ToddLS400

If I remember right, the timing belt is pretty easy to change? Funny how something like that is easier than changing the starter...

No way he got 28mpg with this Toyota V8, 4.3. Especially if he's adding in city driving. Too much displacement. Maybe 25mpg with cruise control on, flat, no A/C, 70mph without stopping, 70 - 80 degrees outside, etc... I'm happy to get 20mpg. I usually get 15mpg. I stomp on it a lot though...hehehe

Yep, that's exactly what was wrong with my '90 LS400 starter a few months ago. Bad contacts. I had the shop replace the contacts and clean the starter. Now it starts on the first turn everytime. One thing that I've noticed is that once you turn the key, let it go back to the on position. Don't hold the key to the right while starting as this is not necessary. Once you turn it once to the right, it will continue to crank and turn over automatically. Unless you have a lot of time and tools, you probably don't want to or you can't do this job. The starter is buried at the back of the engine below the manifolds. Why would they do that to such a common part that goes out way before the car is done? It's like a water pump in the replacement sense to me. It's a 5+ hour shop job via the manual. That means a 10+ hour job for us DIY at home mechanics. I paid about $350 total for parts and labor. You do not need to replace the whole starter, just the contacts like you've heard. You can get the contacts by themselves for $30 or so from the Lexus dealer. You simply open up the starter and replace them. My mechanic used high pressure air to clean out the starter after he got it out. He said everything looked great besides the worn out contacts. If you do this project yourself, please keep us posted on how you did it and how long it took. You have to remove a lot of stuff on the top of the engine just to access the manifold on the side of the starter.

I actually ended up washing and waxing my Lex yesterday (sun) at about 6PM. It turned out real nice. I spent about 2 hours as I figured. It doesn't get dark until 9PM or so up here in Seattle during the summer. I used that Maguires one step wax. It's a lot easier than the last wax I used. It's just time consuming. I'm prepping my Lex for her new 18" chrome rims that she's getting this week...

The paint looks good. The rims make it look like a muscle car. Chevy 350 would be good. I have the GM 350, 5.7 liter engine in my boat. That thing has power excess. It goes 60mph+ with my 23" pitch ss prop. When I put my 19" pitch prop on for wakeboarding, the hole shot is ridiculous. It jumps out of the water with a full boat in a second. So much that I have stress cracks in the back of my hull. I have to repair one of them cause it's letting water in slowly in the back left, corner which goes into the bilge.

W6RU, that Bel-Air is SWEET! Do you enter it in car shows? My old neighbor has a Nomad wagon that he would bring to shows. His life was that car. The guy was kind of odd. He even had cards with a picture of his car on it.

Get the VIN and do a www.carfax.com on this car before buying. Always do it. Somebody here might have a active Carfax account that they can look up the VIN for you with?

That is nice! I love the paint. Same color as the Dukes of Hazzard car? How much HP do you have in it? Do you have a pic of the engine?

It's easy. You have to first have the pic uploaded into the gallery or somewhere on the internet. Right click on the pic and select properties. Copy the "http://....jpg" line that shows up in properties for the location of where that pic is. Now click on the "IMG" button when you're posting (above the text window) and paste that "http://....jpg" line into the popup box.

Do you have a pic of your '66 Cutlass that you can post? I would like to see it.

Yeah, I should use a clay bar to fill in the deeper scratches. Good idea. We've actually had a spectacular summer this year. We had .08" of rain in July which is a record I think? It's been about a average of 80-85 most of the summer with a few days in the upper 90's. I've taken my boat out more this summer than I have in the past 4 years since I've owned it. We're actually welcoming the rain today but it can go away fast. My yard really needs the rain. My back lawn is brown. I water the front lawn all of the time so it's ok. My back lawn is on a slope so it's hard to keep it green. I have a smaller 2 car garage that has mostly motorcycles in it. My roommate has 3 dirtbikes and a streetbike and I have 1 streetbike. I guess I could move them all to one side of the garage and pull the Lex in? Still tight quarters but I think I can do it if I have to? I envy you, it's nice to have a large garage like that. You can kind of see my garage in the background. This is the pic from the gallery. Those grandpa wheels are going bye-bye this week...

Thanks VB. I'll do as you say. Bummer thing is that I woke up this morning and it's lightly raining. It looks like it'll clear up later though..? Hehe...I guess I got to watch the Mariner/Yankee game on TV until it does... Are you a Mets or Yankees fan over there in NJ?

