rbyoung

How is life on the direct diagonal? I keep thinking about vacation in the sunny spot and wonder about revisiting Fort Lauderdale and Cay West. Is the economy killing you? I haven't done a thing to my car besides an o2 sensor and regular maintanance. I keep shopping the turbo kit, but six grand is a big chunk. I would much rather spend that kind of coin to find a palm tree outside of my motel room door. I dont know if you voted for the new sherrif, but the result made all of us in Canada a little more proud of the good old U,S of Eh. I don't know if a southern man needs me around anyhow but I still like to visit. One of my skippers bought a brand new VolksWagen girly car. Side by each the old 300 sat on the pavement with pretty much the same stance. The german car had a fancy roof that took up the whole trunk. And then I hit the gas with my lefty on the brakes, should have been there to see his eyes open up, Two weeks with a moron at the helm and two seconds to leave him behind. Priceless. The last thing I saw was his two litre trunk badge. Can you make picture frames on line, and would that be cost effective for me? I have a great photo that needs a wrapper. Cheers Smoothie

Cant really help you with parts, but kind of wonder what Princesschrissy looks like. Even an ebay search just gives after market parts for the front end of your car. Carbon fibre everything but that costs big bucks, with no insurance you are basicly screwed. Can you revalue the car to get the body shop to unwrinkle it? I mean can you refinance. I do not know what your bank thinks of you, but at five hundred bucks a headlight and thousand for a new front bumper, never mind air bags and interior trim it might be time to shop for a Camray. Front end damage is always a killer, pretty hard to find spare parts. It might be a really good time to give your baby a body kit. Think about a whole remake if you are going to spend a dime. Some of the urathane kits are pretty inexpensive compared to factory stock, they cost money to install and paint, but so do new bits. You might find that a nice body upgrade increases the retail value of your car. Depends on your local market. I always reccomend the hot rod Chevy or Ford shops for body work. those fellows know a good quality car and seem to put brand loyalty onto the back shelf. With a Lex it is sort of like showing up at a hog shop on a Duccati. If you have a really good japanese shop in a back alley around where you live that works too. Just make sure that you have a clear understanding of what the shop plans to do, and how they plan on billing you. When I say a clear understanding, I mean do not walk off the lot with any fuzzy ideas. there is no charge for asking. I hate to say " dumb blond" questions. You must have a pure contract with the repair shop before they start work. This includes the lex dealer, or your brothers pal. A Pure contract is a contract that you completly understand. If that means you have to stamp your pumps in the parking lot a couple of times to be understood or to understand so be it. If you get really frustraited before any work has started it might be time to find another shop. I can not empthasize the importance of your contract with the shop. If you are afraid of this kind of negotiation get some help. Mechanics are $90 bucks an hour, just hire a Volvo guy to take your car in, He is like the Maytag repair man anyway No vested interest but good skills, You pay him an hours wages to make sure you do not get ripped off blind I wish you good luck, just be smart. Oh yeah, send Photos. I mean send photos of your car crunch.

Cant really help you with parts, but kind of wonder what Princesschrissy looks like. Even an ebay search just gives after market parts for the front end of your car. Carbon fibre everything but that costs big bucks, with no insurance you are basicly screwed. Can you revalue the car to get the body shop to unwrinkle it? I mean can you refinance. I do not know what your bank thinks of you, but at five hundred bucks a headlight and thousand for a new front bumper, never mind air bags and interior trim it might be time to shop for a Camray. Front end damage is always a killer, pretty hard to find spare parts. It might be a really good time to give your baby a body kit. Think about a whole remake if you are going to spend a dime. Some of the urathane kits are pretty inexpensive compared to factory stock, they cost money to install and paint, but so do new bits. You might find that a nice body upgrade increases the retail value of your car. Depends on your local market. I always reccomend the hot rod Chevy or Ford shops for body work. those fellows know a good quality car and seem to put brand loyalty onto the back shelf. With a Lex it is sort of like showing up at a hog shop on a Duccati. If you have a really good japanese shop in a back alley around where you live that works too. Just make sure that you have a clear understanding of what the shop plans to do, and how they plan on billing you. When I say a clear understanding, I mean do not walk off the lot with any fuzzy ideas. there is no charge for asking. I hate to say " dumb blond" questions. You must have a pure contract with the repair shop before they start work. This includes the lex dealer, or your brothers pal. A Pure contract is a contract that you completly understand. If that means you have to stamp your pumps in the parking lot a couple of times to be understood or to understand so be it. If you get really frustraited before any work has started it might be time to find another shop. I can not empthasize the importance of your contract with the shop. If you are afraid of this kind of negotiation get some help. Mechanics are $90 bucks an hour, just hire a Volvo guy to take your car in, He is like the Maytag repair man anyway No vested interest but good skills, You pay him an hours wages to make sure you do not get ripped off blind I wish you good luck, just be smart. Oh yeah, send Photos.

Any double DIN unit will fit. It is just a case of budget and features that you want. The Kenwood DNX9140 could be considered the best of the best, but runs about $1800 before installation. It is a complete navigation, cd, dvd, tuner, ipod (and mp3 player) controller, with capabilities for satellite radio and backup camera etc etc. If you only want a navigation unit you are probably better off to get a dedicated unit that sticks on to the dashboard someplace. These can be had for about $300. Just a note on installation, do not let the shop talk you into new speakers for your Lexus. If they try, find another shop. You will be hard pressed to get better speakers than what the car came with, and the replacement and installation will run upwards of $2000. My local guy promised that the speakers in the car would sound even better with the new head unit, and if I was not happy he would knock the cost of re-removing the head unit to upgrade the speakers at a later date. He was correct and there was no need to spend that extra moola.

I have one of these if you want to purchase. I bought the one for the Bank 1 sensor 2 while I needed the Bank 2 sensor 2. My experience with the replacement of this part was that it was a lot more difficult than I expected due to the fact that it is an exhaust part and mine was pretty much seized into the tailpipe. It got to the point that I had to tap the threads to get the new one to seat properly. I am at work until December 29th, (ching, ching, ching - now that is my kind of christmas music) but if you can wait until then for the exact info on the part I have you are welcome to it. I figure on half the best price from your local supplier. Cheers, Bruce

For starters, look out for guys with hondas and toyotas, they tend to drool on your paint.

ok never mind I figured it out on my lonesome, the wonders of search eh? Thanks

plugged in my groovy new code reader expecting an o2 malfunction and got this code : P0161 HO2S Heater Circuit Malfunction, Bank 2 Sensor 2. Any ideas? I am having a hard time with the downloaded service manual from the forum due to the lack of an index. Thanks. Bruce

I did a search for paddle shifter kits, if that is what you are talking about, It was a couple of months ago but there were a couple of options available. www.tciauto.com/WhatsNew/Files/tcipaddleshifter.pdf I think that you have to buy their electronic shift control unit to "talk" to the transmission.

I have a 2001 with 100,000 km on it. runs like a clock. fun as hell. and stylish to boot.

hi smooth1 Been at work for the past 28 days and have no satellite internet on the boat. looks like your ride is progressing nicely. The pro photos are sweet. how has your research into paddle shifters progressed? I have seen one kit in Sport Compact car, and like you will be doing a bit of research in this direction. I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction as far as chip / chip re-programmers go? I seem to be suffering the poor fuel economy problem, and will be disconnecting my battery for the prescribed ten seconds to see if this resets things, but this has gotten me thinking about chip programming. My Captain has a Tacoma which he has re-programed to great horsepower improvement (at the cost of consuming more fuel) I figure that if i am burning the gas anyway I might as well get a bigger bang for the buck ) ( fuel here in British Columbia is $1.18 litre for Chevron premium, works out to about $4.50 a US gallon.) keep up the good work, you are an inspiration.

howdy everyone. I am new to the forum and new to my 01 IS 300. Bought it a month ago and am loving it. I went shopping for a new Corolla and came home with a seven year old Lexus for the same price. It was the sunroof and leather seats that sold me, honest. And oh yeah I took it for a test drive. Kudos Smooth1, you have answered so many questions with your posts and pic's. I really appreciate the feedback and links that the regular contributors have added. I have a couple of queries which haven't been addressed: The first involves the shift buttons, I find the wheel mounted buttons awkward to use and so stay mostly in full automatic mode, which here in British Columbia is a shame, this being the land of the twisty coastal mountain road. I would like to add switches to the shift lever. has anybody been there and done that? are kits available...I wouldn't know what to search for. The second is regarding suspension and wheel/tires and bodykits. ( It sounds like you are getting to this Smooth1) I want to look at these as an all at once mod combo. My reasoning is that these all must work together and I don't want either a ride that scrubs it's shoes or a widebody that looks like a clown shoe roller skate. (OK it's an IS, it's not going to look like a clown shoe but you get my point I hope!) Being rear drive the back end is not much of a problem I can fit wideass shoes on ( even offset if I need to ) and either roll the fenders or slap on widebody parts or flares of some type. It is the front end that I am wondering about. I am not interested in spacers or offset wheels due to the geometry snafu's so would a (could a?) guy replace the A arms and steering links to achieve a wider stance? I am not talking huge width here, it is just a look that I have in mind. I really want to accentuate the lines of the car without giving it the I had to pop rivet these flares on to meet the road laws look. (a buddy way back in highschool had a Celica with flares that really flowed with the body and made the car look lower than low.) I am planning my build in an opposite direction from you Smooth1. I figure handling and looks first and go fast later....This way when I hear an explosion from Florida I can learn from your experience in the go fast department. I am sure glad to have found this post keep up the good work.