knmaynard Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 Who has done their valve body, and who did you get to do it? I think I've heard SRT will do it, but they are in Baltimore and I'm in Louisville, makes things more complicated. Is there a "kit" that my Lexus guy could use to do the rebuild? I really want to get this done, so any experieinces would be great. Big400, you had SRT do yours, right? Did you send them the valve body, or what? Thanks ahead of time! PS - SRT intake installed, and the car sounds amazing. Next is the exhaust, then the TC and trans cooler, and maybe the valve body at the same time. After that I may do some supsension work to tighten it up a bit, and then consider any external mods. But will probably will keep it stock on the outside, except for any lowering due to suspension upgrades. Separate topic, a friend looked at my headers and said there wouldn't be much point in going aftermarket, the tubular stock ones looked pretty well designed. Didn't think I'd improve on Lexus that much, to make it worth the money, anyway. (He has a 9 second NA LS-1 he's done the work on himself, knows a bit about engines.) Just food for thought. I had been considering headers as part of my exhaust redo, but am going to pass at this point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new big400 Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 Who has done their valve body, and who did you get to do it? I think I've heard SRT will do it, but they are in Baltimore and I'm in Louisville, makes things more complicated. Is there a "kit" that my Lexus guy could use to do the rebuild? I really want to get this done, so any experieinces would be great. Big400, you had SRT do yours, right? Did you send them the valve body, or what? Thanks ahead of time! PS - SRT intake installed, and the car sounds amazing. Next is the exhaust, then the TC and trans cooler, and maybe the valve body at the same time. After that I may do some supsension work to tighten it up a bit, and then consider any external mods. But will probably will keep it stock on the outside, except for any lowering due to suspension upgrades. Separate topic, a friend looked at my headers and said there wouldn't be much point in going aftermarket, the tubular stock ones looked pretty well designed. Didn't think I'd improve on Lexus that much, to make it worth the money, anyway. (He has a 9 second NA LS-1 he's done the work on himself, knows a bit about engines.) Just food for thought. I had been considering headers as part of my exhaust redo, but am going to pass at this point. Good to see she is coming along.The VB is definatly something you want done by a professional.Id personally just send it out to SRT you can expedite the shipping depending on what you want to pay for.I know Ive told you this before but the VB is makes for very hard shifts thus increased rattles.I dont mind mine because I can see the performance side but this mod is not for the light hearted.Have you considered gears?On the headers the factory are better than most but could use some improvement.Wheteher its worth the money or not is up to you.The install is a pain and the headers are expensive.Maybe leave that for last the gains arent much.What do you have in mind for exhaust?I have a set of Borlas for sale.Let me know if you need any help along the way and Good LUck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knmaynard Posted July 31, 2006 Author Share Posted July 31, 2006 Good to see she is coming along.The VB is definatly something you want done by a professional.Id personally just send it out to SRT you can expedite the shipping depending on what you want to pay for.I know Ive told you this before but the VB is makes for very hard shifts thus increased rattles.I dont mind mine because I can see the performance side but this mod is not for the light hearted.Have you considered gears?On the headers the factory are better than most but could use some improvement.Wheteher its worth the money or not is up to you.The install is a pain and the headers are expensive.Maybe leave that for last the gains arent much.What do you have in mind for exhaust?I have a set of Borlas for sale.Let me know if you need any help along the way and Good LUck. I'm not sure on the exhaust. I want as much flow without being too loud. My friend suggested Borla's. I''ll at least do a catback, but would like to get rid of or gut the cats. I'm just now doing my research to decide what I want. Do we have a y-pipe? Is it worth going to an x-pipe? What do you have, and why aren't you using the Borla's? Oh yeah: the VB under light driving conditions: is it still a super hard shift, or is that mostly when you get on it hard? If I'm taking out my wife and another couple, and drive "nice", I don't want to jerk them around. Unless I'm showing off . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new big400 Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 Borlas tend to be the most quiet on our cars.Thats why I bought them they go hand and hand with the intake.Im changing over to l-tuned which will be considerably louder.As far as the x or y pipe just put some mufflers on and dont worry about the rest unless you go FI.Its a pretty good stock set-up.I removed my front resonator and it proved to be a waste of 50 bucks.And the VB shifts the hardest when youre driving light or letting off right before a shift,Its not bad at WOT.If you feel like making the trip to Indianapolis to drive mine before you upgrade the offer is there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knmaynard Posted July 31, 2006 Author Share Posted July 31, 2006 I was looking at the l-tuned mufflers on Carson's website. So are they louder because they have better flow, and how much better will the flow be over the Borla's? What Borla's do you have, also? I could be interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new big400 Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 I was looking at the l-tuned mufflers on Carson's website. So are they louder because they have better flow, and how much better will the flow be over the Borla's? What Borla's do you have, also? I could be interested. Im not sure whether they flow better or not.There cant be even a 1hp difference.Im just going to l-tuned because ive gone conservative for the last 5yrs and now im ready to go a little more ricer.The l-tuned tend to be one of the louder exhaust for our vehicles.The Borlas I have are the ones listed on Carson,Sewell,Srt I paid 600 and am selling for 300. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knmaynard Posted August 1, 2006 Author Share Posted August 1, 2006 Do they fit the 430 (2001)? What kind of condition are they in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new big400 Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 Do they fit the 430 (2001)? What kind of condition are they in? Yes they will fit your car.They have about 15-20k on them and have never seen snow and have seen very little rain.No scrapes or dents as close to new condition as possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knmaynard Posted August 1, 2006 Author Share Posted August 1, 2006 How'd you get away with no snow in Indy? Not your daily driver? With all the work you've done, I guess you have to have another car . . . I don't know if we're supposed to take this off-line. My email is knmaynard54 @ msn.com. So long as they are a direct bolt on (no mods necessary) and they are in good shape, I'm very interested. I could take a day in Indy with my daughter (Children's Museum - we did that when I bought my GS, in Indy). I'd like to see what the VB feels like too, if it worked out. With gas prices, it may be cheaper to ship them, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
new big400 Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 No not a daily.Email sent Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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