BMAN1113

Yea, I see from your pics that you have the premium sound system. I'm running the Nakamichi. They must be set-up different or something.

I had that same wear on the inside of the tires. When you go to get your alignment the guys going to tell you that he cant align the vehicle because your lower control arm bushings are shot. That is a common indicator of shot lower control arm bushings in an SC, and are unfortunately pretty common. When you fix the bushings, throw on a set of Tokico blues and get a good 4-wheel alignment you will be shocked at the difference. Your highway driving becomes incredibly stable. 90mph feels like 60. Your cornering becomes unreal. I thought the car felt really good before. lol A set of new premium tires would be an obvious must as well.

80k would involved replacing the timing belt, water pump and cam seals. At the dealer this will run about $1,200. Could also be time for another tune-up as well, depending on when it was last done. This would include plugs, wires, caps, pcv valve ($700 at the "stealership"). You can cut these prices almost in half if you find a reputable independant to do the work, like most of us do. Or get a dealer repair manual and learn to do it yourself. Good Luck.

Really?!! Wow. I only have the first two boxes filled. I wonder if this would have something to do with being in a major city with XM repeaters always near? What does line out mean anyway? I would guess that this is the measure of how much my receiver is questing the XM signal. Why would this distort sound when set too high.

I would never buy a battery or tire from the dealer anyway.

Start with the easy stuff such as air filter, fuel filter, pcv valve and catalytic converter.

Houston here.. I would go with Brembo drilled (not slotted) with Rotex Gold brake pads. Slotted is not practical for a daily driver. For heavy racing only. They eat pads up bad.

Good move. You ought to try the Amsoil 0W30 at next change. The best at protecting against damage at start-up.

That was it. Problem fixed... Thanks! I had looked through the menu before, but didnt realize it changes depending on whether it's being used in the car or a home-based application. When I plugged it into the car I saw that feature. Here in Houston I found that setting position #2 sounds best. What do you have yours at? Thanks again.

How and where would I adjust modulation? I'm running the XM cassette adapter set-up. I do notice that, when I'm operating the XM in the car, I'll have the stereo volume turned to only about a quarter of the wayup, yet its very loud. I thought that was odd. Please let me know. Thx

You may try www.leatherseats.com . They may sell just pieces of the seats.

So you really get CD quality sound from your in-car XM setup? I'm sort of disappointed. Alot of the channels are rough, even with full signal showing. Unfortunately the rap/hiphop channels seem to come in loud and clear. I think it may just be a conspiracy to *BLEEP* me off!..lol. I thought maybe the tape player was just dirty, but after a cleaning I'm having the same poor sound. I'm getting a lot of distortion when someone speaks. Maybe its those cheap Kenwoods I've been ranting about. The XM sounds great inside the house, using the small jambox they sell. I dont know whats going on. Jbarhorst2 your mount looks just like the Pro-fit I bought, powder coated and everything. You made that? Did you have to pull the console apart? The instruction given to me from Pro-fit were quite confusing. If anyone is about to install one of these I can make this a little easier. I doubt who ever they had write these instructions actually ever performed the install.

I'havent received my speakers back yet as he had to order the cones. You may want to wait and see how they come out, although I know a guy who had him repair his Acura Bose speakers and they came out great. If your speakers are completely dead he said he cant always fix them. However, he did tell me to leave the two dead ones and he would see if he could. He said alot of times there's a wire that comes loose at the base. Allen's Speaker Reconing 919 W 19th St. Houston, TX 77008 713-862-2747

I'm getting these reconed here. I havent received mine back yet. He had to order new 4"cones for them. I'll update when I have them installed. Allen's Speaker Reconing 919 W 19th St. Houston, TX 77008 713-862-2747

Gamers is actually the set-up I want. I just cant find it in the US version.

Uhhmm... Yea they may squeak. I didnt end up buying from TM. My mechanic had already ordered a set. They are probably made with oem style rubber, because I have no sound issues. Maybe it was worth paying $100.00 for each side then. As far as Daizen being upper or lower, I think you can order by phone.

