SCoupe

OK, I've got my flack jacket on. No one asked me, but, damn, has it come to this? These beautiful cars desecrated with these hideous wings that look so rice I could puke. They look insanely out of place on this gorgeous car. You're out of your freaking mind. Leave it alone, some of the best car designers on the planet made a masterpiece and you want to scar it up like some cheap civic. This is embarrassing. To each their own, its your car, but that's what many of us going to think if they are not laughing out loud on sight of this hidious comic book batmobile freak of a wing. Why are you having touble finding wings that fit. There is no demand as spoken by more than an hundred thousand SC owners until you come along. :chairshot: OK, got that off my chest. Quick now, where's my helmet?

Well, if you actually were planning on a turbo (gte swap), then what? Comments please...

This link will serve you well. The SC300's upgrade path is extensive. I'm with the 5-speed guys also. http://www.intellexual.net/faq.html

Is there a new gasket we can install to help with this? Anyone done this?

Nothing says you can't cut the living hell out of the offending plate. I took a diamond cut off wheel to the plate and sliced it down to something more resembling a Euro lic. plate. A pair of sharp tin snips would do it as well. Air flow is completely unimpended and the plate minimalist(?) appearance looks better.

Great stuff K9crew, awesome to bring that on here. My question is does some/none/or all of this apply to the process for a SC300? Anyone?

Yes, You need to go at it from the passenger side wheel well. Remove the retaining screws around the front section of the plastic shroud. When you've taken out enough to get your hand in there with a long extension socket your in business. Use a flashlight and you'll see the bolt the same size as the others (10mm?). It comes out very easily then.

Truth spoken here: http://www.carstereohelp.com/stereoremovalLexusSC300FSpk.htm I believe that that the Nak system shares (shocker) the identical speakers with the standard system; those being 4" Pioneers. In any event, here's the link to show you how to take a look yourself.

Heck yes I am looking, I'm so freaking happy that someone is doing this right now! Want a two pot. Please get them in tan!!! RE: the black color, most SC3/4's have a tan color interior, can we match that? (A black interior is almost unheard of in the SC's, very rare!)

We have been warned!

I've got an adapter plate and a K&N type cone that I may be able to let go in the next six weeks. It is exactly what you are looking for, it was on my SC300 for a coupe of months before I went BFI. PM me and I'll send you a picture. Its a nice piece in thick, highly polished aluminum, bolts perfectly and directly to the front of the MAF of the SC300.

DO NOT STEAM CLEAN YOUR ENGINES. Yes, I am yelling, sorry. You are setting yourself up for total, expensive nightmares. You better do so more searching on this and other Lexus/Supra forums. There tons of nightmare stories of totally screwed electronics causing expensive damage to these (SC3/4) engines. Mis-firing, water in plug wire holes shorting out expesive cables and on and on. Do the search! Don't listen to this, at least half of you will be kicking yourself. Would you steam clean your TV or stereo, even after protecting everything with plastic? Do not do it to these engines. If you've done it and gotten away with it you are freaking lucky, keep at it and you'll join the never again crowd. ok, back to normal, sorry about the rant. :chairshot:

You're asking a great question. The answer is how soon do you go tt? If you save the money buying a high mileage engine/car and get to do your swap that much sooner, then make sure the car is sound like USF3 is saying, with little concern over engine, its going away anyway. My advice is find a high mileage car and get going on the 2jz-gte if that's your real goal. The counter point is a '95- 5 speed with 63.5 k is a sweet find and will serve you well for another 100k miles. It is also a great find to go single turbo on a young, low mileage 2jz-ge engine and come out the same or a little better than a 2jz-gte. You've got the obd-1 that will make things easier. I think the costs are about the same. About $7-9k depending on where you draw the lines and labor. Of course you are going to be adding to that over time with wheels, brakes, the ever present TT 6-speed, electronics, FMIC, etc. But that's not where you start. I bought a flawless, 2 owner, dealer records, '94 5-speed about 4 years ago at 70,800 ($17,100 :o sure depreciated!) that was just off the Lexus certified program. Trouble free, replaced starter, $210. PM or email if you have other questions.

rabidus, Maybe you did this already, I got my biggest pop for the buck by changing the distributor cap and rotor. I was suprised at how bad they looked after 25k miles. Remember to price them at both the Lexus dealer and the Toyota dealer, remember, the 2jz-ge is the same in the Supra n/a and the sc300. (paid $18.91 for both @ yota). This really change was felt immediately from 3000 to redline.

On my 94 SC300 Emerald Green, perfect match. Installed it in 2002. I mean you would never, ever, have any freaking idea this was not the original paint. We are both in the SF area, not the Texas or Arizona desert. It is likely that you will be pleasantly surprised at the match. Don't sweat it.

