MEANGUNS

I'm in the process of buying a new exhaust system for my 95 sc400. The dealer stressed on getting resonators. He said it will sound !Removed! on my car.

I checked on Youtube and they didn't sound that bad without resonators, but it might sound different in person.

What do you guys think?

The dealer is a tool! Anyone who tells you that it'll be too loud or sound like anything other than a well-built V8 are full of it!

My cars sounds smooth, low and mean. Its not too loud or obnoxious by any means. All the resonators are doing is restricting your airflow and muffling the sound so the older set that they were catering to generally wouldn't want to hear the exhaust....not to mention adding unnecessary weight. Delete the resonators, straighten the pipes, replace with 2.25", replace OEM mufflers with high flow Magnaflows, Megans, etc... and consider replacing the cats up front with hi-flowing ones. You'll notice a huge improvement in sound, a noticeable improvement in HP and better mpg just by replacing the mufflers/tips and removing the resonators alone.

Thanks for the info, do you have any vids or audio of what your sc sounds like? I would love to hear what you mean.

Hey I'm pretty new to the Lexus community, i've actually only had my sc400 for about a month now. I've been reading a lot of threads about the exhaust sys. on these cars and I have heard nothing but good things about them... after they are gone. So I think that I might do the same thing and delete some resonators. My SC400 is a 92 originally from California. I'm not 100% sure about this but I think that My car has 4 resonators, 3 cats, and 2 mufflers. I haven't really gone under the car to confirm this but I did see a diagram portraying california's exhaust standard for this vehicle. This is a little excessive I think. I am also worried about how my car will sound if I take out the resonators. Also I want to replace the mufflers but I'm not to sure what kind would sound like what, so I am really apprehensive on buying any. I DO NOT want it to sound like a ricer. I want it to sound like the mean !Removed! V8 that it is. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Your in the same boat as me. I've had my 95 sc400 for about 3 weeks... I put new rims on it right away and now doing some research on the exhaust systems. I haven't made up my mine with the res or not yet.

I'm in the process of buying a new exhaust system for my 95 sc400. The dealer stressed on getting resonators. He said it will sound !Removed! on my car.

I checked on Youtube and they didn't sound that bad without resonators, but it might sound different in person.

What do you guys think?

The dealer is a tool! Anyone who tells you that it'll be too loud or sound like anything other than a well-built V8 are full of it!

My cars sounds smooth, low and mean. Its not too loud or obnoxious by any means. All the resonators are doing is restricting your airflow and muffling the sound so the older set that they were catering to generally wouldn't want to hear the exhaust....not to mention adding unnecessary weight. Delete the resonators, straighten the pipes, replace with 2.25", replace OEM mufflers with high flow Magnaflows, Megans, etc... and consider replacing the cats up front with hi-flowing ones. You'll notice a huge improvement in sound, a noticeable improvement in HP and better mpg just by replacing the mufflers/tips and removing the resonators alone.

If I don't like the sound with out the resonators, how hard is it to add them after? The dealer was really stressing on the resonators, was making fun of other cars that didn't have any.

If the guy is using mandrel piping then it is a good deal, if he manually bending piping to conform to your system then it is not a good deal.. Mandrel is ready made pipes with no bends with reduced pipe sizing... Regular exhaust shop bends pipes with machines and creates a smaller pipe size at the turns which restricts flow...

You need to ask him exactly what he plans to do for all that money...Mufflers, cats, pipes even if bent piping is used is a so so fair deal for that money...More then I would spend though...

Make sure you go 2.25 mandrel pipe sizing and or 2.50 bent pipe sizing....Those flow the best, anything bigger will be counter productive...Make sure you exhaust mechanic understands that, because most don't for the SC's...

Thanks for your help again..

Im debating if I should get resonators or not? Do you know about how much HP you lose with resonators? Did you install them on yours?

They counted on older people driving these cars, and I guess Lexus didn't want to give them older folk a shock or heart attack if they floored the car accidently off the line...That's my guess... Maybe also Lexus was focusing more on topend power as opposed to the lowend...Don't know for sure but it's a joke....

What it cost me is alot....$900 for the Dragon Torque converter and $300 for installation... $1200 in total...

If I were to do it again I would call the yards or Ebay for a used Lexus SC400 torque converter for like $50...Send that into Lextreme.com for $400 and have it recalibrated to the Dragon Stall Rate converter...Then install it for $300 at tranny shop... Then take the old torque converter and re-sell it and get my $50 back... $700 in total as apposed to the $1200....

There is down time when sending in your original stock torque converter so that is why I mentioned the buy and selling of a used one...

That's it, any torque converter is good to go, it's the set stall rate that changes the converter..So whether or not you use your own stock converter and have it recalibrated or buy the Dragon it really doesn't matter...

Hope that helps...

Nice info.....

Well I just talked to my performance guy and he said he could install my full exhaust system for about 850 everything in. He said it would be a custom job, from front to back , magnaflow 2.5 plus up in Canada, which at the moment doesn't really matter because the US dollar is falling like a rock. He said it would take about 2 - 3 hours to install. Do you think thats a good price? Is there anything I should make sure to ask him?

Thanks again

I'm in the process of buying a new exhaust system for my 95 sc400. The dealer stressed on getting resonators. He said it will sound !Removed! on my car.

I checked on Youtube and they didn't sound that bad without resonators, but it might sound different in person.

What do you guys think?

Well the transmission has to be dropped to replace the torque converter...Most tranny shops should be able to do it for around $300-$400... It's a tough job to do on you own though it is doable...

