New To The Board And I Have A Few Questions

[Lighter Klepto]

I bought this car because it was my wife's dream car. we didnt need it since we each had a car already.

I purchased it in February of 2004 it had 180k miles at the time, and it was in pretty good contidion inside and out. The biggest issues at the time of purchase was it had a rip on the side of the drivers seat, a few LCD's were out on some of the needles, and the passenger back tail light was different than the drivers side, it doesnt quite fit flush on the corner, and it has a white stip instead of an amber one, the water that gets in when i wash it and rain and such is minimal, but causes quite a few bulb replacements... and those were my only issues until...

...last year my wife wrecked the car, it was all just body damage, with the exception of the deployed airbags, and my sanity (we only had liabilty at the time ARGHHH)... we were able to drive it home that night (i cried like a little baby all the way home) and there it stayed for about 4 months until my car started giving me problems, so i started driving hers, but we still needed something for her to drive for errands and such so we tied down the hood... and both myself and her uncle told her not to go on the highway or over 45, and that this was just a temporary fix... well she got tired of driving slow, so she went to a local shop, and ask the mechanic if he thought it was drivable on the highway, he jiggled the hood, and said, "Looks liek its on there pretty good to me".... yeah she hit the highway and the hood hit the windshield.... and again the Lexus sits in the driveway until i break down and sell my car... my baby... my 73 volkswagen bug.. my daily driver since i was 16...

so i take that cash, and got a new fender and hood and windshield, bend out the bumper, and buy a used headlight... that was all my bug was worth... WEAK!!

oh but wait... it gets worse

after all that sitting, we had to replace the battery... i get home and the guy that installed all the parts just dropped it off infront of the house, and it has no stickers now so it cant be there and i cant move it... needless to say i was *BLEEP*ed, and tired, and it was dark... my wife let me knw that she got a new battery already

yay finally something good

right?

wrong

a valuable lesson i learned, dont work on a car in the dark when you are tired and *BLEEP*ed and the hood wont stay up... waitt till tomorrow.

yeah my retarted self put the battery on backwards and the wierdest thing of all, is that most of the lights came on and i turned the key....

i replaced the battery and all the fuses and the relay's i could find

but it still wouldnt work

fried that freakin computer

we pushed it in the driveway the next day, and again it sits till i can get it fixed

called around and we were quoted under 900 bucks to replace it

it took them 2 and a half weeks, and they had a diffrenet excuse every time we caled, and finally they said they had to send it to lexus to get fixed. when i got it back it worked, but they took apart my trunk (i dont know why and they deny it) and they didnt put the clips and screws back, and the light cover is gone now as well as one of the fuse box covers and the nice looking plastic cover for the engine... still never got any of that back, and we have since moved, and the shop doesnt return my calls.

anyways it works now, and we cut out the airbags and drive it again just to put around town.

ran great

the day we go to the junkyard for the head light, my other cars radiator anf fan go out, at the freakin junkyard. oh man i was fuming

so now its the galant that sits in the driveway

so now we are down to like 3/4's of a lexus and a broke down mitsubishi

so we took the lexus to her dads 150 miles away

and when we get there, we pop the hood and theres radiator fluid everywhere

grrr the wreck caused a slight crack in the radiator, but it never got hot enough to notice putting around town

so now a new radiator, on top of tune up oil change, new tires and some other misc little stuff.

sigh

thats about the extent of my problems w/ it so far

i still have some little more body work to get done and paint job and other loose odds and ends, plus the airbags....

well i got a set of airbags on ebay for 160 bucks shipped

and will be replacing them hopefully next week or 2

i have the manual d/l from here, and tools and access to a buddy's shop

im strictly doing the airbags for cosmetic reasons, so i dont have a jacked up dash or gaping hole in my steering wheel anymore, im not even gonna plug them in.

enough about the bad

on to the good

210k miles on it now, oil change every 3k miles, runs and shifts smooth.

inetrior is still in decent shape

by the way you guys and this forum all rock!!!

and on to my questions

since i am going to eventually reaplace the bumpers and paint the thing, i may as well look into a body kit

well im having probs finding any good body kits for my car there is one or 2 i found but they dont look all that great and they are like 1500 bucks, however i did find a whole slew of the same year camry body kits for about 350-500 shipped. i know alot of camry and lexus parts are interchangeable, so would this fit? or at least do you think it could be made to easily fit?

also the tail light situation it needs to be replaced.... other than 94-96 lexus, are there any other years lexus that would fit, or would a camry light work?

side note, does the oven trick work on the tail lights as well for taking out the amber? is this maybe what happened to it before?

do you have to have working airbags (if they are installed in order to pass state inspection?

do you think if i just unplugged the airbag light while i have the dash off, if that would be enough to make them think they worked, or would a computer diagnostic be run and it wouldnt matter?

sorry for the long post

and the crazy story

ill do what i can to contribute more in the future other than a long read.

thanks again guys and gals

-Lighter Klepto-

[SKperformance]

WOW is pretty much all i can say.

Don't waste your time with a kit. Get a used factory bumper which is pretty cheap.

Check you local dmv for there safety procedures.

Either 92-94( middle lens has a small reflector or 95-96 (upper lens is the reflector) taillights are the same only.

[Lighter Klepto]

thanks for the quick reply

i didnt expect anyone to be up this late

okay so on the tail lights, just to clarify, only lexus those years or camry will work also?

and since the years are different, i should go ahead and get both so it looks okay.... dont the older ones have the badge on the light? is that badge easily removeable w/o messing up the light?

and as far as if i wanted to remove the amber strip could that be done, like on the headlights by heating them in the oven opening them and and removing the amber part?

[pearlwhite97ES]

wow.. Felt like I read a short story lol anyway welcome and

any info you need is here....I would've sold it and got a 99-01

for about 7500-9000 . I have found once theres trouble with a car,

it continues on.