smooth1

I know this thread kinda went quiet a couple months ago, but for anyone still subscribed to this thread, I wanted to change to nitrogen just to see for myself. SK brings up a great point about the pressure fluctuations. I live in Florida and it gets hot here. Hot enouph that cats and dogs can burn thier feet just crossing the road, as the sun is so strong. So I made a couple of phone calls, and there is a tire place here in Orlando, I won't give thier name, who charges,( get this!), $60.00 to convert to nitrogen!!!! I said " WHAT???!!!!" So they went into a sales speel about how it's so much better than air. " Whatever!!!!" I told them they should wear ski masks when they work so people feel right about giving them money. !!!! So, thanks to seeing the Costco thing about free Nitrogen here, I called them and they said yes indeed, but this store had not converted yet. Should be a couple of weeks at most. So, I'm just gonna wait. I figure it can't hurt right? Even if I get a more consistent ride out of it, that is improvement.

SO marquiers wax aint good at all??? is there bad concequences if u do use it or it just doesnt make the car loko nice or anything minor like that? If you use Mequiar's and drive in the rain, your car may totally collapse and fall into a heap right in the middle of the road. :chairshot:

Polish, then wax. But if your gonna polish, you should probably wash the car with dish detergent and use a paint prep to make sure you have gotten all the layers of cheap wax, and residues off first. Then clay bar it, then use a #3 polish. And then wax the car, maybe a second coat would be good also. If your not going to wax the car regularly though, and you run it thru car washes, then I wouldn't use a carnuba wax, You should probably use a paint sealant instead. Then you can use a one step sealant and also skip the polish step, as the one step has the right polishes in it. Also, if you clay bar the car, and use a paint sealant, make sure you wash the car with dish detergent again before applying the sealant.

Maguires is a "commercial shelf" wax. I used to use it all the time. But one day i ttok the wifes Volvo in to give it the Auto Butler. And when I got it back, it felt way better than after a whole day cleaning, clay baring and waxing the Lexus. I was perplexed to say the least. So I investigated. To sum it up, go here: http://www.ffcobra.com/magazine/waxtest.html . It's not the only place I got my info from, but if you read all the steps of the comparisons, you'll see what I mean. I agree with them. Oh, I put Zaino in my post, but I think PS21, and Zymol are both much better and easier to work with, and are real carnuba waxes.

You can wack the throttle open on this and still get about 45 mpg. !!! LOL Doing well, and impatiently waiting on the rest of my parts to come in for my project on my car. I have a thread ( Modifying an IS 300, Chronicles of a Dream Ride), if you want to see what that's about. I just like to help if I can. I'm just glad you got a good IS 300!!!

As for the AVIC, yo bro, if you can any way swing it, my advice is do it like you were spending someone else money bro!!!! hell ya. I love my AVIC. I have put alot of stereos in cars, for me, friends, and countless customers. It is by far one of the best out there. You will not be unhappy with it.

Is this a repost from the IS 300 forum?

Peanuts

If your gonna clay bar your car, make sure you keep the surface lubricated with the quick detailer and only do a small section at a time. Because you have black paint I would consider a polish before waxing it. And if your gonna use carnuba wax,please, don't waste your time with Maquires wax. even the Gold Class stuff. get Zaino, or Classe, or even Griots wax is really good stuff. Trust me. I was a big Maquires fan until I learned the truth about waxes and car detailing.

I don't like doing diagnostic work over the boards. To many varibles to account for. So, heres some ideas. You might be down on hp output. Maybe the issue is in the motor and your only seeing a symptom of the problem. the car is 15 years old. So, what condition is the motor in? Have you had it recently serviced? Ever have a compression check? How is your gas mileage? Have you noticed a slower acceleration or inability to get up to speed quickly? Are there any cells being thrown up? Most of the driveline sensors are monitored. Have you checked the fluid level in the tranny? Make sure it's full, but not over full. Also, how are your engine mounts? If they are bad, over time the motor will start to " rotate" and damage the tranny tines not allowing it to shift properly. The speed bands in the tranny might be too far out and need to be adjusted. ( $$$) But I usually see this problem in the lower gears not the top.

Did you check the switch on the brake pedal ?

Ok, they did replace the tranny fluid. Type 4 is the replacement for type 2. ( Type 2 is no longer in use). What I think you may be experiencing here is what we call case cracking cries. When you have a motor that has been put together and run for over 100,000 miles, over the course it has all broken in together and worn parts have seated themselves together. When you " crack the case" and start doing major moving, your going to have some parts that won't "line up " like they did before. At this point, you have 2 options available. One is to just let it "break in" for awile. It may get better over some time as the gear tines regrind to fit thier new homes. The second alternative is to take it in and have the transmission tuned and adjusted. Although I think this is only an option for an extreme case as it can be expensive. I wouldn't advise putting any addatives in your transmission. I think if you just give it some time, it may not get as smooth as it once was, but it should get better.