I bought the Precision Industries Dragon torque converter and had it installed for $300 at a local import tranny shop... Open the yellow pages and call some tranny shops for estimates.. You can then sell your old torque converter on Ebay maybe after and make a $100...

So how much did you pay in total? Price of converter and installation? Why do Lexus put a $hity converter in?

call dealer and ask about ground wire causing stalls on your sc,doubt that exhaust is your problem

You sound like you no a little about it? Did this happen to you? What do you know about it? Can I fix it my self?

I just purchased a used '00 SC400 not to long ago and I'm very interested in making a few modest upgrades(i.e. headers, exhaust, ECU, suspension/coilovers, brakes/rotors, etc..). Any suggestions??

Try and do the exhaust - mufflers and cats especially, magnaflow is a good brand to consider...The noise is not too bad but if you like your luxury sc to sould like stock high flowing resonators should be installed too...I have headers, Magnaflow catalytic converter, Highflowing Y's and straight thru Megan N1 mufflers...With that setup you can rattle the neighbor hood from the noise.....However adding two sets of round high flowing resonators you can get the car sounding like stock again without sacrificing too much performance....Complete Exhaust mods can literally give you 50-75hp on the older SC's.. The older SC400 exhaust systems are one of the most restrictive systems out there, really bad and litterally choke the engine....Ebay has good deals on Lexus exhaust stuff.... The mufflers and cats get clogged up over the years so get big gains with each change...

The Apexi piggy-back ECU is good cheap mod that opens up the full air/fuel mix delivery to the motor that is restrictive too at stock form...Fuel economy will not suffer that much either as you tune for a increased lean mix.....

Headers are tricky and expensive but EKtuning.com just came out with the only true bolt on headers for the SC400 in the entire United States.....They bolt up perfectly but are $1000 per set..Not cheap.....For more header and exhaust performance info. check out Lextreme forums.com and under the exhaust section you will find much info on the different headers and exhaust systems that are available..

The Precision dragon torque converter is one of the most impressive mods and doesn't effect the driveablilty of the car...As you know now the stock SC are painfully sluggish off the line and from a dead stop...That completely changes with an upgraded torque converter...You can spin the tires from a dead stop with a new torque converter and your 0-30mph times are dramatically improved....Hope this helps...

These mods will not effect the reliablity of the car either...

Great info. Can you tell me how hard it is to install the Dragon Torque Converter? If I have to get a professonal to install it , around how much would it cost? Is it possible the same people that install the exhaust can install the converter?

Thanks for any help

i had my car stall once after a hard stop. but it started right up and never happened again. didnt think much of it but it could be the transmission not disengauging something.

Yeh, it seems to be running fine now.. Don't no what it was. Going to get rid of the stock exhaust and get a performance exhaust system in a couple weeks.

Everybody is telling me the engine is choking on the *BLEEP*ty stock exhaust.

My 95 sc400 which I just got, stalled today. Twice.

Once in a traffic jam and once when I made a hard stop at the lights. My friend said I need to get a tune up, but I think its more then then that. is it?

The first stall on the High way was weird. It seems to stall if theres a lot of stopping and going.

I started pressing the gas but the car wasn't moving and it was in drive. The check engine light came on and I thought the cars engine turned off. When I tried moving the gear shift to park, it started grinding. So I left it in drive and just turned the key off. I put it back in park, turned the key back on and everything was fine.

It felt like it wasn't catching any gears.

Anybody else have this happen before or know what it is?

I have the the stock cd changer in my SC 400. Never really used it until today. I have Sirius radio. I noticed every time I drive over a bump the cd skips.

I also noticed it doesn't play MP3 s.

Is there a cd changer I can replace it with that wont skip and pays mp3 s?

What model do you sudjest?

I'll answer what I can...

3. The alarm is activated whenever you lock the doors either using the key button, or the inside electric lock button, given that the key is not in the ignition.

4. As far as I know, the switch has two settings: "NORMal" and "PWR" or power. ECT means Electronically Controlled Transmission, or something like that. It changes the shift points and the way the trans shifts. See the attachment.

5. Overdrive as I understand it at least is just a 4th, of fifth gear, depending on which year you have. So it just improves gas milage by keeping the RPMs down. And btw.. It is a big car haha, pretty friggin heavy for the size of it.

All you guys are great.

So is it better to keep it set to ECT or power for gas?

How much of difference in saving gas is it from over drive too just normal drive? Will I notice it?

Right now I have it set to Power, and never use over drive. If anything some times i put in L or 2 to take off from the line or stop light. LoL

I wont be doing that any more. Love the car way to much.

First of, I love my car.

Already bought EVO rims (pick up them up Thursday)

But I have some basic questions with the features:

1. It comes with a phone, is there any way to activate phone or use a new phone through the Lexus (bluetooth maybe)? I want to use the speaker phone feature.

How do I set that up?

2. I received one key, I would like to order a second key. Any Ideas how I do that?

3. The key has a little remote button on it. It opens and closes my car doors, but does it activate the alarm as well? If not. is there a seperate alarm remote I should order?

4. Right by the gear shift theres three selections, ect, power, and one more I can't remember. I have mine set to "power" because thats the only one I think i understand. What are those features? what do they do?

5. What does Overdrive do in my Lexus? I thought that was for bigger cars.

Again, remember I'm new to cars like this so sorry for the basic questions.

Hey guys,

I was wondering if some one can give me a link to download the Lexus 95 SC400 owners manual? Or where I can get one?

Thanks