Modifying The Is 300

[smooth1]

Nice project What's next ? ?

Well, this week my Hyper ground system and my MR voltage system should be here. So I will install that next and finish all the sound tuning.

After that will be the brakes project. All the parts are still coming in, so once they are all here I will do that from start to finish.

Along the way I will finish painting the new headlights, installing the halo's and putting those on the car. ( That is a major time project there!) and I also want to tint down the tailights. Almost black them out.

[dcfish]

Nice project What's next ? ?

Well, this week my Hyper ground system and my MR voltage system should be here. So I will install that next and finish all the sound tuning.

After that will be the brakes project. All the parts are still coming in, so once they are all here I will do that from start to finish.

Along the way I will finish painting the new headlights, installing the halo's and putting those on the car. ( That is a major time project there!) and I also want to tint down the tailights. Almost black them out.

What are you using to tint the tails ? Painting the headlights ?

[smooth1]

Nice project What's next ? ?

Well, this week my Hyper ground system and my MR voltage system should be here. So I will install that next and finish all the sound tuning.

After that will be the brakes project. All the parts are still coming in, so once they are all here I will do that from start to finish.

Along the way I will finish painting the new headlights, installing the halo's and putting those on the car. ( That is a major time project there!) and I also want to tint down the tailights. Almost black them out.

What are you using to tint the tails ? Painting the headlights ?

I am tinting the tailights with auto clear bra's tint kit for tailghts. It's a film tint. It's only temporary until I decide what I really want to do back there.

As for the head lights, I have opened them up and taped off the actual chrome part that surrounds the bulb, the rest though I am painting black, and then installing the halo's around both highbeam and lowbeam. Then I'll put the lens back on and install them.

[bartkat]

Looks good. Nice system install.

[My02Is300]

As far as the sound goes, I have alot of sound tuning to do yet. I am still playing with all the high pass filters, digital sound imaging, and EQ settings. But even withall those not dialed in, the sound is wwwwaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy nice!!!!!!

Mid-bass is soooo much nicer and of course the sub gets the lows thumpin!!! the texture of the music is soo much richer!!!!

By the way, I don't know if any of you have actually seen the amp that they use from the factory,,I will spare you the pics. It's the size of a sandwich with cooling fins on it!! The door speakers atleast aren't that cheap paper cone with paper surrounds. Although the 6x9's in back are. I knew they were though cause I could see them from inside the trunk. I could also see how small the magnets were, so I figured the stock system, although sounded better than most stock systems I have heard was seriously anemic. So after the close of this project, my conclusion here is " Way awsomely happy with the results!!!"

Hey there smooth1, I am new to the board and have enjoyed your updates and pics. Question on the speakers. It was my believe that the stock speakers are Bose. I have been very impressed by the sound and haven't messed with replacing the amp because I heard the speakers run at 1 ohm and regular amps wouldn't power them properly. Is this true or false. ..

Also your cd player. Whats the cost and what retailers can you buy it from.

Thanks

[smooth1]

As far as the sound goes, I have alot of sound tuning to do yet. I am still playing with all the high pass filters, digital sound imaging, and EQ settings. But even withall those not dialed in, the sound is wwwwaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyy nice!!!!!!

Mid-bass is soooo much nicer and of course the sub gets the lows thumpin!!! the texture of the music is soo much richer!!!!

By the way, I don't know if any of you have actually seen the amp that they use from the factory,,I will spare you the pics. It's the size of a sandwich with cooling fins on it!! The door speakers atleast aren't that cheap paper cone with paper surrounds. Although the 6x9's in back are. I knew they were though cause I could see them from inside the trunk. I could also see how small the magnets were, so I figured the stock system, although sounded better than most stock systems I have heard was seriously anemic. So after the close of this project, my conclusion here is " Way awsomely happy with the results!!!"

Hey there smooth1, I am new to the board and have enjoyed your updates and pics. Question on the speakers. It was my believe that the stock speakers are Bose. I have been very impressed by the sound and haven't messed with replacing the amp because I heard the speakers run at 1 ohm and regular amps wouldn't power them properly. Is this true or false. ..

Also your cd player. Whats the cost and what retailers can you buy it from.

Thanks

Regarding the manufacture of equipment there is something that needs to be addressedfirst. Bose, is not a quality speaker manufacturer. They just have a great marketing department. They employ what is called " Acoutsic focusing Technology." They have done alot of research on focusing a sound stage through channeling acoustic waves as "ambient sound" giving it a much fuller sound. That is what Bose does. They themselves are not a speaker manufacturer. they are a speaker cabinet designer that employs there technology. In fact,85% of so called speaker manufacturers don't actually build the drivers themselves. They purchase them from an outside source. Now I am talking about popular home stereo names. You would be surprised by the names on that list. Bose, M&K, Infinity, Sony, Yamaha, Boston Acoustics, JBL, Klipsch,( they used to but not any more.), Altec Lansing, Athena, MTX, ect. ect.

