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

So you know when a day is going to be one of those days... Well yeah it's been one of them. Mrs is badly with infected tonsilitis again to the point she went to walk in centre at 8 this morning, who admitted her to hospital, to then transfer her from Rotherham to Doncaster hospital to see the ENT specialist.. she suffers with bad tonsilitis atleast 3 or 4 times a year. Last time was only Christmas and this time last year she was in hospital again with it as her throat was closing up! But obviously since there's no other illness other than Rona the doctors palmed her off when she phoned yesterday and said to call back in 48 hours.. (spotting a theme here aren't we)...w**ke*s!

Sorting childcare and what not meant I was late for work and had to finish early. I'm also on daddy day care duty by the look of it combined with having to rip floor up in kitchen ready for new stair case next week. So yeah. Ideal.. anyways. Rant over.

Works been quiet so I did get to play with the car for an hour while waiting for a wagon.. so no time like the present. Clutch time!

Took it apart on the bench to get it ready to fit. It's a properly lovely lump of metal. There not exactly cheap. But it's not exactly off the shelf and it should handle everything I ever throw at it! It's that cold in the workshop that slightly wet look patch on the front was actually ice   you definitely have to work hard to stay warm in here haha.










I also needed a clutch tool, and since there's 2 discs to go through and the box is a bit of a pig to get in I wanted to be sure it was lined up bang perfect (I've always eyed them up before now). The box is really heavy to get in on my shoulder on my own. And the pits far from ideal for working in (it's infinitely better than doing it on my back so I'm grateful for that)...

So enter £10 broken gearbox with no bellhousing....



Introduce it to the angry grinder



And voilà! One custom made. Perfect fit clutch tool I know will line the splines up perfectly on both plates



And since I'm fundamentally a child and thenhe flex plate should never ever have to come off again (unless I grenade an engine). I left myself a note on the back should make me laugh if I ever have to take it off again. Or a future owner should it ever change hands



Got the spacer on first (factory fit behind the flex plate) then the flex plate (used for the starter) then the back plate of the clutch.. followed by the pile of plates, steel and cover.









I then did exactly what I didn't mean to do and punched myself square in face pulling the clutch tool out genuinely thought I'd broke my nose and many swear words came out.. still, least there lined up nicely haha. Almost seems a shame it's hidden and shouldn't be seen again any time soon!

Slipped the new release bearing into place the fit is absolutely perfection on the fork. And looks like it should work.. blob of grease on the ball pivot of the clutch fork since it doesn't look like it's seen any in 20 years. And it's ready to go in.



Running out of excuses (and time). Got the box down into pit, then with a heave ho and a few choice words... It was in place! Bolted up to the adaptor plate and then held in place with the gearbox mount! Nothing can be that far off or it wouldn't fit! Happy days indeed! Got the slave mounted back up (it's been left dangling on the hose to save having to rebleed it) and underneath was done for today!




Had a quick sit in it to see what the pedal is like. I was expecting it to be heavier. CG warned me it would be heavier. But Tbh it's not an Aygo clutch pedal, but it doesn't feel horrendous.. after I'd pumped if about 20 times just to see, it was getting a bit tiresome so might not be much fun in traffic. But it's not been built for that has it. And let's be honest I'm a "full size" human with size 12 feet. If I think it's heavy I probably just need to man up haha. Suppose wel see what it's actually like when it's running if it's like an on off switch or not!

With that had some more real work to do, and then like I say had to finish early for kids.

Depending how my day goes tomorrow I may get an hour on it. Or based on my current run of luck, maybe not. All really depends if they let Mrs out of hospital and if she needs fetching/owt taking... Still I feel like I've broke it's back on this stage of the rebuild (is it even a rebuild if it was never finished in first place haha)

Cheers

You get used to it and quickly build up muscles in the left leg

Hope Mrs Mat88 gets better soon

Mrs BC has had occasional pains for several years - each time the doctors would say well it seems like appendicitis but it's not bad enough to remove it - got dramatically worse band in the middle of lockdown #1 and I ended up rushing her into hospital - 2 days later her appendix got removed Surgeon said they caught it just in time before it burst........

I'm a plant engineer so I've got legs like tree trunks from doing squats in engine bays with a truck gearbox in my arms anyways haha. Think that's half the reason I didn't fit the other seats (and nothing to do with my beer and pizza consumption) haha.

And cheers.. they drained an abscess behind her tonsils at 1 this morning. And she says she's feeling better this morning... They also finally said they will take her tonsils out in next two month. So hopefully that should be end of these issues! I know all about burst appendix. Mine burst when I was a kid and I was in a very very bad way.

Cheers

My sympathies to your missus. Full on tonsillitis is proper nasty.

They don't take tonsils out much these days, especially in adults. It's a brutal operation, lots of pain and blood.

In my teens, 20s and early 30s I used get tonsillitus 2 or 3 times a year. One usually being the full works with an abscess (quinsey). I'd been to see various consultants about it who'd always shied away from the op (you really won't like it!) and at the time of this tale was a few weeks short of another appointment to discuss the matter again.

I always found it a struggle getting antibiotics out of the GPs, with one in particular being very mean with them. Found myself in his office one day for the second time in 3 days, telling him I had a quinsey. Don't be daft he said, people don't get quinseys these days, we have antibiotics now, yeah, I croaked, looking him straight in the eye, but the antibiotics have to be in the patient to work....... He squirmed a bit as he'd refused my previous request and wrote me a prescription.

