1999 lexus is200 V8 turbo (508BHP!!!!) For sale!!

So sadly time has not been on my side. What with adulting over the weekend and being stupid busy at work time has been scarce. That's not to say I've not been trying. 

My boss is on holiday this week. A few years back when we weren't as stupid busy that meant that when my work was done, I could do what I wanted.. so I painted the legendary bogy at work while I was free (actually popped up as a FB memory today from 4 years ago)...






Where as today. I've been IT department, dispatch department, engineer, and sales rep that's before I've started doing what I'm meant to be doing. Not to mention I've been here since 7 when I don't start til 8!! So anyways. What's been happening..

Over the winter I'm wanting a rear subframe to rebuild and polybush and clean boot floor up while it's out. I also want a front subframe to notch to help clear the exhaust... Now the going rate for a pair of bare subframes is around 50/70 quid. I messaged a kid a few week back breaking one who replied with £300 for the pair. I laughed at him. So he came back with £150! Laughed a bit more. Told him not for me thanks and left it at that.. fast forwards to Friday afternoon gets a message saying there in his way and I can have the pair for £70.. getting closer agreed on £60 quid..

Nipped to fetch them Saturday morning with the kids, he was only localish too. Got there and there complete!! Diff, shafts, hubs, shocks, springs discs, rack the lot! Very very very quickly loaded them in the van and left.




Once I'd got them back had a proper look at what I'd got.. turns out theyve got vogtland-35mm springs on them (£140 new) nearly new drilled and grooved discs all round (literally surface rust, no lip at all). 4 decent callipers (with no siezed sliders) plus the rest of the stuff I can use to rebuild the subframe ready to drop in!

The rear is a bit flaky but it will blast up fine and look spot on once it's been powder coated. The front cun have a notch cut out. And swap that complete too!

For now il stick the decent front discs on mine. And be rude not to throw the lowering springs in too!

Cleaned the discs up. Theyl do




And gave the springs a wipe with an oily rag! (Detailing at its finest)




So now, I've made myself a load more work. When I had loads of work to do anyways... Perfect

So the wastegate. Got it thrown back on yesterday when I got home from work. 5 minutes spare. Best go and try it then.... And the verdict.. it boosts.

I don't know what it boosts too. There a video below of me just trying it steadily on the lane near me.. that was only at part throttle to see what was happening. After this I gave it some wide open throttle action but that's not a video for the interwebs.. all I will say is it gets very very frantic very quickly! I need a willing passenger to watch the tablet or laptop while I'm driving (or il run a boost gauge just out under the bonnet into cab so I can see what it's doing). But
it's definitely a 2 hands on the wheel job.




So fairly happy I've sorted that. Time to adress the cooling issue. Managed to get the front pulled off the car once kids were in bed last night. Getting good at taking it apart now





Then got the new cooler stat fitted.




After refitting the thermostat housing with some instant gasket I left it to cure over night and called it a day at that...





Hopefully all being well il get the shiny new rad chucked in tonight and rebleed it all again and fingers crossed it's sorted that problem..

Also got some bits lined up to sort an exhaust. Hoping to maybe possibly book a day off work next week and get it made in the day.

Anyways. That's my dinner break over. More soon.

Cheers

Also even a bashed in to clear 4" pipe is better than a 3" pipe. Most of the stuff we do at work is 5-6" off the turbo and it's better to use that with BFH clearance or even chunks chopped out to clear than it is to go smaller pipe. Overall power isn't changed much but the response with the bigger pipe is much improved. It's about volume rather than neat curves with turbo stuff.

And the 4 inch downpipe will be staying. It must be a good 2/3 foot long before k have to reduce it down to more manageable diameter

oooo good spot

It helps with bleeding the system , stops air from getting trapped behind the stat .

Not a numpty at all, its just one of those little things/features that not everyone knows of

And those of us that do, spread the knowledge on to help others out.
Different folks know different things on here, thats what makes this forum so great

Yeah this forum is a brilliant help. It's not like anywhere else I've found were you get shot down for making mistakes and everyone genuinely just wants to help (no snide comments or digs, il be first to admit when I've cocked up I don't normally need it pointing out to me  )  so bearing that in mind, il whip the stat out tonight and put it back in with the little hole at top.. 

Speaking of cock ups  ....  Attempted an hour last night, I say attempted. Didn't go to plan. Wanted to get my lovely slightly oversize thick rad back in place and refill the coolant. Except.. everything is that tight around the front end, it doesn't fit anymore  ...

It fouls on the little drop plates I made (not to worry I can trim them out with the grinder, just not at night time). It also fouls on the ally cross brace thing that runs across the front. Ideally I need to remake it in smaller box section. But for now I just need to make some clearance.. fired up the grinder in back of garage in hope it wouldnt take long. To quickly realise it was going to take an age and was really really noisy! So aborted that mission and slung it in the van to do at work today.





In an attempt to refill my brownie point stock, did a job I've been meaning to do on the Mazda daily for ages but never seem to get time (tbf building the lexus is kinda more important 


When we got it, one of the things that was a potential issue was the fact the AC didn't work. Now I barely drive it and tbh we normally get 3 warm days a year so not the end of the world. So to throw a spanner in works the UK has gone all Mediterranean on us and been red hot (this isnt going down well with kids sweating in car seats or the Mrs since it's like driving round in a greenhouse haha)

Did some digging, checked the basics and realised the electromagnetic clutch on the AC pump wasn't pulling in. Checked fuses, switch and that it had gas in (I know some don't work if the pressure is low in the system) and still dead. Confirmed it by running a wire down to clutch from battery and still dead..