So, regarding Bose, go to a store that carries Bose and try to remove the grill covers. In most cases you can't, and when you can or do, you allways see the same paper cone with either foam surrounds or on thier really cheap line, ribbed paper surrounds. EVERY HIGH END TRUE AUDIOPHILE SPEAKER atleast employs butyl rubber surrounds and some variation of polypropeline cone, with vented voice coils in design. When you go to the audio department, how many after market speakers do you see with paper cones and surrounds? Other than the blister packed " OEM replacement" line at your local automotive store?

The reason you're getting good sound is because they used 6x9's on the rear deck, and component 6 1/2 door speakers with seperate tweeters. ( By the way, they don't even use a crossover. They use an inline resistor between the 2 speakers that limits the wattage fed to the tweeter.) In any case, round speakers sound better than oval, and when you seperate the tweeter and use a descent rear bass, your going to get descent sound no matter what. I have heard some impressive 4 channel 20 watt systems. Remember that high wattage doesn't translate to better sound. What your ear hears determines better sound. Everyone is different. What sounds good to one mey be to tinny to the next, or to bassy, or not enough mid range punch. If your happy with the sound you have then stay with it. I wasn't. I like alot of different styles of music from Jazz to techno, to hip hop, to hard rock. I love it when the snare drum pops and the bass is deep and tight. And when you turn it up, the low frequencies don't bother the high ones.

I have never checked into the stock impedence load for the system as I knew I was going to replace the whole thing anyway. It is possible that it runs on a 1 ohm load, but that only changes the wattage requirements and the efficiency to convert power to motion. I know that the head unit is a Pioneer unit. Pioneer provides the internals and user interface, Toyota makes the housing and fitting.

The head unit I have retails for around a grand. I bought it at wholesale from a contact I have in the trade. I think Sound Advice carries the unit, but like I said, it's a brand new model and it may be a short time before it starts to show up everywhere. I was in the electronics business for quite a few years so I guess I have an advantage there. Plus I love this stuff.!!!! If you really are interested and want details about the install and so fourth or just want advice then you can private message me and I'll be more than happy to help.

BTW, the sound tuning is going great! I am going to get a servo correction unit for the sub, that should help the bass become more accurate, and I'm now starting to really like where the sound is going. Shouldn't be too much longer and everything will be set.

[smooth1]

:D Okay,,,, Hyper voltage system is here and Hyper ground system is here also now.

These will go in by the end of the week.

[smooth1]

Also, All this came in today also:

These are the steel braided brake lines that were already here:

And here is a before pic of the brakes and calipers before the job, with rims already though.

This will probably be the next project. when I have it all installed I will update everyone then with how it all went and after pics.

[smooth1]

B) Finally!!! I just finished painting my headlights, installing the halo's and putting them back together. Here are some pics before they go on the car.

I think I'm gonna install these first, then do the brakes next.

[smooth1]

Whoo, I just reviewed my last post and saw the pictures are FREAKIN HUGE!!!! Sorry about that. I think I forgot to change the setting on my camera back. So, here are some better ones.

I'm sure glad this part of the project is behind me. Now for the install............

[dcfish]

So far so good, Can't wait for pic's of the final product.

[smooth1]

:) Alright, the new headlights with halo's have been installed. I have to admit that the IS300 is by far, the hardest car I have ever seen to change headlights on. And, not to mention the fact that I noticed if the blinker light goes out, you have to go thru all the steps I did today just to put new bulbs in. After doing this I thought we might need a step by step tutorial if we don't have one. I'll check into that later. But for now, here are the pics;

This is the new black headlights housings I painted after installation :

And here are the headlights with the Halo's

[smooth1]

I took the car out into the street so I could step away and get a good night view of them and yeah man, they are baddd a$$$$!!!!

[Parking17]

:) Alright, the new headlights with halo's have been installed. I have to admit that the IS300 is by far, the hardest car I have ever seen to change headlights on. And, not to mention the fact that I noticed if the blinker light goes out, you have to go thru all the steps I did today just to put new bulbs in. After doing this I thought we might need a step by step tutorial if we don't have one. I'll check into that later. But for now, here are the pics;

Here is a step by step. Lights look great! I'll be doing mine soon.

http://www.clublexus.com/forums/showthread.php?t=205644

[smooth1]

Alright, had another busy day in the garage. Brakes are done! Sunday I started at 11:30am and finished at 9pm. I installed the steel braided brake lines, EBC green pads all the way around and Power Slot Cryo slotted discs, painted all the calipers ( 3 coats) applied the Lexus emblems, then 3 coats of clear. Rotated the tires while the car was up on jack stands.