When I got home my wife (infection control and antibiotics pharmacist at the local hospital at the time) sneered at his choice and dosage and ordered me to double the dose, warning me they probably wouldn't work anyway. They didn't.

Long story short, I went back a couple of days later, really quite sick by then and got some others. I had instructions on what to specify, but didn't get them as our man reckoned he knew better. They didn't work either. Couple of days later I was basically bed-ridden and ready to die. The Missus rang the GP and they had a frank exchange of views. He said send him down again and I'll do what you ask to which her response was, you've seem him twice already and if you don't just write a prescription I'm taking him to A & E.

I got what she wanted. Metronidazole, for anaerobic infections, at bunker-busting dosage. It's nasty stuff, but it did the trick. Two days later I was on the mend, a hollowed out shell, but no longer at deaths door.

I was still a bit wasted when I saw the consultant a few weeks later, but when I'd recounted my story and he'd had a poke around "ground zero", he suggested that my recent experience and what he considered rather extreme treatment (!) might actually have done the trick. He did also say that I did ever get it again I should get back to him and he would do the op (which I still wouldn't enjoy!).

I'm 53 now and never had it again. There had obviously been a deep-seated infection site for years that had flared up whenever my resistance was low, but the heavy duty stuff had sorted it.

As for the smack in the teeth from pulling too hard on something that's stuck.... Yeah, also have that T-shirt (maybe a few of them) and I always very disappointed with myself when I do it "again". Slow learner I guess.

Now you've sorted the clutch you are back to the fundamental problem....... not enough stick between back tyres and road.........

Nick

I’m sure he did, but being a Yorkshireman* that was £1.36 more expensive

And hope the wife gets well soon





*I think he’s a Yorkshireman, for the purpose of this joke can we just assume so, then work to the standard stereotypes...... I’ll just sit here and sip my shandy giggling at my own joke etc

Well I managed to get some more of the car done yesterday. But didn't have a minute spare to update this.. good news is Mrs is out or hospital and will be having tonsils out in next 2 month.. bad news is she's still not feeling great and is laid up in bed feeling sorry for herself (unsurprisingly) and I've got kids to entertain and try and get 20sqm of tiled floor up this weekend, before new stair case comes next week.. if they were a bit older I'd get em employed for a bit of child labour anyways onto the lexarse.

First things first I needed to get the prop in, the pedal felt like it worked but for all I knew it wasn't actually disengaging the clutch and all my work may have been in vain (plus I took a few of the very important measurements and I'm not always a precision kinda guy) haha. Well I needn't have worried, stuck the car in gear, got my boss to press clutch while I rotated the prop. And sure enough it engages and disengaged perfectly.. happy days!




With that in could get the box filled up with 1.8 litres of redlines finest. There not the easiest box to fill in world. Ideally you need two people or a giant syringe or atleast one of them squeezy bottles. I didn't have that. But I did have a big length of hose, a funnel and some bailing twine... Is it even a homebuilt car if you don't use bailing twine on atleast one job haha







Quick oil change to make sure any crud that may have made its way inside when I did the rear main seal (I'd got the oil spare and the last filter I had, seemed daft not to). My phone also got another dunk in the oil tray so the pics have gone a bit "blurry". One day il learn to stop putting it in my top overall pocket haha




Got all the centre console back in and the gear stick and surround in. And loosely chucked the exhaust back on so it could be started. Reconnected the battery and say a little prayer.. needn't have worried, pump primed and fired straight up. Been sat well over a month now and other than fact it doesn't idle while stone cold (literally have to keep revs up to 1200/1400 for ten seconds or so) sounded just as amazing as it did before!

Since it's been a while thought I'd do a quick little video so we can all be reminded of the amazing noises it makes... Unfortunately I think the last swim in the oil tray has killed the microphone in my phone too



Yep. Sounds good doesn't it haha.

Managed to chuck my new back seats in after a thorough scrub and it's actually starting to resemble a car for the first time in a long time..




I've also been told the bodykit is ready, but I won't be able to collect it til Monday now with everything going off.. I may get some pics sent to me later tho so if I do il try and pop a little teaser up.

Kit on next week, and give the wheels a ghetto refurb in black until I can afford a full set of new sticky tyres and a professional refurb and I think for now it will be
"done"... Well til I turn the boost up and take it back for mapping, or think of summat else I want to do... Or until my mate sends me stupid ideas like this... Perhaps a job for next winter making it 4wd




Anyways. Best crack on.

Cheers

Yeah, I’m living proof that antibiotics can permanently fix the problem. Pity it took 20 years to get the right drug/dosage though.

Car sounds like an angry god gargling rocks...... maybe it’s the oily microphone....

Nick

Funny that I used to suffer with very mild tonsilitis (the type you can manage with a few strepsils and paracetamol) along with various other "bugs"... When I got blood poisoning 18 month ago or whatever it was and ended up in hospital for a bit. They pumped me full of every antibiotic under the sun in doses big enough to fix a whale including completley changing what I was on mid way through the stay and doubling the dose..

Since then I've not had so much as a tickle in my throat.. wonder if it did the same and killed whatever was there off?

Maybe I'm just hardier now 🤣🤣