YN57OCK

On 10/4/2022 at 7:53 AM, YN57OCK said:

Reviving this thread as it's relevant. We had our cats taken from an LS600hL recently. You could actually hear the V8 which was nice, although the gearbox let's down the sporty sounds!  Lexus say they haven't heard of this car being targeted before it's usually the CT. Beware it's a growing issue. Be careful out there! Also £1800 plus vat plus gaskets for OEM replacement....we went down the sports cat route! 

Same thing has happened again. This time whilst we were out and about at the cinema. Started the car again to hear the V8….buggers…..Think it’s time to sell and unfortunately another reminder as to why people can’t have nice things anymore. 
 

Reviving this thread as it's relevant. We had our cats taken from an LS600hL recently. You could actually hear the V8 which was nice, although the gearbox let's down the sporty sounds!  Lexus say they haven't heard of this car being targeted before it's usually the CT. Beware it's a growing issue. Be careful out there! Also £1800 plus vat plus gaskets for OEM replacement....we went down the sports cat route! 

Some pics from the event in 2019.

Hi Fellow F'ers,

Sportscars in the Park (linked) is back. Who else is thinking of attending? 752 cars currently registered! 🙂

Ill be bringing the F. Is anyone else from the OC joining? 

Would be good to meet up.

Best,

Ian

12 hours ago, Northern isf said:

Nice work sounds exactly like mine now. 

Wayne, do you have the stock or the RR tuned Intake fitted? Any preferences?

On 8/31/2021 at 1:49 AM, ubersonic said:

It sounds epic.

Does it have cats in the manifolds, or in the centre section? or both like stock?

Only one set of magnaflow sports cats currently fitted, but you can have two. They are not fitted in the absolute stock locations, but pretty close and this is with all four sensors fitted. Note two sensors need a small extension and the car has also had the RR racing remap file.

Oddly, the whining noise only happens on rapid acceleration - when the wife is in the passenger or rear seats of the car.😋

It's certainly worth checking with the dealer as mentioned earlier. Good luck and let us know what it was.

13 hours ago, ubersonic said:

Great, now I need to change my underwear.

Is this new manifold with sports cats fitted or catless? What's the rest of your system like do you still have the secondary cats?  This sounds amazing.

And what nav screen is that? O.O

That is with a sports cat, new manifold and custom(valved) exhaust from STG to make it quieter......still wakes the neighbors on a cold start! It's loud until it goes in gear! 

I still need to do a review on that system but its a 'PX3' Tesla style screen. It was easy to install but it has been a pain to get configured properly as my Chinese is minimal. Google lens, translate function helped! 

On 8/24/2021 at 1:48 AM, YN57OCK said:

Dear all, as you have probably guessed this has taken considerably longer than expected but I'm pleased to say I have been reunited with the car and my word what an improvement. Unfortunately it needs to go back when Shane gets more time to work on it (October/November) and after the little lambda sensor issue, it's sounding and smelling much healthier.

Vids to follow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry chaps I PMed the videos instead! 

AFS light is due to my incompetence and the airbag light is temporary and not related to the install.. apologies for the sound quality. If anyone is near Greater Manchester, in the coming period you are welcome to swing by or we could do with a northern F meet up!

Dear all, as you have probably guessed this has taken considerably longer than expected but I'm pleased to say I have been reunited with the car and my word what an improvement. Unfortunately it needs to go back when Shane gets more time to work on it (October/November) and after the little lambda sensor issue, it's sounding and smelling much healthier.

Vids to follow.

I'll DM you Vaynah

Not sure if it helps but I was experiencing a similar issue (perished seals comming away on the 600). Took mine to the local dealer and was very surprised when they said they could just replace the glass and seal. If I recall correctly was just over £500 to replace, prior to lexus owners club discount! It's so much quieter since and a much newer and thicker seal is in place. Happy to take a snap of the part number used if it helps.

To close the loop on this one, it sold yesterday for just under £22K + fees etc. 

4 hours ago, Twellsie said:

Not a hoo-ha, but as someone who buys items like this in a professional capacity everyday (and ex-fabricator), i think they are expensive and that other suppliers should at least be considered

Of course, it's a fair point. Does anyone have the time or can make the time to shop around and add their findings here? 

