Just Bought An Ls400!

[IWANTVVT]

Hello, Lexus Forums! My name is Andrew and I am a 19 year car nut who just purchased his very first vehicle. Yes, you read that correctly. After about a year of minimum wage toil, I saved up roughly $7,000 and bought my first car. Choosing which vehicle to buy was very tough. I was expecting my budget to be closer to $4,000 than $7,000, but I worked extra hard and managed to scrape up the extra three grand.

The story of how I decided on which car to buy is a tale for another day. For now let’s just get into what I actually purchased.

I paid $5,600 for it. It is a 20 year old, two owner car with 82,000 miles on the odometer. It has a four speed automatic transmission and rear wheel drive, a four liter V8 producing 260 horsepower and 270 LB feet of torque. The interior is absolutely draped in leather. It weighs less than the current Mustang despite being a full sized luxury sedan. It is known internally as the “UCF20”.

*DRUM ROLL PLEASE*

As I’m sure many of you had already guessed before seeing the pictures, the car I bought was a beautifully maintained 1995 Lexus LS400 with hilariously low mileage.

Here are the mods I'm planning / have done:

indicates it has already been done

LED/BIXENON head lights (maybe even LED taillights)

Restore any of the horsepower the car has lost (it’s probably making much less than the 260 it made in 1995)

replace some exterior/ interior trim with higher trim / facelifted LS parts

Blacked out wheel center caps

Removed 2/4 mufflers

Blacked out the grille (maybe the badges and wheels as well, but unsure)

Black out visible chrome

replace some interior components with higher trim / newer LS ones

Replace tires with Pirellis

Swap rims for those from a 2002 Audi A8

MAYBE swap in a facelifted VVT engine, but i may also just buy a UCF21 or SC400 in the future instead

Install an electric exhaust dump that would make the car quiet when closed, but would bypass the mufflers, cats and resonators when open

If any of you could tell me how I could go about applying aforementioned modifications, please please PLEASE leave a comment letting me know how. Otherwise, please leave a comment letting me know what you think of my car and the overall purchase.

Here are some more pictures for you all to enjoy

Blacked out grille

Front 3/4

Blacked out center caps

Perfect interior

Perfect interior

Rear 3/4

[billydpowell]

you should have bought a ford and saved this LS

[Exhaustgases]

Yeah what a waste to screw it up. 10 years from now you could sell it for 10K or more. Some day you'll kick yourself. I agree with Billy.

Get a ford Taurus and cut up the what ever on it.

[13IS250C]

Nice car Andrew! Kudos to you for working your butt off to get what you really wanted. Enjoy your car and do whatever you want to it.

Welcome to LOC. Keep us posted on your mods.

[pj8708]

Hi Andrew and welcome to the Club!

I won't try to apologize for the "in your face" comments". We are a Club that appreciates all things Lexus, and love to hear about members experiences, problem solving, and just chating about our hobby.

Enjoy! All may not agree with one another all the time, but keep us up to date on your adventure.

Paul

[VBdenny]

A very nice car for your first ride, you won't be disappointed. Probably disregard the comments about the Ford, we all actually know better.

Welcome and hope to see more of your updates.

Denny

(former LS400 owner)

[landar]

Nice find, Andrew. I applaud you for saving up and paying cash. Very smart.

I know how I was when I was younger and I do not fault you one bit for wanted to mod it to your hearts' content. But keep the mods mostly to cosmetic stuff like wheels, interior, etc and leave the mechanical stuff as is. The reason is that you may end up with unintended mechanical problems that will haunt you and take a lot of money to find and fix.

A set of aftermarket wheels can make a night and day difference in appearance. Still, you have to do your homework or the wheels will not fit or the brake calipers could rub. Its always something.

Just enjoy it and let it 'grow' on you for now. Post some of your mods....would like to see what you are doing!

[VBdenny]

And watch the throttle. Those 4 CAM 6 Bolt Mains engines are fast! Only engine designed for automotive use that is approved for aviation use as well.

[Exhaustgases]

And watch the throttle. Those 4 CAM 6 Bolt Mains engines are fast! Only engine designed for automotive use that is approved for aviation use as well.

As is Corvair, VW, and Subaru.

[VBdenny]

Oops forgot the Corvairs. Didn't know the Suburu

[billydpowell]

AND NO !!!

I didnt want him to buy a ford..... I just didnt want him to mess up the super find he came up with... I have owned 12 LS400's in the past 19 years and I believe they are in a class by themselves.... it "hurt me" when I had to down size to a one LS family.. and I wanted him not to ruin a real find.. so cheers.. and yes I messed up several cars in my youth too.... but in the 50's ..well you know..

that license is dated 1952 when I graduated from HS. ,

[VBdenny]

Was at the dealership for an oil change and looked around the lot. There was a beautiful, white, LS460L f-sport. Nice car only $90,000. I was not overly impressed with the tires on the LS. Needs a little more sneaker.

[pj8708]

What a cool car Billy. When my oldest brother was out of High School, he bought a Plymouth coupe which looked alot like your car.

[M.Yasir]

cheers to your new car; enjoy the glide

[TREYFIGGS]

Perfectly said. WTF on the blacked out center hubs? However enjoy the car they are wonderful.

you should have bought a ford and saved this LS

[Unclenate]

Hi Andrew. Well you beat me. I was also 19 (about 2 years ago) when i got my first car and it was a gold 1995 LS400, but it was only for $1700! and had well over 200k on it. I would really want to mod mine with new LED lights but they seem too damn expensive for me to want to do any of them. Also good choice with the rim swap. Good luck. Watch out for power steering leak among other issues expected of older vehicles.