless you're okay with your tyre diameter/circumference (and thus your speedo/VDIM) being a bit out of whack then you have to fit 255/40/18 and 225/45/18 which means tyre choice is simply inferior to what you can get in 19".

11 hours ago, GMB said:

Looks really nice at first glance, but a bit of a high mileage.

That's average/regular mileage for a Lexus knocking on 16 years of age.

This is a high mileage ISF:

NB: That's obviously a joke, high mileage for an ISF is 200k+ that one is a well used outlier.

10 hours ago, GMB said:

Looks really nice at first glance, but a bit of a high mileage. The bit that raises my eyebrows is in the picture of the service history where it seems that the same pen and writing style are shown on the service record over different locations and years????

This isn't actually as sus as it first appears, what has probably happened here, is that the owner has forgotten to take the service book with him when getting the car serviced, for multiple years, then finally remembered it and asked the dealership to back stamp all the missing services.

Lexus Tunbridge Wells have then filled in and stamped all the ones they did, but only filled in the one Lexus Cheltenham did as they don't have their stamp.

Installed "F" puddle lights in my doors 🙂

May have been me, well I was there in a silver ISF at least.

On 7/26/2023 at 3:48 PM, Jgtcracer said:

Is that how much it costs for used manifolds??

That suddenly makes buying a set of aftermarket ones much more appealing!

The factory manifolds each have a cat in them so the scrap value will be high hence driving up the used price, plus the fact they're from a rare car and new OEM set is like £3k so makes sense the used values hold.

On 7/20/2023 at 12:27 PM, Akite said:

However before i do i wanted to know if this will cause me any issues or if you had any other suggestions?

I want to be able to pass mot and want the car to last as long as possible.

Something worth keeping in mind, is that the cost of buying a set of RCF/GSF manifolds from Lexus is going to exceed the cost of buying a set of stainless ISF performance manifolds form the USA, and shipping them, and paying import taxes.

It's worth thinking about as RCF/GSF manifolds won't last as long, won't add any power, and won't add to the vehicles resale value.

To be clear I'm referring to the catless versions (as the ISF can still pass MOT with just the rear cats, it was heavily over catted form factory to meet JDM emissions) but there are catted versions available too.