LowriderUK

My LS400 doesn't handle like a boat though. ;)

I wouldn't do that, you'll never pass another MOT. The new MOT regs state any car that came from the factory with a cat must have it fitted at the point of testing, or it's a fail. I believe this is subjective to emission requirements. My celsior pre-dates these requirements and is not required to have the cats fitted. Just going off the advice of a local garage :) I'm afraid not, it bear no relevance to type of emissions testing. Excerpt from the new Legislation 8.2.1.1 Exhaust Emissions Control Equipment - Visual Inspection - Reason for Failure a) Emission Control Equipment fitted by the manufacturer absent, modified or obviously defective. If it was fitted by the manufacturer, and it's no longer there, you'll fail the MOT.

I wouldn't do that, you'll never pass another MOT. The new MOT regs state any car that came from the factory with a cat must have it fitted at the point of testing, or it's a fail.

Mine, after I chopped the rear resonator boxes off. http://youtu.be/wCdQPOHCrw8 The cut pipes have since had extensions welded on to take them to the rear bumper, finished with quad 3" round tips.

How on earth did you get a 1992 Celsior registered on a '53 plate? I thought imports were either plated according to original build year, of that couldn't be proved, ended up on a Q?

or a MOT every 2 years as in france ? The consultation for a 2-Year MOT in the UK is already long underway.

If your car is lower at the rear, how would putting a lower profile tyre on the rear of the car help? You'd make the rear even lower! Series 50 profile tyres will be far too big for a 19" wheel to maintain the rolling radius against the original specification. You could try a 45 profile on the rear, and a 40 profile on the front, but I still think the car will look odd with 19" wheels and stock suspension. Sorry, what I meant was 50 on the rear and 45 on the front!! lol I know what you mean. Which springs will suit the ls? I will probably lower the front a little more than the back. Will lowering my car affect the ride? I don't really want to loose the comfortable ride. Worst case I will have to sell the 19s and go for maybe the 18s off an ls430 2004 type. Like the silver one above :) The first of my two pics are the Tanabe springs, which are now surplus to my requirements. I only did about 1000 miles on them before buying the coilovers. The car still cleared speedbumps easily, and the ride was only marginally firmer than stock Lexus springs.

You're right, it is 'slammed' but certainly not 'crippled', as it's still clears all but the most savage of speedbumps. There's no such thing as 'too low' in visual terms, only in practical terms. That's where adjustable air suspension comes in, probably my next port of call.

If your car is lower at the rear, how would putting a lower profile tyre on the rear of the car help? You'd make the rear even lower! Series 50 profile tyres will be far too big for a 19" wheel to maintain the rolling radius against the original specification. You could try a 45 profile on the rear, and a 40 profile on the front, but I still think the car will look odd with 19" wheels and stock suspension.

What is the width of of the wheels? I'm currently running 8.5*19" ET20 on the front, with 205/40R19, and 9.5*19" ET35 on the rear with 225/40R19. If you are planning on running 19" wheels with low profile tyres on a standard suspension car, it will look awful, you'll have massive arch gaps that will give the appearance of a 4x4. This was with Tanabe lowering springs, with a 2" drop at the front and 3" at the back. This is on coilovers, another inch at the front and rear drop.

This how mine sat, with 19" wheels, with the Tanabes on. The ride is a little firmer than Lexus waft, but not uncomfortably.

As an alternative, I've got a set of slightly used Tanabe lowering springs you can have for £80. Only done around 1000 miles on a car before switching out to coilovers. As long as you don't have problems with seized bolts, you could have all four done in a morning. Trickiest part is manoevering around behind the seat back to get to the rear top mounts.