Worth the effort if some cash can be saved for a good quality, durable and well specified performance product.

Once the test results are in and paid for, I'll share progress. 

On 4/10/2021 at 1:46 PM, Twellsie said:

i am quite surprised at the price if i am honest, i thought it would have been a lot closer to the price of PPE

Hi Rich,

It is a fair point. I can also see his side of the coin though, the more interest he can confirm with a deposit for a higher unit run, the lower the overall cost and savings for the owners group. For example seven members initially declared an interest. What happens if STG only get one or two deposits? The same overheads would be needed but the production run would be much lower than compared to seven or 10 units which increases his cost per unit.

If we consider another perspective and say that he should produce 15 units at his cost because as at some point they will be required, he will need to find or rent space to stock and store them as well as the up front cost for the materials and his teams time to produce them, plus any this party costs until they have all been sold. This will again cost him more and take him away from what he does day to day. undertaking this for a niche vehicle in the UK, that not everyone will want to modify - very few would do this. Which is likely why this hasn't happened to date.

Additionally some of the components required need to be laser cut which is a specialist job. It would be great to get these cut with my set to keep your costs lower, but some members want to see gains and evidence before biting the bullet, and if revisions are required that results in more time and money spent. 

STG typically provide a longer and in some cases lifetime guarantee on their work which is compelling and very competitive. This is one of the reasons many of us own Lexus - quality, reassurance and peace of mind!

I'm sure if he mentioned they will be £1,500-2K a unit if he could secure a higher figure, it would be more attractive proposition but managing expectations here is key. Surely its better to say it will be more and then be surprised when it is less?

Hi all,

Quick update further to my visit and discussions this week at STG. Sorry for War and Peace in advance, its all relevant I hope. 

This process has already and will continue to involve lots of the right resources, work in development time and testing/refinement to get this to where we need it to be. Lots has been spent in order to get to where we will be as a group at the end of the month.

The bonus byproduct of this will be a UK company having new expertise in performance manifold production to our UK and wider European F community.

What are the next (high level) steps?

As we all want to make an informed decision with rolling road results;

1. Rolling road sessions booked;
   1. To establish a baseline on a stock 2008 ISF with the aftermarket STG exhaust & no other mods.
2. Test fit and check calculations for the new headers to confirm the precision engineered components for future scalable batch production which in turn lowers your purchase cost.
3. Remaining rolling road sessions;
   1. To look at the gains using the same 2008 ISF with the new manifolds/headers and primary sport cats.
   2. To look at the gains using the same 2008 ISF with the new manifolds/headers no cats.
   3. Final session to look at the gains using the same 2008 ISF with performance induction including larger MAF housing and RR Racing tune.
4. High level specifications of the production run released. 

Timelines

In terms of timelines the above should all be completed by early-mid May. At this point STG should be ready for the start of a limited production run.

I want to know more

• If you are looking to purchase one or more units within the production run of headers, this will require a deposit of £400 at STG. This is fully refundable - up until the point that the units go into production. The greater the number of units that can be purchased in this batch the lower the production costs can be.
• To manage expectations, it is likely that the per unit price will be around £2-2.5K per set (volume dependent) and this has been based on the interest in this current thread. Bear in mind that this will be a limited production run using someone that is experienced in this application. More orders during this run will ensure a lower production cost, and resulting lower cost per unit. If specialist finishes are required ie. ceramic coating, this will be additional.
• Later production runs are not planned but potentially possible based on the blueprint, research, development and testing via STG.
• Fitting is optional and if required needs to be discussed with STG directly. Due to the variety of requirements specific owners may have (new cats, new exhaust etc.), the headers can be shipped to you at cost. 

Is this right for you?

• The stock manifolds are known to crack and as our mileages and age of the vehicle increase - if not required now, you may want this in the future.
• Compared to what you could get elsewhere, equivalent headers (PPE as an example) would be £1,600-£1,800 (exchange rate dependent) plus shipping and import duties @£500.
• If you have recently purchased an ISF, this along with an exhaust and tune is one of the more desired HP gains (excluding Turbos or superchargers.) especially if you want a little more poke combined with a lovely oral experience.
• You have an IS-F and money burning a hole in your wallet.
• You are thinking of buying the entire production run to sell at a markup at a later date. 