Here are the results:

A nice surprise was the way the green shows on the EBC's through the ends of the calipers.

[dcfish]

Looking good What's next ?

[smooth1]

Looking good What's next ?

front and rear anti sway bars, and I was looking at the Tenko or Greddy suspension systems. I also found a body kit that I like and so I'm doing research now on that.

After I get that far, the decision for supercharger or turbo will need to answered..........HMMmmmmm.

[smooth1]

Okay, anti-sway bars are on order. I decided on the the L-tuned front and rear set. I also got the chassis bar to go with it. So now I wait, and continue to research turbo or supercharger...........

[smooth1]

okay, sway bars are on the car. I have decided to wait to put the chassis bars on as I may need to remove them for other planned mods.

I have decided after much debate, and lots of reading time that I will go with the supercharger. I have been talking with Yan at Myti Auto and we are going to put together a front mount intercooler, and run a 10 PSI system. Next week I will begin ordering the headers and exhaust system. Our goal is to get to 400 HP with as linear a torque curve as possible.

So, here we go....

[Parking17]

I liked your rotors. I just ordered mine. I got the Brembos, slotted, and Hawk HPS pads all around. Got Goodrich lines to go with it. Waiting for the parts to ship. I really wanted the drilled, but saw many reviews regarding warping and cracking. The brake upgrade kit by Brembo is sweet, but for what it costs, you could almost go turbo for that price.

Regarding the lights, so far, so good. I have the LED superstars from autoillumination.com. These lights come outfitted with an aluminum heat sink all around. Although they are LEDS, they do get hot to the touch with the high output LED, which in my opinion, look better than the standard round LEDs. The standards just do not give enough light. They suggested running them at 80% and they will be fine and will not go out, per the e-mail I received from them. I've had them for about three months and they are still good. I would suggest white, since it brings out the yellow in the KPH area and the orange needle against white numbers.

[smooth1]

Yeah man, I think the best real world decision is to go with slotted. I wanted drilled also, so if I were racing the car at the track and was replacing rotors and pads every few races anyway, then sure, but thats not happening. The braking improvements I have now are incredible. I doubt I would see much more for the price they are asking for big brake kits.

When you say run them at 80% you mean with the dimmer dial control on the dash? How about a pic so I can see what they look like? I see the speedo light looks easy enouph to change. the others look like alot more work though.

BTW, when your rotors come in and if you decide to paint the hubs,( I painted mine black.) You might wanna find an alternative to high temp spray paint. I went to rotate my tires the other day and where the hub and the rim come into contact the paint has all chipped off. The sides of the hub where you can see when the wheels are on still look fine, but I have a feeling that as time goes by I may start seeing more chipping. I'm thinking about having them powder coated. We'll see if it becomes more of a problem.

[smooth1]

Alright, big changes in the garage. An opprotunity has presented itself that I just could not refuse. I just bought a Millinium Silver 2005 IS 300 with 24000 miles on it!!!! and every option available including the uprgraded leather with the heated seats.

So that means I have had to redo everything I have done so far. What a long week it's been! But I have completed changing everything over. The audio system was a 2 day affair by itself, but complete and the stock unit put back in the 03'. The brake change over went smooth enouph, and everything else changed out nicely also.

I now have a 2003 IS 300 for sale if anyone is interested. Also I have a stock 6 disc changer for sale along with all the stock speakers and stock amp.

I'll post pictures of the new car later. ( It really looks just like the 03' only with the stock spoiler on it now.)

[DArustik]

:) Alright, the new headlights with halo's have been installed. I have to admit that the IS300 is by far, the hardest car I have ever seen to change headlights on. And, not to mention the fact that I noticed if the blinker light goes out, you have to go thru all the steps I did today just to put new bulbs in. After doing this I thought we might need a step by step tutorial if we don't have one. I'll check into that later. But for now, here are the pics;

This is the new black headlights housings I painted after installation :

And here are the headlights with the Halo's

That look is SWEET!!!

[smooth1]

Okay, I have decided I want to go with a supercharger system on the IS. The problem I have encountered is the fact that I would like to be able to turn the system on and off when I want. Anyone have any ideas? The supercharge I want to use is the Raptor belt driven. I am also going with an intercooler.

[smooth1]

Iv'e been looking at some new shoes for the ride. I have bridgestones on there now, but they have a weird wobble sound to them. They ride smooth, traction is good, but the sound is annoying. Anyone have this problem? What tires are you running and what life are you getting out of them?