lex4me

I had nothing short of a miserable experience with non-OEM rotors that were not Wagner's with warping, etc. I put the Wagner's on from O'Reilly's and life has been good ever since (well, except for a sticking front caliper).

I replaced my own rack on my 91LS just under a year ago as part of a full front end suspension change out. I used an O'Reilly's lifetime guaranteed replacement. Now that I've done it once, I think I could do it again in less than two hours. You may not have to do this, but I would recommend jacking the engine up off of the mounts (removing each engine mount bolt from the underside first <grin>, and then having at it. It just isn't that complicated of a job. The rack itself was somewhere around $329 if I remember right. Good luck!

I had wear on my 91LS' steering wheel that I didn't like either. I just watched on eBay for a bit and got a replacement for $20 that wasn't quite in perfect condition, but way better than the one I had. Good luck!

Have you considered doing the job yourself? I replaced my front two with OEM for about $140 (irontoad.com). You can rent a strut spring compression tool from your local auto parts store for free. Pretty straightforward job, actually. Rears are next. Car handles much better now with considerably less bounce, despite everyone telling me that I didn't need new ones.

I have a set of wheels off of a 99GS400 that are on my 91LS400. 5x100 is I think what you are looking for bolt-pattern wise. I would personally stick with the OEM wheels since you can get a replacement rim pretty easily if one of them gets trashed.

I expected it to splinter or out right crack in two pieces as well, but it never has given any trouble across the several dozen times I have used it. If it did crack one day, the jack bowl (or whatever that thing is called) would catch the car within 3/4 of an inch anyway, so I have never been worried about it. I never, ever get under the car with just a jack supporting it anyway - I put my trust in safety stands.

Also be sure you know what PS pressure hose you are getting. The OEM hose is better, certainly (hose itself is abrasion resistant and all the fittings are there), but there are knock offs on the market that are *way* less expensive (like $100).

I installed the Daizen bushings on my 91LS when I replaced all of the rest of the components on my front end and wasn't pleased, FWIW. Although the lower bushings worked fine, I noted that the upper bushings failed to take into consideration the interesting fact that new OEM control arms (which I installed since my upper ball joints were worn) had a substantially thinner cross section than the original OEM control arms. As a result, although everything looked good, you could move the control arm front to back pretty easily (royally !Removed! up your caster settings and wreaking havoc on tire wear) with these bushings installed. I migrated back to the original OEM upper control arm bushings (so glad I bought that press...) and the problem is gone. I have yet to contact TM Engineering (the bushing manufacturer) on this issue, but have plans to. Also, FWIW, I learned an interesting trick from a mechanic friend of mine. I was very, very concerned about damaging the upper ball joint boot on my brand new upper control arms when I went to put the OEM bushings back in as a result of using a conventional puller to remove the upper ball joint from the knuckle. He said that his shop never uses a puller to remove upper ball joints, but rather takes a small sledge hammer and hits the knuckle at the point where the upper ball joint goes through. This, he says, sets up a vibration in the metal that pops it loose. It didn't work the first time I hit it, but I gave it a slightly bigger hit and out it came. Life is good. :D

I took a 2x4, cut it so that it was square, put a notch in it with a dado blade for the frame rail, and then contoured the back to roughly match the curvature of my floor jack. Works great! B)

I had a Viper unit installed on my 91LS. I don't think it would be terribly complicated if you were knowledgeable about electronics, but I paid a shop that does it all the time. $325 or so installed last year. It's awesome. Nothing quite as miserable as sitting in your Lexus letting it warm up when it is 0° out and you are freezing yourself out.

I replaced the bearings on my 91 LS with no issues. You'll need a press, the proper size press inserts (I used large sockets) and a relatively large lock ring plier to do this, but it is not difficult once the steering knuckle is off. Just make sure that you use grease designed for wheel bearings with disc brakes.

Bridgestone Blizzak's are awesome tires - you *almost* feel as if you are driving on dry ground instead of slush and snow. The WS-15's or WS50's are quite capable, but the LM22's are more performance oriented. I didn't like the Nokian's that I tried, despite the snowflake and where they are made. I wouldn't for a second consider putting snows on the rear and keeping all seasons on the front as the difference in handling is too great and like someone else said could put you into a nasty spin. Good luck!

Doing a Gen II brake conversion is exactly what I had wanted to do, but I can't seem to find a writeup that talks about the exact components that would need to be replaced. Can someone point me in the right direction? I do not ride the brakes, BTW, and use ceramic pads from O'Reilly's. B)

I am getting quite tired of warping rotors on my 91LS and thinking about upgrading to the somewhat larger 93-94 brakes in hopes of at least minimizing the issues (I already have 16" wheels from a 99GS on and can live with never mounting my 15" 91 OEM wheels again). I read somewhere (possibly Lextreme) that to upgrade the front brakes you need new rotors (duh), brake pads, calipers, and master cylinder. Some questions: 1. Why is a new master cylinder required? 2. Wouldn't I also need a new caliper bracket? If so, has anyone had luck getting these brackets from somewhere other than the dealer (like a salvage yard)? Thanks guys!

Try irontoad.com - that's where I got mine. Very good service.

I had replaced both rotors and both calipers within the last year, so didn't replace them again as part of this project. I have had lots and lots of brake issues on the front with this car, though. First the driver caliper froze up - about September of last year. So...I took it apart and rebuilt it (removed both pistons, cleaned out the rust, replaced the boot seals and spring, and put everything back together). I also replaced both rotors at this time and put on new Wagner ceramic pads. Six months later, the same caliper was frozen again (I evidently didn't all the rust out, eh? <grin>). This time, I purchased a replacement rebuilt, lifetime guaranteed caliper from O'Reilly's (I was lucky enough to catch the issue before uneven pad wear occurred). Two weeks later, that new caliper died (the clip that holds one of the caliper boots on came out and gouged the crud out of the inside of my new rotor. I put on a replacement caliper under warranty, but O'Reilly's didn't have any replacement rotors in stock, so I lived with my gouged rotor and corresponding screwed-up pad. My rotors are very mildly warped now. Now that I am having to tear into this again, I went ahead and ordered a pair of replacement rotors and replacement pads. Plans are to put the parts on within the next week or so. Someone told me that I could go ahead and upgrade to the larger 93 brakes by just replacing the rotors, calipers, and caliper bracket, but I'll ask about that in another post. I already have 16" wheels on from a 99 GS400 and am tired of warped rotors and brake problems in general.

I forgot to mention the ball joints - they were replaced as well. I am actually beginning to wonder if I have a bad strut, as the noise is heard even when applying the brakes as I go over bumps. The noise sounds as if something is loose. The noise has happened on turns, on straightaways, up and down hill, etc., but is especially evident when going over speed bumps at something over 5mph, or when entering a driveway where the drive is slightly higher or lower than the main road. The trouble with the bad strut notion is that I remember when I disconnected the upper ball joint from the steering knuckle having trouble getting the two pieces to separate. The puller ended up mushrooming the bolt. This was no big deal before, as I was replacing the upper control arm anyway, but now those arms are new. The absolute last thing that I want to do is damage one or both of the control arms. I cannot duplicate any noise when the car is parked and I try to use my hands on a fender to bounce one of the corners of the front end up down. Any more ideas?

When I replaced the rack, PS pump, and all PS hoses on my 91, the instructions that came with the pump indicated that I should leave the reservoir cap off, raise the two front wheels off of the ground, ensure that the fluid level was good, and turn the steering wheel lock to lock a minimum of <gasp> 25 times to ensure that all of the air was out of the system. Being the truly paranoid that I am, I turned it lock to lock about 50 times and noted air bubbles coming up the return line even after 30 times (you can hear the bubbles coming out of the fluid if you are doing this alone and turning the wheel lock to lock by manually moving the passenger side tire instead of doing the turning at the steering wheel - a pain to do it this way, certainly, but somewhat gratifying to hear that you are making headway <grin>). Good luck!

Timing belt wouldn't be the thing to slip here, as if it did you'd have *way* bigger problems than an annoying squeal. ;) Take a peek at the one-piece serpentine belt that connects all of your accessories, and see what sort of shape it is in (cracks, etc.). If it looking pretty bad, maybe the rubber has just gotten old and it is time to replace the belt. One open end wrench (I forget the size), a new belt, and five minutes, and you would be good to go. The other option would be a bad tensioner (less likely). If you grab the belt between two pulleys, you shouldn't be able to move that belt up and down any more than an inch or so. Perhaps your belt tensioner, located just to the passenger side of where the upper radiator hose connects, needs to be replaced. Alternatively, I suppose that you could spray some of that anti-squeal stuff (that is sold in the auto parts stores) on the belt, but that has always striken me as more of a bad band-aid. Good luck!

My 91LS (all back together now) continues to suffer from a rattle that seems to be getting progressively louder as time continues. I pulled the driver wheel off and determined that the only thing that I could move at all was the brake caliper. Basically, I could rock it side to side (from the driver to the passenger side and back again) and hear the metal to knocking from the caliper fingers (or whatever you want to call them) hitting against the outsides of the brake pads. Total play is perhaps an eighth of an inch. When I do this, I notice that the caliper slider pins are what is really moving to allow this rocking to occur. Surely this isn't normal, or is it? This rattle noise is coming from both sides, but I haven't yet pulled the passenger wheel as I found this. Items I just replaced with OEM parts (unless specified otherwise) relating to the front end include: strut bar bushings (both sides) sway bar bushings (both sides) sway bar end links (both sides) upper control arms (with new Daizen bushings) (both sides) lower control arm bushings (Daizen variety) (both sides) struts (both sides) strut mounts/insulators (both sides) outer tie rods (both sides) inner tie rods (both sides) including rack & pinion wheel bearings (both sides) engine mounts (both sides) tranny mount brake hardware (anti-rattle clips, etc) (both sides) Basically, the only thing not replaced were the springs. I replaced the calipers perhaps 6-9 months ago with rebuilt ones from O'Reilly's, along with new Wagner ceramic pads. All bolts, etc. were torqued to the specifications listed in the Lexus service manual. Any ideas?

I have the remote start installed on my 91LS400 and have never had any trouble. It is soooo nice to have - besides it was a cheaper fix than the replacement brain that the dealer quoted me to get my lexus key unlock/lock working again. I have the Viper system installed from DEI (http://www.directed.com/security/viper/viper_rs.asp). The actual install job was performed by a local shop, who programmed the top two buttons to work with my car and the bottom two buttons to work with my wife's vehicle. I can lock/unlock the door, pop the trunk, set off the alarm, or start the car all from about 1000' away. Pretty neat little add-on. I'll never go without remote start again. It was a good investment for the $300 that it cost. Not to mention, I can let the car warm up on the cold winter days without me having to be in there freezing while it gets warm before I go driving. BTW, it also shuts the car off automatically after 15 minutes (if I started it and forgot about it), and will shut off the car the moment the brake pedal is touched if the key isn't in the ignition in the run position.

Looks like the mass airflow sensor.

Should have included that in the earlier post. I put 225/55/16's on. They are Kumho Ecsta kh11 tires. I believe that the core issue is that the 15" OE wheels are only 5.5" wide whereas the GS wheels are either 6.5" or 7" wide. Nevertheless, I know of at least one other Gen I LS that has these very wheels on.

I purchased a set of 99GS400 16" OEM wheels for my 91LS, as the bolt pattern was the same. Someone in the area has these same wheels on his 91LS already. I picked up a set of Kumho Ecsta's off of tirerack and had them mounted on the new rims only to find that this particular rim (I haven't yet tried the others) must have a slight warp to it since the tire rubs ever so slightly on the front knuckle during about 40% of the wheel's rotation (despite the fact that the tires balanced just fine). I have never used spacers before, but have heard of them being used. Is this my only option if all of the wheels have this same issue?

Tranny mount is a piece of cake to do. Engine mount is a bit more work, only because getting access to the upper bolt on each mount is a bit tight. Give yourself an hour and a half if you haven't done this sort of thing before and you should be in really good shape.