Note to the moderators:

This is not an advert for services, simply an informed guide of what is new and now available based on information provided to me and my current experience.

 To be clear, I have not, nor will I make any money or commission on this (more fool me) 😪🤧

The satisfaction of knowing this will provide value to me and fellow passionate F owners (🤢) is enough.

Thanks for reading! 🙂

On 3/23/2021 at 12:31 PM, Therickster said:

I’m in depending on price etc.

Hello gents I'm visiting STG on the 7th and will confirm timelines pricing and options after that meeting. Watch this space (.)

13 hours ago, RichGS11 said:

Any news on this gents? I have the dreaded manifold tick on start up which I'm going to check out tomorrow. I'm hoping it's from the exhaust and not the manifolds! Otherwise it's PPE time. Thanks.

Good luck with the investigation Rich and keep us posted. 

Oh. This is interesting, quite a few of us F'ers round here.

Good to know for the next car meet 😷...whenever that is!

Lovely colour, although black is my primary choice! 

On 3/16/2021 at 8:14 AM, Andy Mulcahy said:

Count me in. I would be ready to go as soon as they are ready. Equal length is preferable but good quality is paramount. A copy of an existing design would seem to be the only way of avoiding development costs and time?

4 minutes ago, YN57OCK said:

High flow sports cats would be the way to go for me, although catless is also your choice! UEL is the current thinking, although going EL is not too much of a stretch either from what we have now. 

Will keep you all posted on progress! 

On 3/16/2021 at 8:37 AM, scott-o said:

Are these likely to have sports cats in to remain legal or are these looking to be catless? Wouldnt be fussed between equal length or unequal, would rather unequal if it made packaging better and good enough to fit a sports cat in. Be nice to have an off the shelf direct replacement should the standard ones ever crack!

High flow sports cars would be the way to go for me, although catless is also your choice! UEL is the current thinking, although going EL is not too much of a stretch either from what we have now. 

Will keep you all posted on progress! 

On 2/22/2021 at 12:48 PM, Matthew1995 said:

By anychance are you dealing with STG performance? Ive gone to them for a custom set, and they say they are working on a 'off the shelf' set 

That's the one. Ps. Just had Shane do this with the exhaust! Stay tuned for an update in a couple more weeks.

7 hours ago, Mantas88 said:

Would be interested in this as well

15 hours ago, Rushingphil said:

I would be interested 👍

16 hours ago, RichGS11 said:

Yes please!

17 hours ago, Twellsie said:

 i am still interested.

Equal length would be my preference

Would buy ASAP assuming its a sensible price

 

Must haves for me  are they must be TIG welded and back purged, preferably 304 Stainless and i would like insight into the primary length length calculations taking into account VE, Cam duration, peak torque and displacement. 

Well that's five people already! Speedy responses. Thanks. Will DM you as soon as we have more info.

On 9/26/2018 at 1:17 PM, NothernDan said:

Cool, my thoughts were to retain exhaust mounted cats, high flow variety, and lose the cat in the headers with either PPE or a.n.other set of headers. Novel and Sikky seem to do them too but they are all stateside and ridiculously priced.

From what I can see, the PPE units lose the cats in the headers, straighten out a few nasty angles and come with a bung/plug for the sensors and a new set of sensors to correct for the lack of cats etc

Keen to see what a home grown set could deliver, especially if at a good price.

 

Hope everyone is doing well? Thought it would be useful to resuscitate this thread (thank you Dan and apologies for the timing) as this is something I have been exploring over the last few weeks. As you had concluded to make this work financially for all parties, we need to quantify current and possible future interest.....

• Are there buyers interested in UK made headers for the IS-F community?
• Any preference for UEL or EL? 
• Any timeframe for when you would be able to make a purchase? 
• What would be your objections for having this done in the UK? (quality of work?, unknown/undocumented gains? price? sound? etc. )

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts and concerns. DM me or reply if this is of interest. 

Sorry chaps, dropped off the radar for a while. Did anything happen here? I'm up for the group buy if it's still going?