Sebastor, can you do the same thing in Photoshop with the rims (below) that I'm buying on a solid black gen 1 LS400? Those 18" neeper haaz wheels will look GREAT on your car! Did you buy them already? You should... Thanks brutha... Here's a retailer for those sweet neeper rims> http://www.thedealonwheels.com/php/showwhe...r&brandsearch=1

These 4.3 V8's are way undertuned. Why not get more power out of them without reducing reliability. These are awesome powerplants.

I have a professional Black & Decker rotational car waxer. I think I'm going to get up a little earlier in the morn (Sun) and start it out. I figure I can wash and wax in 2 hours now. These black cars need to be waxed every month or so it seems? They look incredible after waxing. Do those spray on between wax products really work? I would love to wax every 3 or 4 months if possible.

I've read enough on this stuff latley. BG44K is like no other product regardless of their claims. 10K intervals between uses? That is STRONG medicine for your car. Those other ones want you to use them with every tank so they can make your bank account go empty.Most of the stuff you read on the container is BS. Like that NOs octane booster junk and all of the others you get at Schucks, Kragen, NAPA, etc. I buy C5 octane booster from my local perforance shop as it is the only booster that actually works.

TSW rims Look at the 18" TSW Reflex's on this Probe (of all cars). Discount sells these for $201! Those are damn good looking wheels for REAL cheap! Those will fit on our LS400. Josh at Discount Tires offered me $1,300 out the door for these rims with Kumho tires. That's looking good on a tight budget. They have instant credit online (if you need it) as well... 18X7.5 5-100/11442HS Reading the Wheel Size Finish: Hyper Silver Silver powder coat with a very thick high gloss shine appearance $201.00 each Show me: • Tire Options • Comparable Wheels

Ain't that the truth. Grandpa's 15" low performance tires and rims are going into storage next week. Hehehe... W6RU - I ordered the MB Design Link. They're on their way up here from Arizona. I'm putting on 18" Kumho Supra Ecsta 712's, 245 - 40 or 45 series ZR rated ( should actually look into VR rated for more tread life). All Kumho tires come with a 30K warranty. There are no warranties like that with the others at this size. http://www.kumhotires.com/int/Tires/PassDe...attern_name=712 It depends on the gap between the top of the tire and the wheel well on what series (40 or 45, etc..) of tires I'll use. I can't stand the 4X4 look (big gap from top of rubber to well) on cars when they use the wrong applications. Discount carries all Kumho tires in stock so I can have a tire put on and look at it on the car and decide which one I want. I want to go wider as well if possible. Discount Tires is great. I won't buy my tires or rims anywhere else. Lexusing - Thanks. :D

How does your car run on this gas? Is it less powerful? I live in the Seattle area so we're not in those purple areas, yet.... I have a feeling they will start doing it up here real soon. Our traffic is HORRIBLE up here and we get taxed to no end in King County. Lots of environmentalists up here. Stupid Berkenstock tree huggers! They need to go down to SIR Raceways and feel the enjoyment of speed and power. Hehehe.... :chairshot:

Yeah, I believe it's 18 X 9 which is too wide for the LS. Too bad cuz the H7's look awesome. They would look great on the GS. I believe the LS goes from 18 X 7 - 8.5 max?

VB...Hehe...You would see my hand print on there as well.... Here's some cool rims at a good price via wheelcontact. I think the Omega may be the only set that will fit Lexus? http://www.wheelcontact.com/product.php Here's some great rim/tire combos at some really low prices> http://www.dragonwheels.com/ If anybody calls here, please tell us which rims work on Lexus. I really like that Detata Trax 18" deal. $1,499 for chrome rims and tires. + FREE shipping. Wow! 18" Detata Trax __________________________ 18" Polo Exclusive 18" Polo Strategy These are both sold for $1,099 with tires included. That seems way too cheap? Fishy?

Who makes the best chip for gen 1 LS400s? Does JWT?

Those are the exact same rims my g-friend has on her '93 convert 300ZX. Those are the TSW Heaven 7's. They're tough as hell and they look good from all angles. That 350ZX picture really doesn't do much justice to the real beauty of those rims. It's a low quality, compressed pic. Her car gets WAY TOO much attention. She gets honked at and challenged to race daily. It's funny. I dunno if I like that though..... Hmmmm.....We've been together for over 3 years and we're engaged... Oh well... Hehe... I'll take a digital pic of her car and post it here. You'll love the look.

Here's a place on the net where you can buy BG44K for $19.95> http://www.ec-securehost.com/RynoPerforman...d_Products.html

This is from a Volvo forum: Reformulated (Oxygenated) Gasoline Areas. This map from the EPA shows reformulated gasoline areas in the US: Several reports have been received about poor quality reformulated gas causing valve seizures in B230 and B6300 engines driven on short trips with old gasoline.