smooth1

Willie Mosconi

Have you tried some of the local salvage yards? I would think you could get em pretty cheap there.

Iv'e actually had the car now for four weeks. It now has 1200 miles on it. Other than a few small things, I am really liking the new IS 350. Being able to disable the VDIM is pretty cool. I do that and change to the power mode and the attitude of the car really changes! There are some things I might add to the car and change around a bit later, but for the most part this car will be the family mover, and my back and fourth to work car. I drive about 30 miles each way to the shop, so, I have really come to enjoy this car.

Well, I finally pulled the trigger on a new car. I thought I was done buying brand new cars, but Lexus holds it value so well, that a used one only saves a couple thousand dollars!! So I figured for the money, I just as well get a new one instead! Plus, It's that time of year the dealership was really "helping" me out. They just kept giving away money. At one point, I was looking at an 07 with 7K miles on it for the exact same price another dealership was offering me an 08' for!! So, just as I was about to say yes, a black on black IS 350 was getting the wrapping paper taken off, and I said I'll take that one! It had 6 miles on it. So, let me take a second to explain my disposition. I had a 2005 IS 300 with a ton of mods on it, including a turbo system. We had been talking about increasing the hp, and maybe making it a track only car. So I had somewhat of a problem. Why take my really nice car and make it a track only car, and get stuck driving the road warrior ( a 96 Nissan Sentra GXE) as a daily driver! Shouldn't that be the other way around? Then came the ISF test drive at Moroso Speedway. they let us test drive on the race track, an IS 350, GS 350, LS 460, and the ISF. I expected the ISF to be everything it was, and it even surprised me and did better than that. But what I was shocked over was how well the IS 350 handled the track! I never expected that car to do well. And it did! I would say on the track, it held it's own very nicely. And I drove that car to the limits and even a bit beyond the tires traction abilities. So, after thinking things over, and a few discussions I decided to put the 05' back to stock, sell it, then sell all the mods off, get the IS 350, and then buy an older, higher mileage IS 300 to put in the shop and tranform into a full out racecar. Which brings us to this. These were taken at the dealership upon delivery: And these were taken just the other day after I Zaino'd the car: You see how the hood looks like it's hazed? That is the reflection from the clouds in the sky!

Yeah, you can pretty much shift from drive to manual anytime. IT doesn't matter if the car is stopped or rolling, at any speed. The tranny will stay in the gear it is in. Once in the manual position, you can downshift and upshift using the buttons on the steering wheel. The car has biult in safety features, so you really don't even have to worry about doing any damage. I don't think the tranny will do any shifts even if you press the button until it deems it's safe to do so. So if you were stopped at a light and manually shifted to fourth gear, the car wouldn't try to start out in fourth, it would still start rolling in first, shift to second, third and then fourth. It just wouldn't go into fifth. And if you came to a stop with it in fourth, the car would still downshift accordingly. The only annoying thing about the manual mode is the fact that you push the button, and have to wait for like a second or two before it actually shifts. The tranny doesn't instantly respond. So when your going into some heavy curves, it's really hard to use the manual mode effectively. I generally liked to use it on the highway when having to pass some slower traffic. I can control the downshifts when I step on it to make the pass. But if you really floor it in the manual mode from a stop, you'll find you hit the rev limiter frequently before being able to shift to the next gear. It takes some practice and getting used to. Oh, btw, in the manual mode, you still don't have control over first gear. In other words, you can't manually select first. I don't know why they deeemed that to be like that, it just is. You really can only manually shift second thru fifth.

To switch to the HID from standard halogen isn't exactly plug and play, but easier than most conversion kits in that the headlight housing has the ballast compartment built in. You'll need to disconnect the halogen plugs and rewire them to the ballasts that get mounted underneath the headlight housings. As for the auto leveling, that should be standard and is a different system altogether. But yes the HID has the auto leveling function also. If your ordering the HID housings you have posted. ( I can't read Japanese), but from the picture it has the ballast and connectors on it. All you will need is to get the connectors on your car that plug into those changed over. An easy fix though.

That's what I thought also. Here in Florida, I hear on the radio all the time this glass company gives you a free box of steaks and waives the deductible.

Hey brosnibean, I really like the two bucket explanation. Very good!! What an awsome analogy.

Hey DC, I just bought one of those new laser pointers. You were probably seeing me playing around with it in the back yard. Hahahah!

OW-30 is good stuff, Amsoil has had it out for awhile also. Which is the oil I use.

The only one I've seen is this one: http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Pro...essories/CD-SR1 But that's only for the Z2. I don't know if they make one for the D3.

I just poted the link to the website.

