$2000 to spend on my SC300... what should I do with it?

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PerfectFinish1

New member
I decided I no longer have a need for such a nice daily driver since I'm always flipping cars and have an extra, so I'm selling my ES300 and using most of the money to go towards school / investments. However, I'm giving myself $2000 to spend on my other car, an SC300.



Right now it's just getting finished with a 1JZGTE (2.5 twin turbo) engine swap with a nice frontmount, upgraded clutch, and a few minor mods. Right now the car should be around a 13.5 quarter mile time. The car paint is in very decent shape... but the interior could use some work as the leather is cracking pretty badly and the rest is pretty worn. Other than the engine swap, I have a full car PC with touchscreen LCD installed for music, movies, and GPS, and it will be molded into the dash to look OEM by spring. The only other mod I have is an upgraded LED climate control and gauge cluster. I have cheap but decent wheels, and am getting an exhaust and upgraded suspension for free in the spring.



So I am down to 2 choices on what to do:

Buy a used single turbo setup, which would upgrade me to about 500hp and possibly have 100-300 left to spend on some other things.



Or, re-uppholster my seats, in black leather, and do a complete conversion from a greenish gray to black interior. I'd also upgrade to Supra front seats and install heaters. I should have enough left over to upgrade to a nicer oem style tail light and install HIDs.



Lastly I could put it towards getting the car repainted that new bright blue that is on the "tuned" IS350 concept in the other thread... but I'd have to keep saving for the quality paint job I'd want.



edit:



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Interior while I was fabricating the touchscreen panel... to give you an idea of the condition of the interior:



lex4.jpg




The car would look so hot in this color, with a black interior, and the shiny frontmount. I wish I didn't care so much about putting money away... lol



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Or, re-uppholster my seats, in black leather, and do a complete conversion from a greenish gray to black interior. I'd also upgrade to Supra front seats and install heaters. I should have enough left over to upgrade to a nicer oem style tail light and install HIDs.
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I like the black learther option. I have black interior on my silver ES and it's a terrific combo. Would go well with your paint.
 
If you're already getting a twin-turbo engine, then I would see how it performs stock before I'd just jump the gun and upgrade again.



If I were you, I'd use the money to make sure that every fluid in it is top grade; i.e. Mobil 1 oil, ATE brake fluid, Red Line tranny fluid(yes manual fluid;)), etc...



It will pay off in your dragstrip times, and it's better long term for your engine:bigups



Also, make sure your intake/exhaust are as free-flowing as they can be, then look at the ignition system...



All of these minor, inexpensive upgrades will add up to a much improved engine overall, and you'll still have lots of money left over for the leather!!!
 
Go for the new leather interior.



I'd really think hard about painting the car that blue though. It seems a bit bright for a car like yours.
 
A car that old could benifit from some suspension upgades. Replacing the shocks with KYB in my wifes 10 year old ES made a huge difference. That with beeter brakes has made it feel like a new car. Interior would be my next choice.
 
I myself would go for brakes and suspension. I absolutely would *NOT* go with a mega-hp single turbo. That's are not the way I'd want a Lexus to behave on the street, too much like an on/off switch when it comes to power delivery. Tough on the drivetrain too.



If not suspension, then headlights and interior in that order. Notice I'm being awfully functional about my choices (conservative old guy, huh). Smart move, putting some of the money away :xyxthumbs
 
I agree, I wouldn't go with the single-turbo option. Put the money into new leather seats and seat heaters, then check for upgrades on the brakes, struts, upgraded bushings, other and chassis upgrades like sway bars, etc to reduce flex. How about a bluetooth upgrade for the stereo? Your idea about HIDs, but before you make any mods to your lights read http://www.danielsternlighting.com He's the most knowledgeable guy around on automotive lighting and on his site he advises againt conversion HIDs and explains exactly why. It might be different if factory HIDs are available for your car where you can bolt them in (the entire thing, including wiring and all). Presuming you run 9005/9006 headlight bulbs, a much cheaper and very effective option is switching to 9011/9012 HIR bulbs. These are stock in Dodge Vipers, but they same bulbs are available much cheaper elsewhere, including ebay. Search some of the car forums online for comments on the 9011/9012 bulbs for yourself, most folks say they are great. Last idea, and I'm not sure on the proper name for this item, but since you have the twin-turbo now, how about the timer for your ignition that keeps the engine idling for a short time after you turn off the engine. I understand this is a good thing in that it allows things to settle down, get well lubed after running the turbo, etc. Not too knowledgeable about this, but I saw one on someone's STI and it looked like a good investment.
 
velobard- Good advice. Upgrading the headlight *wiring* is something that people often overlook. Surprising how many cars don't use a proper relay-style setup, don't know abot the Lexus..



I never went in for those turbo-timers, just didn't like the idea of the car deciding when to shut itself off. But it does take a little self-discipline to sit there and let the car idle before shutting it off.
 
I'd spend the entire $2k on detailing supplies that I'll probably never end up finishing... You know, at least a dozen different polishes, boxes of LSPs, pads coming out of my ears...



wait a minute -- I've already done that !!!
 
Haha yeah last year was when I really went crazy with detailing supplies and I still have a ton left over.



I'm really considering saving a bit more and going all out on the car... and I mean everything, lol. I have the "perfect" car designed but it would take a long time to get just how I want it. My main concern is getting what I put into the car back when I sell it. Right now I have 6,000 total into the car and I could sell it for around $9000.



Realistically with the $2000 I have pretty much decided on doing the interior, and HIDs. By HIDs, I mean a complete oem-like retrofit, not just a cheap kit. As far as the interior goes, I would get Supra front seats for weight reduction, and a lot more support when driving hard. I would get heaters installed and wire them to the stock heated seat buttons, and get the front supra seats and rear sc300 seats re-uppholstered in the stock Lexus black leather... then re-uppholster the door panels and everything else myself.



500hp would be a bit overkill for the SC at this time I think. It would be great at "the races" but I would just get destroyed by some 1200hp cars we have up here. I wouldn't mind getting to around 400hp tho, and I think the stock twins could handle that power.



Suspension upgrades are definately something I am going to do... but I can't justify spending thousands on lowering springs or anything like that. Instead i'm getting my friend's stock springs and struts off his Supra TT that are in great shape... that will lower my car and it should handle much better... time to start getting swaybars and all that fun stuff.
 
PerfectFinish1 said:
My main concern is getting what I put into the car back when I sell it...
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IMO you'd better forget about recouping your expenditures ;) That happens *VERY* rarely. In my experience, it's usually tougher to even find a buyer because people assume you're selling it because something you modified is causing you grief. You won't know for sure until the buyer's check clears, but I'd be conservative as to your expectations.
 
Yes, it will be difficult. I've sold 12 cars in the past 2 years, and each of them I've made 500-1000 on. Right now I have 6,000 invested in the SC300 including the price of the car, and I could sell it for 9,000... making it the biggest profit I'll make on a single car yet. However, if I put $2000 more into it... I realize I may not be able to sell it for much more than $10,000 with a new interior, HIDs, and tails... it has the possibility of taking away profit, but I think it will be worth it.



Now, what I'm considering doing will be much more extravagant.... putting a few thousand more on top of that price. I would have to mod the car JUST RIGHT if I want to break even... if I dump several thousand more into it. Right now what I've designed will sell for $15,000. However, I have to see if I can get QUALITY work done at a price that will total under $11,500 invested lol.
 
PerfectFinish1 said:
Yes, it will be difficult. I've sold 12 cars in the past 2 years, and each of them I've made 500-1000 on..
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I'm impressed :xyxthumbs That's a lot better than I would've expected.



Heh heh, glad LoweJackson chimed in with the "driver's training". I decided not to post that this time since I think I sometimes sound sorta :nono when I bring it up, like I'm saying "bet you can't drive" which truly isn't my intention. But yeah, the first rule is to upgrade the software, as in, the person behind the wheel. People who've never done it usually don't appreciate its value; I sure didn't- and what an eye-opener it was!
 
My friends and I all want to take some form of training. We were going to take classes, but then found they were thousands of dollars... so now the plan is just to go to a road course on an open racing day and teach ourselves. Where did you get training at, Accumulator? Somewhere in OH?
 
I was lucky enough to get a little decent driver training when I started that the GM Proving Grounds. It was the best part of the job! I did have to laugh though at one thing. They were training us in pairs and I was teamed up with a guy in his 50s. The woman training us was top notch, a real professional who was very good at what she did. She was one of the regular drivers GM used in driving exhibitions and I've seen her do some amazing things with a car. After watching this other guy struggle over and over with different manuveurs we were learning, he looked at her and said, "You're not such a bad driver for a woman." You could have melted steel with the smile she gave him. :chuckle:
 
velobard- Yeah, women often outperform men. They don't suffer from testoterone-induced stupidity ;) My wife taught some guys in much faster cars a thing or two at Mid-Ohio :D



PerfectFinish1- The training we got in Ohio was Tracktime, back when they were at Mid-Ohio. You could also check out Beaverun in western PA, where I did my Security Driver's Training. They have some reasonably priced courses.



Most of our training was at the kinda expensive places, Skip Barber at Lime Rock, CT and Bondurant in AZ. We did a *lot* of it at Bondurant.



Order Bondurant's books, they're available at Motorbooks (sorry no link handy). I taught myself a lot by reading books about it and practicing in snowy parking lots, but that was back when you could get away with such stuff. Better to do some schools, but at least you'd understand the ideas behind the basics.
 
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