JIBBBY

There is no point to prove as we all know that Lexus makes an excellent V8. You don't have to explain it to me-my 95 LS400 has 268,000 miles and runs/drives/looks excellent. However, to immediately lable any V8 as subpar that doesn't have "1UZ-FE" stamped on it, is wrong and very, very close minded. Rent a DeVille/DTS or Town Car for a weekend, they are not nearly as bad as you think! ;) I didn't say they were bad, just not as good as the Lex. I am familiar with Licoln Navigator motors and they are solid beasts, but I would still take a lexus V8 motor over those lincoln motors. Listen, I love America, I am American, and I would love more than anything to say American engines are the greatest, but I just don't think so. Give me the IUZFE!!! As I said before, I dont think a lincoln towncar motor with 100,000 can handle nos constantly for a year, and almost twice the hp from stock. These Lex V8 are tanks!!! I talk to nos and engine building pro's regularly and they tell me my motor is solid for nos where as they would not try it with any American V8 motors for fear of breakdown or wear. I kid you not. Nos causes a tremendous amount of instant stress to the motors over time and break them to wear out fast. These guys build high performance cars, they don't drive the lexus's but they praise them. Durability, Stress, longevity go with the IUZFE all day long.

First off, yes the power steering pumps go out on the sc, and a few other things, but much more goes wrong with American cars around the same age and mileage. I am familiar with the 400's 4.0L motors by Lexus years 92-97 that is it. I do not know about the 430 or 6 cylinder lexus motors. I assumed the 430 is as well built as the 400's. Maybe not. All I am saying from supershop mechanics to hands on experience I can honeslty say the 4.0L Lexus motor is the best I have ever owned or worked on. That is my opinion and others. Did you know that in two of the auto museums in LA, California, both have only the Lexus motors on display, and one rates it the best motor, the Lex 4.0L also won motor/car of the year I believe in 92 or 93 in that class, maybe more, that I do not know for sure. I was at the Californin Science Center at USC the other week and happen to take pictures of the lexus motor on display, I will post to show I am not just making this stuff up. For Blake - I am no longer a used car dealer, and I was not one of the bad ones, or a Persian one either, I did not buy salvaged or mile fraud cars. But yes it is a degradable profession, but I had to make a living and I did o.k.for a while then sold the business. However, I was first hand on buying, fixing and driving many used cars, and many sc and ls400's that is all I am saying. Enjoy the pic's, these museums have the Lexus v8 motor on display for a reason!!!! That other picture is my current sc400 motor running nos for over a year, and I use it alot, no problems, just power!!!!!!!!! Oh one other thing the Lexus 4.0L engines can be purchased for $1000 on ebay, I don't think the Fords are that much cheaper. There did I prove my point yet????????

Well talking from experience, I spent 15 years only working and building up American V8 engines, Small Block Chevy's mostly, then I owned a used car dealership for about 6 years. Have bought and sold and repaired just about every American car you can think of... and many high mile sc400 and ls400's. For some reason I always found myself repairing the American cars with high miles alot more then the Lexus's with high miles, and I wanted to find out why this was so. What I found was that the Lexus V8 engines also run smoother and tend to last longer in general due to the fact that each lexus V8 motor is blueprinted at production, where as American engine are not. Don't get me wong the American engine produce more power and can last a long time if maintained, especially the newer engines, vortec's, trinton's, hemi's, etc... but alternators go out, trannys fail, electrical issues happen, and parts tend to break faster in most if not all Amercan V8 cars more so then in the Lexus V8. I also have friends, one whom works at a Mercedes dealership, say's all the new mercedes break down to much and are crap, the english cars are even worse, the range rovers and land rovers, although they are nice while they work but they are always breaking down kind of like the old 12 cyclinder Jags. I could go on and on but I base everything on actual experiences. I could write a book on this stuff. That is it.

If I may ask, what basis of knowledge with comparing these two engines are you basing this opinion on? Read the whole thread and then you may see where I am coming from.

Still not as well built as a LEXUS V8 motor, not even close!!!!!!! Many airport limo's here are Town Cars.....with over 600,000 miles! (1,000,000 kms) & still going strong on the 4.6L V8. SO I agree they are a very durable engine. ;) I saw a '96 Town Car that was from Canada on Ebay that had almost 700k miles, and the seller said that it has original powertrain! It still looked to be in pretty good shape too. Duh, I completely forgot that the 4.6 has ohc!! Thanks!