That's why I said in my previous post : The color of the tranny fluid will not be red after about 3,000 miles. The better way is to put a drop on a white paper towel. The center of the drop will be a maroon/brown color and an outer ring should develope after about 15 seconds or so. How much of the outer ring that is red will be a good tell. If there is no ring of red, then you should replace the fluid. I think you and I are on the same page, but we need to clear some verbage up. If you drain and drop the tranny pan, replace the filter and lock it back up, and refill, you still have the old fluid in the system that you can't get to. So the old will mix with the new. this is not bad advice for those who have gone a long time without a tranny service. But I would stop at this point. Wait 6 months to a year,and just drop the fluid from the pan and replace it. I don't know that doing it 2 or 3 times is good for old trannys. This we'll call changing the tranny fluid. To flush the tranny is different in that it uses a mechanical fluid exchanger and the cars own pump and hooks into the cooler lines off the radiator. As the car runs and it pumps the fluid out, the machine replaces it with the exact same amount of fluid. Then the car is run through all the gears. After that we drop the pan replace the filter, lock it back up and run it thru the fluid exchanger again. ( The system has a safety bypass that stops the machine from over filling the tranny, and not under filling as well.) This flush is only recommended if you have the tranny flushed on a regular basis. ( every 30,000 miles) This we'll call a tranny flush. So, you can change the tranny fluid regularly to keep the transmission fluid fresher on any transmission that has not had regular flushes, But you have to have it flushed regularly if you want to go that route. So, Jibby, I think we were saying the same things, we just needed to clear up the details. B)

Hey is300sc,,, Iv'e actually seen your ride before, I think it was cardomain. NICE JOB!!! Inside and out. I am currently in the midst of going turbo. I just got the turbo in last week ( Turbonetics), and I have orders out there everywhere with bits and pieces coming in almost daily now. Some new tech. seems to be coming out as I order stuff, so I keep upgrading!!!! ( Man they know how to suck that last dollar out of your wallet don't they? ) Anyway, should be within the next 2 maybe three weeks and I will be fully boosted. Then of course it's on to the next step. Which will be putting th e chassis bars on, engine dress up, and then CF hood, and body kit. But right now it's all about the turbo!!!! We scheduled 2 days at the shop on the dyno for tuning. ( Pop is a little upset to say the least, but oh well, he'll get over it.) So, hows your ride coming along? The last time I read it you were taking the supercharger off and stepping up for more hp.

Thanks bro.

To be honest, I would have to see the system in person to really tell. But if money is tight, and like you said, you wanna do it right, than I would just get cat back system new and skip the header for now. You can get an HKS Dragger for around 300 bucks. Then in a little while I would get a CAI to go with it. And I will have a UNI chip for sale in a few weeks that I will probably let go cheap as I won't be needing it. ( it is brand new also.) So you can retune the ECU for the higher air flow. This way you can do it a little at a time and end up with some real go fast.

Congratulations!!!!! And Happy Birthday!!

I think he has shown poor taste and no class. I don't know alot about him though. I guess I should find out. I just heard on the news that he is affiliated somehow with the al-qiuda ( however you spell that).

up

Partayyyy!!!

he's probably gettin ready to sell the car. Most people like it stock when buying it, and the exhuast and headers don't make it worth anymore anyway. So if he sells them seperate, he gets more $$$ in the end. That's how I've done it in the past. The only thing I think you may want to ask is if he had to cut the pipes to fit or do any bending. It should have fit ok without having to do that. but sometimes if your using your exsisting down pipe, it's hard to make it all fit the way they send it. He only showed a picture of the header off the car, and not the exhaust. That's the only reason I bring it up. The header is a Toyo knock off also. Hmmmm, he is probably having trouble selling it. If I were you I would offer him 300 for it. You can get a real exhaust and header for just under 600. The fact that they are used and knock off's, means they aren't worth that much. Make him pay for shipping also, or at the most split it with him.

Oh and BTW, the reason you don't see Vvti motors used in high boost conditions is a tuning issue. When you set the tuning parameters for high boost levels, you generally exceed the limits of the Vvvti programing for timing advancements, knock control and a/f mixtures. That's all. It's not a mechanical deficiency issue.

yeah, that looks good. the chrome is in good shape. You can generally tell if they ran it hard by how much purpling the header has. Tanabe knock off is kinda " whatever" , but 400 is a good price for both the header and the exhaust. In the box he's showing new header gaskets, but I have a feeling you will need new ones. The bung's look good to.

okay, we need a moderator or management person to ok this I think. I'll send them a message.