Whatever you do dont use the Kenwood KFC-1079ie 4". They suck. I'm having my old 4" Nakamichi speaker re-coned. The Nakamichi engineers knew what they were doing and I dont care to alter that. I dont advise people replacing the rear speakers with 2-ways. The kenwoods I have in there now have a tweeter in each speaker. I thought this would be an upgrade. This may be the cause of the cheap, non-rich sound that I have now. It sounds like the system has far too much of a treble sound. On a car costing $50k+ in 1993, had that been what sounded best, I'm sure they would have put a tweeter in the rear speakers. They didnt. The speaker boxes in your doors and in the rear deck are made specifically with your oems in mind. Different brand speakers, even having the same diameter, can have different application requirements such as watts, box air space, etc. I was really surprised to see actual speaker boxes in the door. Very nice.

www.tmengineering.net sells just the bushings. When you go on there click on Daizen. My mechanic charged me $175.00 labor to refurbish the old lower control arms. I was going to purchase a set from TM but he said that he already ordered the bushings so I held off. The set he ordered ended up being too small and we had to then rush and purchase an alternative set locally for $100 (each side). TM looks like a better deal. He may have just wanted more for his labor who knows. I still think $375.00 was a great deal... compared to $1300!!..ouch. Did he intend on using any vaseline!..lol Anyway, my car feels like new. I had no idea how shot they really were until replaced.

Alot of times when the car gets unstable at high speeds the lower control arm bushings are shot. Very common with SC400's. Usually the upper bushing are ok. I know that before I had my arm bushings replaced there would be a loose sounding "dink-dink" when I drove over cross-seams on the road. After fixing these this changed to a solid sounding "thap-thap". Highway driving became incredibly stable too. I would also suggest getting a full set of Tokico Blues shocks put on, at the same time. I bought my set off of Ebay. I think he is still selling them. A four wheel alignment would also be highly recommended. Your brakes sound like they may have air in the system. You may want to have someone do a complete fluid replacement on the ABS system. Who knows how long its been. A source for just the control arm bushings, to avoid spending like $700 for each full arm, is www.tmengineering.net

Amsoil Series 2000 0w30 Severe Service Synthetic motor oil. Mail order only. Not cheap, but the best hardly ever is. Spit on Mobile 1... it's garbage. Wizard... I dont know what happened with your deal. When changing my Amsoil it comes out black. I would say it suspends particles just fine. I drive very hard and have driven from TX to CA (through AZ)... also TX-NC, TX-TN, TX-FL. I've put some serious mileage and have been in excess of 140mph with absolutely no problems. Through subsequent oil changes, I feel that the Synthetic has actually removed dirt and deposits left from years of non-synthetic.

www.tmengineering.net Then click on Daizen.

I really like the look of the Levoc shifters for the Soarers. Does anyone know of a source for Levoc shifters that would fit USA model SC's? A guy in Australia said he has seen them before. I have searched and had no luck.

I believe there is just the one, because a few months ago I called to price "the" Nakamichi amp. They would have probably asked me which one I was referring to if there were more than just the one. Can you believe they wanted $1,200!! I was thinking half that... and that was bad enough. You can also get those re-worked for around $250. Before anybody does the "amp thing" they really need to pull and test their speakers individually.

Don't call it gold!!!... It's champagne!!... :)

Leatherseats.com is always selling back-stock kits for the SC300/400 in sandstone color on EBAY. I bought the full kit for $615.00 + like $20 shipping. I think I actually prefer the feel of their leather to the OEM. Come to think of it, it seems very similar to the leather they used in a late model RX300 I had as a dealer loaner. The kit doesnt include the armrests, so they made me a pair for $100.00. They will also sell you identical matching vinyl by the yard to use as headliner material or for other interior applications. I like driving with the windows down... cant stand them up! So my headliner takes a beating, gets filthy and is a !Removed! to clean. I think the vinyl will look good. The vinyl they have looks almost identical to the leather. Will be a snap to keep clean.