I honestly don't know what my car can do in the quarter or 0-60 because I keep adding a little mod here or there so it is always changing. What is strange is if you go GOOGLE and TYPE "the worlds most powerful V8 engine" The E55 AMG pops up at the specs read 2006 model 6.3Liter V8 with 510hp, then I search E55 Amg 2005 specs it comes up 5.5Liter 476hp 12.4 in the quarter mile. I don't know which one I would be racing and the more I read the more I feel I might get worked over on this one. Anyway thanks for the reply we will see what happens, I need to sleep on this one. This is a generic pic and it looks brutal.

Do I have a chance? Hear is the story, I have been trying to get my friends older brother whom owns and drives a stock AMG E55 to race me for months, and finally we agreed on this Saturday afternoon on an empty street near an airport in the Valley in LA, California. He is busy, and never has comitted until now. I am afraid I might get used, and we are racing for two LA Laker tickets on Christmas day! Now my 1992 Sc400 is running a nos system, and other mods, LSD, Torque converter, intake, exhaust, electrical upgrades it is lowered one inch, and mint. I have already beat out an new BMW M3 but not by much, a new v8 mustang and can stay with a new Vette once we get going, but not off the line. I just read up on these E55 AMG's they are 500hp and probably shift smoother and more timely then my sc, but the weight difference and with my skills with the nos I may have a chance. I just juiced my nos 10lb nos bottle to the max, I decided I will be running on 101 octane fuel which is a first, I am going to remove my spare tire and any additional possible weight, I am going to heat that nos bottle to around 1400psi on the 30 minute drive over to the race, and on a dry nos system that should give me somewhere around 125-150hp off the nos, total hp should be well over 400hp+. Can I win or should I back out? These tickets are bank!!!!! This is my first planned race and I will be prepared, and I am excited to see if my car can hang with that beast!!!! I will bring a camera a take pictures and post after. Here is a generic post of the worlds most powerful production motor V8 6.3 liter Mercedes motor, I am hoping the weight difference will give me the edge, what do you guys think, back out or go for it?????????????

THe Eaton M90 is a good choice for superchargers. Many Aussie's have them on their soarer's, and that would have been my choice but I went with the more cost effective means of getting hp's which is nos. The Eatons are nice for the stock engines not too strong, you can safely boost right up to the limits of the engine and tranny which is around 400-450 hp. Have fun....

That is why I said it is not recommended, if your running on Z-rated goodyears you could try it, but if you are running on Futura's then you better write your will. I do not know the difference between hot and cold psi however it does makes sense. I know from my nos bottle in the trunk when the heat increases so does the pressure. Live and learn, as I said I am not a tire expert, not even close. I know I got a nail in my rear tire that has a very slow leak and I am too lazy to fix it, I just keep filling air in it every month. Maybe I should fix, I hate when you pick up those nails or srews driving down an alley, then you need a plug in the tire at a tire shop, re-balance man what a pain. See ya

You want a huge education on building up the sc's check out intellexual.net and lextreme.com forums, that will tell you everything you need to know!!! Those two websites have gave me all the info to build the car to the limits and then some. Have fun!!!!!

Thanks, it was in good shape to begin with when I bought it a year ago. Bought the new leather seat covers on ebay $700, high quality repaint for $1000, more ebay purchases alot of supra parts as they fit on the sc's, and a wood dash kit, rims, tires, etc.. another $2000 and boom a new car almost. Not that hard restoring these cars. The leather and paint are the big things.

I HAVE A 95% RESTORED 1992 SC400 AND THE ONLY EXTERIOR FLAW IN THE TRIM OR RUBBER MOLDING THAT GOES AROUND THE FRONT WINDSHIELS, IT IS OLD, DISCOLORED, CRACKING AND UGLY, ANY QUICK FIXES? CAN SOMETHINK LIKE THAT EVEN BE CORRECTED IT APPEARS TO BE A MOLDING AND ADHESIVE FOR THE FRONT WINDSHIELD. I CORRECT THAT AND MY CAR IS SHOW QUALITY.

If the tire says 44psi you should put in 44psi, unless you are off roading in sand with big tires then let out 50%, If you are carrying alot of weight in the car, or you and your family are seriously obese, you should probably inflate to 34psi, so you don't blow the tires apart. If you drag racing and you want better traction you should take out 30% of the air in the rear tires, or 25 psi. If you want to save gas and fly on the freeway and around corners inflate to 48psi, but that is not recommended. Got all that, and I am not even a tire expert, but lots of experience.

yeah, I was going to call tranny shops to see what is up, just thought I could get a little knowledge base first off these forums. Thanks

I Have a sc400 Lexus and my engine hp is nearing the limits of the stock automatic transmittion. I have searched the forums and found no info on beefing up the stock auto tranny, just swaps to manual tranny's like the V160. Don't want to swap if possible, can anyone offer me any suggestions? I would love the tranny to support somewhere around 600hp if possible, the stock tranny limitations are around 450hp and then second gear blows out. I am getting dangerously close, I am experiencing delayed and untimely shifts under full throttle and I can tell my tranny is getting worked over, please help all and any suggestions welcome :cries: ??????????

Could be the tranny or engine mounts that is true. Those should last up to 150,000 miles and should be checked or changed out.

Yeah, I just got tired of driving a slow car. I remember what did it for my was when I lost a race badly to a friend with a 1993 Ford Mustang 5.0 Automatic stock 0-60. I said to myself why is this car so slow from a dead stop and I thought enough is enough this is an eight cyclinder car with dual overhead cams this should not be happening. What suprised me as I did mod after mod is that these cars are grossly undertuned at stock it's not even funny. For example the exhaust from the cat to the mufflers are so restrictive I am suprised the car has any power at all. Just by changing let's say the stock mufflers to highflow mufflers and a magnaflow cat and changing the 2" inch exhaust to 2 1/2 exhaust piping from the cat to the mufs, I would guess I gained 30hp+ no lie, and the car came to life. Then I changed to the Dragon Torque Converter and I destroyed my friends 5.0 mustang, well not destroyed but took him cleanly 0-60. That all cost me $1500 and it was worth it, get better gas mileage too, back wheel started spinning from a dead stop. I said this is all right let's see what else I can do. At that point it became fun and I could not stop seeking out hp, still can't. One year later and $7000 later (most of that $7000 came due to rims, leather, paint, and restoration and not all mods), now I can say I can keep up with new vettes, and getting a little respect finally....my sc400 is no longer slow, it handles like it's on rails and it rips 0-60. In fact I just recently beat out an M3 BMW and a newer Mustand GT V8 0-60, the M3 battled hard but lost in the end. See ya-

Sounds good no rust here in Southern California. This is pictures of my ride $7000 later.

Same sub frame, same engine and tranny, same bushings.

Bushings are the same arms are different and these daisens can be pushed right out no problem. Just trying to help.

Thanks, I'm happy people are using it and learning some new things from my site. I've had them in for about 5 months now. I actually recently received the new sway bar bushing set from TM Engineering and will be installing that soon once it warms up here. By that time Daizen should have their rear control bushing kit out and I will install that one as well. The rear kit is what my car really needs cause the bushings are worn out. That's funny because I have a new set of daisen bushing collecting dust in my back yard, they are still in my old control arms you can have them, They are left over from an expensive foul up from Todd at TM. I had to go with the supra arms after I got screwed.. Hear are the pics.

Yep my sc use to look just like yours one year ago. How is Hawaii, getting any island fever or rust over their? I try to make it over their once a year to do a little surfing, nice.

I am familiar with the daisen bushings and to me they are too rubbery and spongy feeling, I suggest you all go on ebay and get the stiffer ones there are several other brand bushings out there that are much better.

I really don't think it is the cat as over time they get clogged and restrictive but still do their job, if you decide to change your cat which is a good idea anyway I would suggest you install a magnaflow catalytic converter, it flows much better, guiet as stock, and cheaper than the dealer item. I changed mine out 6 months ago and noticed a nice difference.

I was told on another post that blocking the EGR will make the engine run very rich and foul the ECU, and should not be tried. However, I have paid for a set of headers and they are going in one way or another. I am having a hard time believing that the EGR cannot be successfully bypassed or blocked that is why started this thread. Anyway, thanks, and nice color sc you have it is the same color as my sc400 with the cream leather interior, great color scheme!!!!!!!!.