Or, probably more cost effective, simply look underneath the car at the springs? Problem with springs is that they tend to break either at the very top or bottom making it difficult to spot for an untrained eye. Does make me wonder how all 4 have failed at the same time and whether the previous owner was aware of the defects when selling. Are there roadhumps around where you live? Having said that I have to pass over 10 of them to get off and back to my home on the estate but have never exceeded walking pace going over them and never had a broken spring ( still on the originals). Driving style will obviously have an effect. Both of the front springs had broken on my Mk4 when I bought it, both of which had fractured approx halfway along the spring.

Or, probably more cost effective, simply look underneath the car at the springs?

Would it be the same for a Mk3 though? There's a marked difference between the way a UCF10 and UCF20 go together in a lot of areas? You can always e-mail me the PDF file?

Does anyone know the procedure, or at least where all of the bolt are located, for removing the N/S front wing on a Mk3 LS400? Many thanks.

The spare wheel does not have to come into the MOT. There is no legal requirement to have a spare wheel. Mike Mike, no-one is saying that the spare wheel is tested. Just commenting that swapping a 'good' spare onto the corner where the 'advised' tyre is would remove the advisory.

My car history so far... Morris Ital (1981) Datsun Cherry (1982) Vauxhall Cavalier (1980) Vauxhall Cavalier (1979) Datsun Sunny (1983) Datsun Sunny (1982) Lada 125P (1985) Austin Allegro (1977) Austin Allegro (1982) Ford Sierra (1985) Ford Fiesta (1985) Volkswagen Jetta (1983) Audi 80 (1983) Volkswagen Jetta (1984) Ford Granada (1983) Fiat Yugo (1987) Ford Fiesta (1984) Ford Escort (1984) Opel Ascona (1983) Opel Manta (1985) Opel Manta (1988) Fiat Yugo (1987) Fiat Yugo (1990) Ford Granada (1981) Ford Granada (1981) Opel Ascona (1981) Toyota Crown (1981) Ford Granada (1984) Ford Sierra (1988) Lada 1300 (1980) Ford Escort (1985) Vauxhall Cavalier (1985) Toyota Celica Supra (1985) Nissan Laurel (1988) Renault 5 (1988) Volkswagen Jetta (1983) Volkswagen Golf GTI (1988) Audi 80 (1992) Audi A8 (1995) Buick Roadmaster (1992) Fiat Yugo (1992) Nissan Micra (1988) Lexus GS300 (1998) Daihatsu Cuore (1999) Volkswagen Polo (1988) Daihatsu Cuore (2000) - Current Nissan Laurel (1988) Honda Civic (1992) Nissan Bluebird (1988) Volkswagen Jetta (1982) Oldsmobile Cutlass (1985) Volkswagen Transporter (1993) - Current Oldsmobile Cutlass (1979) - Current Lexus LS400 (1995) - Current Fiat Yugo 45A (1988) - Current

Up north or down south? And where's NE Surrey? Er, Surrey, the North East corner of it? I'm actually near Brooklands, near Woking.

NE Surrey here, I'd happily come to a meet.

get the current owner to tax it first, then theres no issues at all Can't do that now if the car is off the road without insurance. The new Law states a car must be taxed with insurance, or SORNed without insurance at any one time. You now cannot take a car off the road and cancel insurance, without cashing in the remaining tax and placing it on SORN.

The 'How Many Left' website was derived by a friend of mine, although the data from the DVLA is shockingly inaccurate. Valuations of import cars is notoriously difficult, and won't take into account if your particular model is not widely available in the UK.

Looking at that front end, it appears the engine has been taken out, as I don't remember ever seeing it that high before.

Picked up the Meister-R coilovers from ACLex last weekend, and fitted them on Sunday. Let the suspension settle for a week, and now adjusted up to my preferred ride height. There is LOADS of adjustment left in these. The front platform haven't even been moved from the highest setting, the the lower mounts are only about 50% of the way down. The rears have the inserts all the way in, and there's still 50 turns of adjustment left in the platforms.

That rule works on the registration year, not the build year. The car has a registration year of 2000, therefore you can display any numberplate upto and including a W 'reg' legally.