An S4 huh? Those are some pretty quick cars out of the box. 340 ish hp? you know that when they stomp on it, their fuel mileage dropps to single digits on that car right? So just stay on em, he'll probably run out of gas during the race!! And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but even those turbo kits really cost around 10K also. Neither of those kits come with boost controllers, or timers, or widebands. The fuel mgmt systems they come with suck, so you'll have to get a different one, in fact, the SRT system is actually 5 or 6 grand. And you can't put those systems on a stock exhuast system. I mean, you can, but your turbo won't last very long because of the back pressure created by the too small of an exhaust system. YOu'll have to go to atleast a 3'' exhaust, which, for the IS 300 is a custom exhuast. You'll need to upgrade the fuel pump, I went with a walbro 255, and the injectors those kits come with are to small. So you'll need to upgrade from the 380 cc injectors to atleast 440 cc injectors. 600 cc is much more ideal. And with your limited machanical experience, your gonna need to have a proffesional install it for you. They make it sound easy and all with thier "detailed" instructions. Just wait till you see how many parts are in that box!!! Iv'e installed more than a few turbos, my dad owns an auto shop, and it still takes us more than a few days to properly set up, and install a turbo system. Then there is dyno tuning. Again, I don't know how familiar you are with ECU tuning, but the timing will need to be retarded by about 10 dgrees, and the A/F mix will need to leaned out and tuned for wide open throttle mapping . And if you run a complete stand alone, then you have to configure cold idle, idle, light load, and wide open throttle conditions. That's alot of tuning. It takes time do get all those maps right before you can go out and start racing. My advice is to either just be happy your driving one of the nicest cars a 17 year old can have, do some realistic mods if you want. And a few years from now, maybe after college, take your time and do it right. I would hate to see you spend all that money and then go out and crash it soon after. I'm sure your a really good driver. 2 years now behind the wheel, I know you are very comfortable. But I have been racing cars now for 25 years. Both on the track and strip. The street is no place for a 400+ hp car and a 17 year old behind the wheel wanting to race his buddy in an S4. My turbo IS 300 is sneaky fast! You just don't realize how fast the car is eccelerating when the turbo charges up. Even I had to reel myself in. the temptation to race everyone from the light is just too much. So now my car IS 300 is going to be a track only race car. Just remember, there will allways be another car faster than yours. It may be your buddies S4 right now, then it will be a vette, or a Viper. Hp is a very expensive addiction. Trust me! ;)

Remove the paddle shifters? Why?

Your insurance company is supposed to cover that free of charge in most cases. In other words I don't think your deductible applies to replacing it. I would call them and find out what the policy is.

Not for manual trannies, only for the automatics. And what I saw was a conversion kit for the buttons in the steering wheel on the autos to change them to paddle style shifters.

Go here http://www.aacstyle.com/

To the Moon Alice!!

No, no real tranny issues that come up often that I can see. You might have a speed sensor going bad, or a dirty MAF. Maybe clean the MAF with electronic parts cleaner and then try doing an ECU reset. Disconnect the negative battery terminal for ten minutes. Then pump the brakes 10 times, and then wait a few more minutes, pump the brakes 10 times again and then reconnect the battery. Start it, let it idle for about 3-5 minutes, and take it for a test drive. If it keeps happening after that I would take it in and have them check the speed sensor.

You can get 100 more hp n/a. It's gonna be pricey and a ton of work, but it can be done. A BC Stroker kit, higher compression pistons, head work, larger custom throttle body, raise the rev limit to say 8000 rpm or more, stand alone tuned ECU, and a few other things and your there. You could also just hook up a 100 shot nitrous system. Heck those are cheap and easy! Car probably won't last very long, but 0-60 times will sure look good! So you see, your asking a big question. There are so many ways and combinations out there that we would need pages to go over them all. You could do a Myth/02 spray with an intake, header and exaust, and get a stand alone ECU tune. You could do a Nitrous system and a Myth/02 spray system and header, exhaust and ECU tune. You could do a BC stroker kit, header, exhaust and ECU tune. You could do a BC stroker kit and a Myth/02 spray system and ECU tune. You could do a BC stroker kit and a nitrous spray system and ECU tune. You could do a BC stroker kit, nitrous, and Myth/02 and ECU tune. You could do a BC stroker kit, headers, exhuast, intake, nitrous, Myth/02 spray, and ECU tune. You could just have the motor bored over and balanced, and a slew of bolt on stuff again. So, how much time and money do you have? BC stroker's start at $10,000.00, Are you doing all t he work yourself? Or are you paying someone else to do it for you? I ask because that makes the budget smaller real fast! And the power band is all up to you and you decide to go about doing this. Do you want the power to come on low in the rpm's or high? are you wanting as flat a line as you can or what? Huge questions your asking bro. HUGE! If your just gonna put a cold air intake, header, exhaust, on, your not gonna get under that 6 sec. goal. You will make the car a bit peppier, but you anly adding really 25 ish hp. I would suggest that you also look into making the car lighter. Some signifacant weight reduction will help alot.

those are CCFL halo's if he got em from Justin at ACC.

Hello Comsteal. Welcome to the LOC! Wow, 17, and you have an IS 300? and already lookin to go faster huh? LOL!! Well, let's start with keep it safe huh? Are you planning on running those 6 sec goals on the 1/4 mile track or racing everyone from light to light? Don't waste your money on the tc. Unless your talking about adding a tranny brake your not gonna add anything by switching to a modified tc. The problem your facing right now is to stay n/a you would have to go in the exact opposite direction you would need to go if you want to later go forced induction. So until you make up your mind, don't waste all that money on parts you will have to get rid of. Just focus on speed prep stuff. Speed prep stuff is the suspension, brakes, tires, etc. etc. If you wanna be able to get any significant hp gains, your going to have to upgrade those first. Other wise you'll have more power than the car can handle. Also, it will give you time to research and set some real hp goals first. Then it's just a matter of putting together the combination that achieves those goal. Your at the beginning now. I know alot of people who just start modding and putting stuff on thier car without a plan or hp goals and end up wasting thier time and money, and not getting what they thought they wanted. So when your talking about going faster, are you talking about 25 more hp? 50? 100? You answer that question, and then we can lay out some ways of acheiving the goals you set.

DYNO-MITE!!!!!

Got busy, pics are comin. The Jeffersons

Nice. How do you like that Dragger? Do you have an intake also? What do you plan for it next?