Not to worry, it's only a ford engine bits won't be dear.. will they.. well as it happens, no!! (Take note Germans, still not over the Tiguan haha)

Complete new clutch delivered for less than 30 quid. Couple of circlips one bolt and a stretch belt. Easy... Well it would be if there wasn't 3000 versions of the pump/pulley combination.. and despite checking and giving the very Chinese seller all the details on eBay, the first one came wrong (and then they didn't want to take it back, after arguing they refunded 25 quid of my money and told me to keep the wrong one)..

Anyways. Finally got the right one. Got it chucked on last night (still came with wrong connector on it so chopped the old one off and soldered that on).. needless to say. The brownie point stock is now replenished haha








Anyways. Best crack on. All being well if today goes to plan at work, and the kids play ball tonight il make a bit more progress.

Cheers

Got a bit more done tonight. Some success. Some not so much.. but some is some right?   

First thing I wanted to do was plumb the iacv back into the inlet piping. I'm not convinced it wasn't loosing boost through the open filter I was running on it. And the general interweb consensus is it's fine plumbed in, so wel see.

Got another one of those little self sealing take off jobbies. 16mm to match the iacv. First off mark the spot where I wanted it to live..




Using the supplied hole punch whatsit with a lump of wood inside to bang against, crack it with the lump hammer and bobs your aunties husband










Then all reassembled with some silicone hose linking it back to the iacv. As easy as that





So because that went perfectly to plan. Obviously the next job didn't. Like not at all. Like not remotely haha. I'm hoping to book next Friday off work to make an exhaust. Things are in motion parts are arriving and I just need the ok from my boss (it should be I've grafted like a grafty thing this week while he's been on holiday)...

Now obviously I want the exhaust to fit the btcc bodykit perfectly. I'm not overly worried if I have to chop the standard bumper so it fits. Aslong as the exhaust fits the bodykit as I don't want to do it twice.

Thought "il pop new back bumper on, then when I make Exhaust I know it fits"... Yeah there was no pop about it (well maybe me knees did crawling round on concrete in shorts) the original bumper was held on with exactly 73946 fittings nuts bolts clips and swear words. Supprisingly every one came undone. However some were hidden in arches, upside down, under floor, some clips pulled off, some slid off, some broke off haha. After best part of an hour. This summed up my feelings towards it







To my surprise there were no hidden nasties (just lots of sludge and muck trapped behind it)..

"Attempted" to fit the new bumper, and we'll... Let's just say they don't care much for quality of fit on race cars it doesn't use any of the original mounts (guessing the race cars just bolted them on were they touched).. as much as that's not end of world there was no way I could hold the bumper in position and drill holes for rivnuts in anything remotely like right position... So I spat the dummy out a bit and decided it wasn't going on.. definitely going to need another pair of hands, Lou if your reading this. Your needed

Didn't stop me sitting it roughly in place for a quick pic..




Also chucked the exhaust roughly in place (yes that is an upturned baby bath acting as a stand, don't worry the kids don't use it anymore haha) and even tho it's 4 inch diameter it doesn't look over top with new deaper bumper..



Then spent quite a lot less time than it took to remove chucking the original bumper back on, I maaayyy have left a lot of the million fixings off haha. as it happens the cutout for the exhaust is in pretty much exactly same place as the standard one. And doesn't even really stick out away from the car much further. So if it fits the standard bumper it should fit the bodykit (may still attempt to fit it one day when a mate cough Lou cough is free)





Last little job I wanted to do was plumb in a boost gauge.. just so I can get an idea what it's boosting to.. the tablet and laptop are good. But not easy to read while I'm wrestling it along the lanes near me. It's not staying it's only temporary. But least I can see it easy enough (yes it's gaffer taped to the heater controls, that are tie wrapped to the car, fixed is fixed isn't it) ..

All being well if I get done in time tomorrow il give it a test drive before I pick kids up from nursery. Fingers crossed its running cooler, even more fingers crossed its making a manageable amount of boost and I can get it back to john for him to turn the wick up some more.

That's all for today's random waffle haha.

Cheers

So had a quiet 5 minutes at work this morning waiting for some parts so I could crack on.. so decided to try an idea I'd come up with to resolve the oval pipe under the subframe situation..

Now I know you "can" buy it. But it's not cheap and by time you've added the transition from round to oval pieces its very not cheap. And I'm very not good at spending so came up with plan b.

A few pages back it was mentioned you can make it slitting smaller diameter tube then infill the piece with flat plate. But that would take an age and I'm impatient.wad also mentioned it can be squashed in vice but it doesn't work very well and distorts.. I can confirm it does.

What happens if you use a special one off tool fabricated in house for this purpose.. in other words a forklift a forklift jack a lump of sleeper and the floor. Well. This happens. Starting with this diameter.. (4.5 inch)




Apply a small amount of pressure usin above mentioned, one off, oval exhaust spress....





This is the outcome.. ignore the slightly bent bit on the r/h side, I trapped it on end of the jack haha



That's 4.5 inch down to 3, starting with the 4 inch pipe from the downpipe I "should" be able to get down to 2.5 ish which will give me a lot more clearance!!

Plus becuase I can "press" (squash) any bit of the tube I like. I don't need to do the ends so can leave them round for the transitions back into normal pipe and just flatten the bit under subframe!!


I'd call that a minor win. Now if Rest of my parts for work fancy putting an appearance in. I could actually get finished and go home for a test drive haha.

More later hopefully..

Cheers