SuperCoupe400

I also like the look of the wider rear wheel. But I've always been afraid of loosing the structural integrity of the rear wheel well by rolling it. I know of some guys who've cut the (horizontal) lip off the wheel well first, and then rolled. I assume you just bent the lip up on yours? Did you bother torch-heating (after taking the plastic guard off) - to make the metal more pliable before rolling?

...The wheels, booja, the wheels. I just want to know the size and offset. Because I keep running across guys in wheel & tire shops that say that a deep-dish with more than about a 1" lip will not work on our SCs. But you've clearly got more than a 1" lip on yours. thanks.

Interestingly, one of the most difficult repairs was to replace the starter motor on the '400. Who would ever put the starter under the intake manifold???! - Indio I seem to recall reading in some automotive magazine, shortly after the Lexuws nameplate hit the scene, that the starter was located down there to lessen the noise upon ignition.

Ever since my dad first showed me and my brother how to do the brakes and change the oil on his '78 Olds Delta 88 I've had the itch to do all my own repair/maintanence/tuning work. Between this and my last car, I've saved a bundle on stealership parts and labor charges over the years doing such stuff as head gaskets, valve stem seals, starters, pumps, alternators, callipers, radiators, tie rods, etc., etc., etc. (you get the picture) But, of course, there are certain jobs that most of us could never do like wheel bearings and alignments - simply cause we don't have the equipment/tools. I know not everybody's mechanically inclined enough to do much else besides an air filter swap. Furthermore, some folks just don't want (or have the time) to be bothered wasting away half-a-saturday changing rotors and brake pads. So what I'd like to know is how many people actually do work on their own cars? Even if it's only to change your own oil. Please be a little specific in letting us know what level of work you perform yourself: BASIC = oil & oil filter ; air filter changes (possibly spark plugs) ; etc. INTERMEDIATE = brakes ; rotors ; serpentine belt ; radiator ; p.s. pump ; alternator ; replacement antennae ; etc. ADVANCED = engine swaps/rebuilds ; head gasket ; timing belt ; headers ; turbo/nos ; etc.

Well, it certainly sounded like it was coming from inside the cabin. But now that I've replaced my alternator and p.s. pump I don't recall hearing it again. humph

One word... SOWEEET! I like it. Very tastefull. Quite clean indeed :D Had to do a few double-takes on the spoiler, but I think it works. Please share the exact size and offset of your wheels. I haven't got the bank yet to pick up a set of blades for my ride, but when I do I'll either be going with a deep-dish similar to yours or a convex style similar to the stock BMW 650i.

Well, oddly enough, it just started working again on yesterday. Seems that everythings back to normal - without going back to disconnect the batt a second time. thanks anyway though, 082.

So nobody's had this happen before? Guess I'll have to consult the dealer. :(

I didn't know there were kits out there for this sort of thing. I'll definately look this up. So now a new question: Has anybody tried one of these angel-eyes kits? Pros - Cons??

140 in my 93 SC4 on an empty stretch of highway. Would have gone faster, but no sooner than I hit 140, I remembered how low the tread was on my tires and in fear of a blow-out and serious loss of control, brought 'er back down to 75.

I recently discovered a few links detailing how to make and install your own angel-eyes on an ES300 (like the BMWs have) - http://us.lexusownersclub.com/forums/index...showtopic=27330 - and was just wondering if anybody's ever done this with their SC. Even though our headlight configuartion isn't set up with two lenses of the same diameter like the ES or BMWs, I'd still like to do some type of angel-eye setup. I think it'd really add a nice flare at night and especially at dusk. I'm just a little concerned though about the condensation issues that might arrise as a result of the mods that would have to be made at the rear of the headlight housing. Has anybody done this on their SC? If so, have you had any condensation issues after the install? Post some pics if you've got 'em.

How can you tell when the grade of oil you use is too thin?

Wheels are nice and clean B) , but look like it could stand to be dropped about an inch.

Using Mobil 1 5w30 with mobil synth filter right now (and changing every 5000 or so). But looking to switch to Amsoil 0w30 with their new synth filter and go to oil changes every 24k mi (once a year).

Ever since I did my alternator & p.s. pump replacement (had to disconnect batt for those 8 1/2 hours) my steering wheels automatic tilt/telescope feature has stopped working like it used to. It used to be that it would initiate as soon as I put the key in the ignition. And if I turned the ignition before it was done tilting/telescoping it would pause, then finish the tilt/tele after the car was started. But now if I start the car before it's done with the tilt/tele cycle it just stops and doesn't continue the cycle after the cars started. So then I've got to hit my seat position preset button to bring it down the rest of the way. What in the world happened here? Seems like something probably got reset or cleared during that 8 1/2 hours my battery was disconnected. But I don't know what to do to get this tilt/tele back to normal operation. Any clues? Thanks

Thanks a ton, lexus082. This link is gold. Can't wait to get in there and clean that puppy - then do a flush. I'm assuming nobody has got any info on the steering fluid reservoir filter, huh?