Be aware of the additional rotating weight you add to the SC3. Bigger wheels and tires add weight. I put OEM 10 spokes on my SC3, picked up close to five pounds per wheel/tire combo (~38 lbs to 43lbs). Kind of anti-performance, but I really like those particular OEM's. The handling improved, but I went from H to Z rated tires. If you do this aftermarket, ask for rim weight, you may be surprised. Stock SC3's don't have a lot of extra hp to give away.

Ok, I had no freaking idea what this did, so probably someone else will be in same boat: " ThermoBlok spacers are thermal insulating replacements for your stock intake manifold and throttlebody gaskets. Made from a heat blocking phenolic laminate, ThermoBlok spacers increase power from your engine by keeping the intake cooler. Makes alot of sense to me, for $100 bucks sounds reasonable. Wondering about how big of a hassles this is for a d.i.y ? Also, you may want to post this over on the SupraForum, big perfomance minded bunch of non-turbo 2jz-gt owners over there that would add to the count. Have to wonder if this would work on the gte turbo as well.

I've added and aftermarket painted '92 spoiler style to my SC300 for the same ashtetics reasons as you mention, also, its classer to my eye, but no one ever found me guilty of good taste. Regarding the comments of lextech and AWJ, I would agree re: trunk struts. Lexus sells two different part numbers, one for with and one without a spoiler. If you don't change it, it will not stay open at best and come down hard when you don't want it to. Price, you can certainly do better than dealer. Second, if you are doing it yourself, a template would be a real asset. I did it without and it was not thrilled with the outcome. I have subsequently seen someone selling it with a template and thought that would have been dramatically easier. You are actually going to get out a drill and drill right through your truck. Better get it right.

Stick to the wider GS400 wheels because you'll want to mount 235/45/17 to your SC. If you go with is300 rims you'll have to buy 255/50/17 to preserve your speedometer accuracy. Problem is, there scarcely any in that size worth owning. The entire world of premium tires opens up to you with the 245/45's Check this out yourself at the better tire websites before you start buying anything.

See the links posted above by Bubbles. Then it depends on what you are used to doing on a car, knowing what looks right and improvising when necessary. Count on spend time hunting down screws, figuring how to creat the openings, cutting up the stock box and sealing everything up. Hard, not particularly.

Never seen this in our forum. Here goes. My SC300 5-speed was transformed with a change of manual transmission fluid to the fantastic NeoSynthetic 75w-90 HD. Let me restate that. This car at 85,000 now shifts like a dream. If you are good at the feel of a perfectly set up 5-speed, you understand what it means to shift without using a clutch. That just was not possible in my car. Possibly the same in yours. Neo changed all that. I do not have to use a clutch at all to move up through all gears if I am so inclined. No gnashing, nothing, just slips into the gear if you are RPM matched. I would highly recommend dumping conventional oil and going with Neo. Not so that you don't use a clutch, but the whole feel of the man trans changes to a much smoother touch from cold start on. I wanted to share this with the rest of the 5-speed owners who are drawn to the thread. I was amazed. Two owner 1994 SC300 5-speed 85,000, barely broken-in; BFI; You can not pry this car from my hands.

Dito, last word above. Agreed by one who has done that.

This site is very helpful, there are several walk throughs. Get a kick out of the Ausie wit, the BFI is their baby I think and credit is due: http://www.planetsoarer.com/#BFI This site is always worth a read for many: http://www.intellexual.net/faq.html#023

Saw the same vast chamber just in front of the passenger side wheel well and wondered the same thing. What settled it for me was I felt I was reinventing the wheel. I did not want to take the time to fabricate a scoop (using fiberglass or tweaking some pipes of some kind). Second was some uneasiness about the possibility of water making its way to the air filter with such a direct route as my reward for being creative. The scoop conversion from the center grill was so extremely quick to do once I got that pesky small sensor aside (overlooked in those Soarer posts). Spent most of my time fabing the second chamber out of a black plastic cut and heat gunned into place (a slightly textured sheet from Tap Plastics, $4.95). I think fiberglass would be the way to go here if you are good with the stuff. What is referred to as the second chamber is likely the area you are potentially drawing air from. That had to be sealed the way I went. The appeal of using this zone to grab air was not lost on me though. Ok, I was chickenstick to screw with what was "tried and true". I was too lazy to go with using fiberglass, so there. Interested in your pix when available. I just finished the conversion in late August, sort of fresh in my mind.

I was not expressing an opinion on sc300rye1's question. Who knows?; those who have looked and done the work know. I am doing these speakers right now, I can look at them and have digital pictures of what the whole thing looks like, including a tape measure that reads 4" when you apply it to the rear mid-range speaker. Tell me how to post a picture here and I'll put it up. :whistles: