TWINTURBO619

Does the Twin Turbo Stock Turbo Kit from the Toyota Supra fit on to the IS300? I always thought it did but I'm not quite sure. Might sound dumb but I want to know. It's between that and getting a Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6R Bike. Thanks people.

the manilfold outlet is different between the ge and gte engines. you can take the head of the gte and slap it on your ge engine. the bottom end is the same with exception of the compression ratio.

Can anyone please advise what make of wheels these are ?

Many thanks Dean

what wheels

the only place i've seen those rims is on ebay. they had it on a supra and some other car i forget. look on there under like supra rims, toyota rims, lexus rims... you might be lucky and find them there again.

I'm going to move this to the detailing section.

Read all the information in there. No offense to Twinturbo but he's got it very backwards. A polymer sealant wont remove or hide anything, they are purely for protection. Removing swirls is very difficult by hand and can even be impossible. Rubbing compound is WAY too harsh and wetsanding is almost definately not needed here.

A product isn't going to fix your problem, but the proper technique along with the right tools can. Saying something in a bottle can do what a detailer can do for $130 is preposterous, thats like saying don't have a bodyshop fix your damaged fender, get some spraypaint and do it yourself. Swirling in paint is damaged paint, and it needs to be repaired properly by someone that knows how to do it. You could do serious and irreperable damage to the paint by wetsanding and using rubbing compound when you don't know what you're doing.

If you just want them buffed out and the car waxed I would do that for you for way less than $130 seeing that you're an LOC member and you're here in D.C. but I'd have to see it first to make sure they're not too bad for me to handle. If you'd like that you're welcome to stick around when I buff them out and I can show you how its done. Once the swirls are gone I can also show you how to keep them from coming back. Lexus black has no clearcoat and swirls VERY easily. Let me know, I'd be happy to help you out. If you want to just tackle it yourself there is more than enough info in the detailing forum to help you out.

i appreciate the feedback... the only reason why i posted up my response is because that is how my car was done and i have a flawless paint job. but you know, i just wanted to put in my two cents.

I bought my black 98 gs300 a month ago and i just realized that there are white circular swirls all over my car. You could only see it from the side or when the sun shines on it. But its *BLEEP*ing me off. I think the detailer at the dealer used a dirty rag or buffer. Can these swirls come off? Detail shops in my area want between 100-130 to polish and buff it to get rid of swirls. What do you guys suggest?

Something I can do myself? What should I use?

Thx guys

hey what's up, there is a special polish to remove that. it's by 3M (they make everything) and it's call something like polymer sealent. this is stage 2 after you paint a car.

1. rubbing compound (after wet sanding)

2. polymer sealent (to remove swirls and scratches)

3. Mcguires wax/polish (or what ever you like) after the stage 2 polish

look for the stage 2 on the 3M website under car care or something. that's the best thing for swirl marks and scratches. good luck. i beleive the bottle runs about 30 bucks, but better paying 100+ anywhere else.

The headlights on my 95 sc 400 are slightly yellowed, i have seen worse but i

would like to get mine crystal clear if possible. I have read about ways it can be

done by heating them in the oven to get them open but i wanna kno is there an

easier method??? help please!!!

well first of all, is it yellowing on the outside or inside? if it's the outside, you can apply some mothers or mcguires wax on your headlights and buff them out with a buffer or hand buff. that will take away like 90 of the yellowing. or if you want, use a rubbing compound to micro clean the lens by cutting and inserting crystals in the cuts then apply a polish to have a super clean look. either way is good. i've done both methods on my headlights because they were yellower than yellow... now they are crystal clear. if it's yellowing in the inside, then i can't help you there... good luck on cleaning them.

Really, not a drop of felt on mine. Looks as if there never was any. Are you referring to felt covering on the seal itself or lining the opening in the roof?

there should be a felt lining around the perimeter of the sunroof opening. it's black and feels like a brush with tiny brissels.

Thanks Twiin Turbo...

I've got my service appointment at Lexus tomorrow so it would be great to get that info.

hey what's up, i got the pics you wanted on both invoices. only thing is that i took the with my camera phone. my sis took the digi camera to magic mountain. check out the gs300 photo gallery for the pics. i posted them up there for everyone to see. hopefully this will hook you up in any way at both the dealer and shop

Hey twinturbo,

Just wondering if you had a chance to find those receipts...

Thanks, smalltowns

hey what's up... i found the installation receipt and still looking for the lexus receipt. i'll take a nice high quality pics so you can print it out for them and show them what's up.

You just confused the hell out of me

I put an alpine cd player in in place of the lexus factory(pioneer)....I removed the changer because it got screwed up. That is why Im using the alpine. The sub will be powered by my aftermarket amp. I just want a way to hookup the door speakers now. The doorspeakers don't have to be wired to the aftermarket amp. I just want to know how to do it because I have to bypass the factory amp or is there a way to use the factory amp for the door speakers? I could use my aftermarket amp as well because it has 4 channels.

As soon as I disconnect the Lexus factory unit from the big wire, which has doorspeaker wires and amp wires in it, I can't use the door speakers which makes sense. I tried to tap into those and I tried all of them, but for some reason none of the door speakers output sound.

Another question, my amp requires you to plug in the remote wire. Could the remote wire be plugged into the Lexus factory(pioneer) unit? If so, how?

And yes, you are right about my not knowing how to do this.

Alittle less confusing this time please :)

i read you post again and here's the scoop... all the speaker including the sub is connected through the factory amp. without the factory amp, you will not have any input from radio stations or cd player. so if you tried to put some input to your door speakers, it won't work. this is what i have done... i checked out my setup... on your wiring harness, there should be three mint colored wires. (we're talking gen 1 gs300) two out of three mint wires are the output wires for your sub.

mint wire with red line = positive output

mint wire with black line = negative output

cut those two wires about 6 inches from the wiring harness and put them to the side. i powered my aftermarket amp by taking the the 12volt wire (yellow)accesory wire (red), and ground (black) from my pioneer cd changer.

12volt (yellow) = 12 volt connection for amp

accesory wire (red) = remote for amp

ground (black) = ground for amp

now if you throw all that together and you'll have a sub powered by the aftermarkent amp.

here's the tricky part... finding out the signal to them amp from head unit. mine is setup with rca pre-outs which won't help you because your factory stereo doesn't have them, so you can't go that rout. your only other option is to rig it. depending on how many channels you have, will determine what you need next.

example: if you have an amp with four channels, you'll need 2 "Y" rca cable connectors. (2 males into 1 female). now plug the four males into each color set of rca preouts you have on your amp. (white and red) make sure that one "Y" connector goes to the set of red and the other connector to a set of white. cut the female connect offn (about 2 to three inches) and strip the sheath. inside the sheath there should be two wires. so when you cut both "Y" connectors, you should have four wires exposed (2 per "Y" connector). now you need to go back to your harness and find either the front speakers or rear speakers... an easy way to finding these speaker without tearing apart your doors is to take a 9 volt battery, connect a wire to each pole and start sticking them into the harness a two at a time. you'll need another person sitting in the car to listen for a negative feedback. try this with the wires you had already cut for your sub... connect the positive pole with the mint+red line wire and with the negative wire still attached to the battery, tap that wire to the negative wire of the sub. DO NOT CONNECT NEGATIVES!!! so just gently tap the exposed ends and you'll hear the sub give a popping noise. that's the negative feed back you are looking for. with that test over, try that with wiring harness where your other speakers and find out which pair is what. make sure it's a set from the rear or front speakers... don't mismatch the pair. once you find them, splice into those wires and run it to your modified "Y" connectors.

red preout = right speaker

white preout = left speaker

now you have a signal going to your amp. now, since you have all these connected, you have to setup your amp. you want low boost for everything because if you don't, your sub will just be another speaker. before i forget, we want to bridge your amp to get the full X amount of watts you have. 400 watts is a safe amount. so since these instructions are for a four channel amp, this is how the bridge works.

you'll have 2 pairs of channels on one side and another 2 pairs on the other side of how ever the amp is setup. manufactures won't line up all four channels. you'll have to connect the positive wire from the sub to the positive channel on one side, and take the negative wire from the sub and hook it up to the negative channel of the other set. walla! it's now bridge... usually your amp will designate bridging terminals, so look for those first.

now power up your stereo and you should be ready to go. I know it sound like a lot, but that's the way you're going to have to do it unless you want to get an aftermarket radio. good luck on your installation.

You just confused the hell out of me

I put an alpine cd player in in place of the lexus factory(pioneer)....I removed the changer because it got screwed up. That is why Im using the alpine. The sub will be powered by my aftermarket amp. I just want a way to hookup the door speakers now. The doorspeakers don't have to be wired to the aftermarket amp. I just want to know how to do it because I have to bypass the factory amp or is there a way to use the factory amp for the door speakers? I could use my aftermarket amp as well because it has 4 channels.

As soon as I disconnect the Lexus factory unit from the big wire, which has doorspeaker wires and amp wires in it, I can't use the door speakers which makes sense. I tried to tap into those and I tried all of them, but for some reason none of the door speakers output sound.

Another question, my amp requires you to plug in the remote wire. Could the remote wire be plugged into the Lexus factory(pioneer) unit? If so, how?

And yes, you are right about my not knowing how to do this.

Alittle less confusing this time please :)

hey what's up, how about this... i'll check my setup up again and let you know what's up with the wiring. it's been a while since i've looked at it but i'll tell you exactly how i did it. i'll get back to this post in a bit. it's 0630 :D

Hey Twinturbo,

Thanks for the feedback.

I contacted the guy at lexus who said the following in response to what you told me that I passed on to him:

"I talked with the parts dept. and we got the front shocks for $62 each, and the rears for $51 each.  All the book times I have found list the front struts for 2.5 hrs for both and the rears for 2.2 for both. 

 

Even at $75 and hour, that comes to $352.50.  For $100????  That's $21.77 per hour which wouldn't even pay the technicians around this place. I don't know how any shop could do that, especially with factory parts.  I think that it may have been a single tech, with his own shop, that did the job (no overhead).  I'm not sure if they are factory struts either, prices sound kind of out there.  I don't understand how the fronts would be a little more and the rears would be so much cheaper.  I'd think if the rears were cheaper, the fronts shoud've been also."

Thoughts?

hey what's up... when i get home today, i'll take pics of the installation price that i got at a shop and if i can find my receipt for my shocks, i'll take a picture of it as well. i'll get back to this later on tonight.

or are you going in soldier boy status and trying to figure out what's what?  well let me know... and stop tapping into all those wires...

LMAO!!! :D :D :D

:D YAY

I have a 94 GS300 and I added aftermarket sub,amp,cd player.....I tried many times to tap into the wires so I could utilize my existing door speakers with my aftermarket amp,sub and cd player.

What can I do? I've tried every wire I saw in that Lexus connector plug, but still nothing. Am I just going to have to rewire all the door speakers to the cd player?

Thanks.

well first of all, what head unit are you using? the cd changer goes directly to the head unit... done deal. now for the speakers, sub and amp... to be honest, you can hook them all up, but won't get the best out of them because the watts will be distributed evenly among what's connected. depending on how many channels you have on that amp, will determine what sound you will have... i would hook up all my speakers to my head unit and dedicate the amp to the sub. trust me, this is a better deal. but if you want to amplify the door speakers as well, then get another amp and dedicate that to the door speakers. now how are all your connections on powering the cd changer and amp? I just read your post again... do you know anything about wiring and audio installation? or are you going in soldier boy status and trying to figure out what's what? well let me know... and stop tapping into all those wires... pretty soon, the impedence levels in the copper wires won't register and your system won't be at it's peak performance.

Does the Nakamichi system have it's own amp? I would think that amp would push out more power than a head unit right?

Also, is there a way of changing the amp to an aftermarket one while keeping the stock radio?

there is a nakamichi amp which actually powers all the speakers. you can locate this unit underneath your stock cd changer. all the wires coming from the harness' power all your speakers including your sub. so since, i replaced my head unit... i either had the option to use my stock amp to power a distorted sub... or not have a sub at all... well we tested the amp with sub... but when you reved the engine, you get distortion... so i said, to hell with that... then i went home and installed a sony amp. now my factory sub kicks harder than ever before.

Has anybody had suspension issues with a '93 GS300? I own one with 162,000 miles (bought it with 38,000 mi) and seems more and more to ride like and old Caddy. Very "slushy" and seems to bottom out too easily in road ruts.

The local Lexus dealer has always said that that the early GS300 never had great suspension, but mine has gone from bad to worse. Now the dealer is saying that, though there are no leaks, the struts/shocks themselves are tired due to high mileage and they are proposing to replace the 4 of them for $600. They said I would definitely see a big improvement.

It seems logical that the struts would lose their "shock protection" ability over time, but I have no experience with this.

Would appreciate your feedback. Thanks.

hey what's up. i have a 93 gs3 and I have 190k+. Let me tell you ... my car rides like it came from the factory. I just replaced my shocks about a month ago with lexus shocks. 600 bucks sounds about right... but let me tell you, the rear struts are like 70 bucks for the pair and the front struts are about 140 bucks. give or take 20 bucks of course... i forget what the exact dollar amount is... but anways, i paid 100 bucks to have them installed at a performance shop. so i spent well under 600 bucks granted that is the going rate of installation for these parts at other shops. so i recomend that you replace all for because it seems that they are blown. trust me, you will feel a great improvement in ride and put a smile on your face.

You guys are replacing the factory sub with aftermarket ones, what amps are you using? Are you guys still using the stock head unit?

what's going on yo... i am pushing the factory sub with a sony amp. I also have a panasonic dvd screen player for my head unit. running all my speakers through the head unit and dedicating 400 watts to the sub alone. i like the nakamichi setup. sounds better with more watts.

Forget that! Go with a 12, drops right in! You will have to drill new mounting holes ;) I used a us amps amp for the bass and a cove woofer, sounds awesome! all freeair with no enclosure, and plenty of dynamat!

what brand 12" did you drop?

hey, I have a first generation GS300 with the stock 10" in the back dash...and i would like to change that. Im under the impression that, so i dont have to have a box so i can keep it lookin stock, i have to get a free-air sub. Ive heard JL makes a couple good free air subs, but what would you guys suggest? also, what for the amp? I dont need it to be loud, i just want a good, clean sound...thanks

hey what's up... i have a 93 gs3 with factory sub powered by a sony amp. let me tell you, there's more potential from the factory sub than you think. but anyways... i'm a big fan of JL audio and used to own competition equipment from them... but anways... i would go with a 10'' w3 sub to replace the factory one... but you might have to modify the cradle for the sub because these JL's are going to heavier than the factory sub and I don't know for sure if the factory mounts will support it... with that sub alone and atleast a 400 watt amp, you'll be rocking down the street... perfect combo. I install stereos and that's what i would go with...

no problem.....

hey kino, sorry for the wait... i just got my are from the shop... i took a couple of pics to help you out on your stereo instalation... give me your email.

Thanks!

hey kino, i didn't get the pics because my car is in the spray booth... i'm going tomorrow to see if it's done baking.

Just asking who would be interested in purchasing a turbo kit?? I'm about to start a project and want to see who if any would like one.. The more kits people want the cheaper they'll be...

what does the kit include, specs of turbo, expected stats after completion...

I am new to this forum and I have a 99 GS400 I need to change the front 02 sensors. Can anyone tell me where they are located and the ease of doing it?? Also how easy is it to change the front and rear brake pads?? I have seen alot of SWWEEEET CARS ON HERE!!

the O2 sensors are on the passenger side of the engine along the headers and down along the downpips towards the cats. you'll see them

Bill Harrison

call up a couple of jdm engine shops and ask them for a 93-97 2jz-ge engine block from a supra or lexus gs300.

Careful, their '97 is very different...

ah... true that... the vvti's kick in 97+ correct?

hi,

i have a 98 GS300 and

i am about to upgrade all door speakers and probably put a kicker in the back w/ 12's (i guess).... i wanted to know if i can add a "sound System" to my car without changing the stock radio front and just upgrade the amp???

BOTTOM LINE...i want to add a system (i'm a girl so really need help) and need to know what i need to do,get or buy??

i know i dont want to have to modify the main radio look...but i need something that is going to kick out that nice hip-hop sound!!

OPEN TO ALL SUGGESTIONS!!!

THANKS ...AGAIN!! :cries:

hey what's up, mrsypher is correct, just get the components and tap in to existing wires. i would disconnect the factory harness from the factory amp and re-route those to your new amp. except only thing is that you need a remote wire to supply the third wire on the amp...

12 volt

ground

remote

these are what power the amp. oh yeah, then you need to grab a sound siginal (rca pre-outs) and connect them to your amp so then it will send it out to the speakers. well if you know someone that knows wiring it should be a snap. i never wrote any specific instructions to how to install or upgrade the stereo but i'll tell you one thing, when i'm in there, it's like second nature... i can do this upgrade without a problem... but that's me... well good luck on your hunt for upgrading

Well, yours truly is back to Square 1.  My dream engine arrived and it looked great!  Before I did a compression and cooling system leakdown test on it, I removed the drain plug to get out any old oil, and water came out of the pan.  Leakdown was OK, Compression was bad on one cylinder, and Cam lobes were corroded, and rust residue was all through the engine and in the pan.  The seller agreed to take the engine back, after telling me that I was just not familiar enough with engines to know that these were not serious problems. Twelve hours work and $200 in shipping down the drain.  The reason I bought this engine was that the history was supposed to be known and an expert had checked it out.  It probably was a great engine before he cleaned it, got water in it, and let it sit in his shop for a year.

Will consider head gasket replacement.

I am concerned about the Japanese engine sources because they do not know anything other than average miles on a Japanese engine.  Have others had good luck or bad luck with these sources? One of them is engines-r-us, but there are a lot of others. 

Thanks.

Bill Harrison

Hi, I was just wondering if you might have found out what the problem was with your car.

I have a 1993 gs 300 and my husband drove the car (first mistake) he didn't notice that the temp went up really high after the check engine light came on and before he noticed it the car over heated and smoke along with steam came out. He kept adding water to the car and drove it home. He changed the termostat and now the temp is or seems good at times but the car has bubbles in the tank and the car keeps overheating. do you have any hints on this

i have the 93 gs3 and i had the same problem... my car temp had gone up and i added more water and coolant... replaced the thermostat and it was fine for a very good while. well after about a year or so, i got the same problem again. so i took it to a friend's shop and they told me it was the water pump. apparently this is what i picked up... after the car overheats, it blows out the water pump. the water pump doesn't give out at first, but the seals and plastic propellar begin to deterioate slowly which will start to release coolan in it's overflow pipe. they replaced it with a high performance pump where the propellar is now metal and it runs perfectly fine. when and if you decide to replace the pump, go ahead and replace the timing belt. the belt is probably around 20 bucks but well worth it because you're not paying for the labor. since they have to tear down the whole front end, the timing belt is exposed and you might as well change it out. i paid about 450 bucks which is very very cheap compared to the dealership. good luck with your car... take care of it

Hi, thank you for the post back on my problem. I am not sure about the history of this car, we purchased it last September and since then we had the timing belt replaced (not voluntary) and now this problem. When we first got the car the check engine light came on as well as another light that I think said track off. I drove the car for about a month or so and the light went off on it's own and it didn't turn back on at all. My husband took the car one Sunday and while he was driving it the check engine light came on but he didn't pay attention to it since this happened before to us. He didn't notice that the temperature went up so high and he noticed it when the steam started coming out of the hood. He kept adding water to the radiator and came home with the car. He replaced the thermostat and the next day I drove it to work, it didn't overheat the temperature showed all normal but when I lifted the hood I had bubbles in the tank. I didn't drive the car for the whole week and then again took it out last weekend and after about 30 minuets of driving the temperature went up high and the car started overheating. I am not sure what to do after this, since we have no idea what kind of problems, if any, did this car have before and now I am not sure if we should keep it or just do a fix and get rid of it. I love the car and have about 115K on it and my husband keeps telling me that once it overheated like it did that it's better to get rid of it. I am in a situation that he refuses to take it to a dealer since he doesn't trust them and I have no other choice but have him do a fix and get rid of it. I called him and told him what you indicated about the water pump and he didn't seem to think that would be the problem and he also said that the fan clutch isn't working properly. If you would like you can contact me on my email mzadravac@fei.org. I am from NJ.

hey how are you doing? well obviously not good because of the car. well lets see... what are symptoms of your car at the moment. i'm randomly throwing out symptons and answers:

1. when you park your car, do you see coolant on the floor? if yes, then check to see if it's coming from the front end of the engine... around the fan aread... if it is, then it's your water pump.

2. remove your air ram scoop from the top of the radiator and look to see if you have fine cracks running along the plastic top of the radiator... this will cause leakage and for your reservoir tank to bubble.

3. when the car is cold, pop open the hood and remove the radiator cap. start the car while looking at the area where the radiator cap went. if you see coolan/water shoot out, then you have a compression problem which means you have a fine crack on your head gasket.

4. to check for blow head gasket... take out the dipstick and see if it looks like milk chocolate or something to that look. if you see a coffee brown looking color that means that the oil, coolant, and water mixed and inturn tells you that you have a blown head gasket. if this is the case, just purchase the short block and have it installed. this will be a lot cheaper than taking it to a shop and having them to tear down the whole top half of the engine to replace the headgasket... that and because you'll be getting a lower mileage engine... say like 50k and below.

check all these to see what's going on with the car.