Sure hope these help: Thanks fellas. Whitesnake, your links took me to some blank wite with what looked like Russian text. dcfish, the second pdf you posted had great info on the rack components and dissasembly, but I still could not find a reference to the filter. Of course, I could be just overlooking something here. Could someone who's done this procedure before please let me know what I should be looking for? Thanks guys.

I spent about 8 1/2 hours Saturday replacing my p.s. pump, alternator and serpentine belt - due to the usual suspect p.s. pump leak which killed the alt. (I saw all the great tutorials people have put together on how to rebuild the pump, but I just didn't feel like being bothered with all that - just easier for me to replace it with a re-built) Anyway - my intent was to get in there and do a full system flush and clean out those two steering fluid filters that are (supossedly) located in the steering fluid resevoir and somewhere in the steering rack. I've done some back-tracking through threads and been only able to find multiple references to the filters being at these locations but no photos showing exactly what to crack open. So here are my problems: #1 The power steering resevoir is a closed unit. Unless the aluminum can with the screw-cap where p.s. fluid is poured in through is NOT actually the resevoir. The only access into this unit is through the cap opening. The top of the unit (where the cap screws into) is mechanically clamp-sealed onto the body of the canister. Even if I could manage to pry it loose, I'd never be able to get it sealed back properly. How in the world do you get inside that thing to remove and clean a filter? Or is that not the resevoir at all? #2 Since I could find no illustrations of people removing the screen filter in the steering rack, I figured maybe I'd see something down there that just LOOKED like it might contain a screen. No luck. I read in one post that it's inside a solenoid attached to the rack??? I saw something that looked like a solenoid, but was just too unsure to even touch it - not to mention it looked impossible to get a wrench around and manuver. Can someone please help me here? I was really disgusted to have to put my car back together knowing that I was unable to even locate those two filters. I know they've probably never once been cleaned in the 13 years my baby's been alive, and I don't want the back-pressure they're creating to cause new leaks in the system. I did find one post by Monarch fromJan 9, 2005 with some pic links, but the links are no good. Monarch, if you're still out there can you re-post those pics? Thanks guys.

I've been accused from time to time of hearing things, but please tell me I'm not the only one hearing these "chirp/whistle" noises? Anybody??

Well guys, my altenator finally bit the dust - after having been leaked on by my p.s. pump for the past who-knows-how-many months. So I'll be spending the weekend replacing it plus the p.s. pump and serpentine belt (belt's not broken, but i've noticed tiny cracks, so I figure I may as well hit it too) I've read in several posts about how important it is to clean the power steering fluid filter. Is this filter inside the p.s. pump (in which case I wouldn't have to worry about cleaning anything)? Or is it somewhere else? Thanks.

How did you resolve your drift problem? I have the same issue with my 93 SC300. Mechanic says the passenger side is bushings, and the driver side bushings can only be replaced with a new rack! Sounds like overkill, and very expensive. Thanks ! Never got around to it. In fact, I probably won't for some time now. My alternator finally died on me this morning from the P.S. pump having leaked on it for such a long time. Fortunately though the car didn't die on me while driving. I simply couldn't get it started. So there goes my weekend - I'll be replacing both the P.S. pump and alternator. I'm just glad I'm not one of those poor fellas who doesn't know how to work on there own car. Otherwise I'm sure I'd be coughing up some nice change to get these two parts replaced by the dealer (or any other mechanic).

I used to notice a subtle and not too loud chirp coming from somewhere inside the car (I suppose the dashboard area) almost everytime I'd start it up. But lately I'm hearing it when I stop at a light (usually after coming off the freeway) - but it only happens every now and then. A "chirp" is the best I can describe it. It never does it more than once at a time. It's not something you'd hear with the radio on. Has anybody else been getting this noise? What is it? BTW, it's definately not a squeak of any kind. It sounds electronic.

That would be nice if it were one (or both) of those things. I'll look into it. But I just changed my rotors and pads 2 1/2 months back, so I seriously doubt it could be the brake pad sensors. And the tires still have a good 60% tread life left. But, hey, you never know.

I've got some wierd results here. I seem to be getting 23.1 mpg as of my last fill-up (75% highway; 25% city). I say wierd because I think I used to average around 18-19mpg last time I checked (last year). It's wierd because a couple weeks back I tried out a "gas-saving technique" of keeping my highway speed down to 60mph - which yielded me 22.5 mpg. Okay, great. But this last time I only drove that way about half the time. The other half I did my normal 70-80mph + the occasional hard passing acceleration and wound up with 23.1mpg. That's why I'm puzzled. And I'm even overdue for an air filter change. The way I calc my mpg is to first do a full fill-up (til i can't squeeze one more drop in), reset my odometer, then on my next full fill-up divide my miles driven by gallons I just put in. What mpg are the rest of you getting (+ your highway/city ratio)?

thanks.