IS250 F-Sport Build Thread

[bobmc]

Looking good :) I am so jealous that you have the time, energy, cash and (most important) the skills to carry this off. Thanks for sharing this with everyone.

 

 

[dougie175]

20 minutes ago, bobmc said:

Looking good :) I am so jealous that you have the time, energy, cash and (most important) the skills to carry this off. Thanks for sharing this with everyone.

 

 

Thank You! You are welcome I love posting my vehicle progress online and really appreciate comments and feedback so thank you to all who are interested in the progress it is much appreciated!

As for being jealous:

Time - I really don't have the time I should be doing something else like working on the house or overtime at work really!

Energy - I have no energy I just have a weird obsession with tinkering and cant help myself, I just cant leave my cars alone!

Cash - lol your having a laugh I'm as skint as the rest just cant stop spending, but to be honest as I do all the work myself it works out reality affordable as I'm not paying any labour!

Skills - Well I guess we are all good at something, just so happens I turned my work into my hobby

[Shahpor]

Very well done, looks good

I like your style, and that is going to be a fine looking car when the spoiler is done.

Any ideas on what you are going to do after the boot lid?

[dougie175]

Just now, Shahpor said:

Very well done, looks good

I like your style, and that is going to be a fine looking car when the spoiler is done.

Any ideas on what you are going to do after the boot lid?

Cheers. I'm hoping the mods I have done compliment the car not terry and make it something is not or take away from it being a Lexus. 

Hmmmmm after the boot lid...... I'm not 100% sure probably sleep a few extra hours to get over it, but no in seriousness it's a difficult next move don't want to fall into the trap of doing more and more and ruining the car. 

Only mod I think is still subtle and will compliment the car is a matt black front splitter and skirts. I will attach a picture of what I mean when I'm back on my laptop. I think it will work well but the company in the US who supply them is out of stock unroll the end of June anyway. 

After that I think anything else on the exterior would be too much. I do like some of the newer shape for sport conversions when done right. But not sure they flow with the lines on the 2is as well as my current bumper

[Shahpor]

It is good to know when to stop

Perhaps some mechanical mods afterwards?  I know the supercharger is probably not an option at the moment, but I am sure you can come up with some subtle alterations that would help matters

[juicestop]

How about a faux shark fin antenna? Nice and easy to fit and would give the car a more modern look.

[dougie175]

8 minutes ago, juicestop said:

How about a faux shark fin antenna? Nice and easy to fit and would give the car a more modern look.

Sorry I don't understand you mean put a fake shark fin aerial in for aesthetic purposes? Is that why I keep seeing is's in the US with shark fin aerials is that a thing?

[dougie175]

I'm guessing earlier IS's came with aerials in the roof? Mine doesn't have an external aerial last time I checked so would be a bit daft to go putting a fake aerial in place

[juicestop]

Yes a fake one, like on the black IS250 pics you posted earlier, less than £12 from amazon and sticks on with 3m tape. Look at the new IS or any new BMW, Audi or Merc to name but a few that have them.

[dougie175]

3 minutes ago, juicestop said:

Yes a fake one, less than £12 from Amazon and sticks on with 3m tape. Look at the new IS or any new BMW, Audi or Merc to name but a few that have them.

Thanks for the suggestion but not really feeling that, I see them on cars often but to be honest its the kind of mod if the car came with one I would be looking to smooth it out of the vehicle I think, cant say I have ever looked at one and wanted to add one.

[jimcufc]

how long did it take for your interior trims to be done mate?

 

[dougie175]

On ‎25‎/‎05‎/‎2016 at 4:31 PM, jimcufc said:

how long did it take for your interior trims to be done mate?

 

Cumbria! Where about mate?

Took him about a week, he sent good updates throughout.

[dougie175]

Another 9 hours work when into the spoiler today!

First coat of fiberglass:

After lots and lots of rubbing and a second coat of fiberfill boot lid looked like this:

First coat of filler:

After a couple more skims of filler and several hours of rubbing and sweating it looked something like this:

At this point the spoiler has pretty much got the shape I wanted, filler work is not my strongest point but I am really happy with it, I had 2 options at this point I could either apply a coat of stopper or spray fill it..... needless to say being a painter by trade I decided to spray fill the boot lid, this stuff is superb for jobs like this.

So after a full day of rubbing and filling this is how it looks, basically what it needs now is a load more sanding, then high build primer a load more rubbing then painting

Once home I covered the entire area with bin bags and tape just in case it rains tonight as filler is porous I didn't want the bare metal below to begin to rust.

Tomorrow I will be back in the garage 8am rubbing this down and fingers crossed if everything goes to plan I should get it in colour and lacquered by the end of the day!

In total I will have spent 22-25 hours from start to finish smoothing the spoiler in to the boot lid, so anyone thinking of going to a bodyshop to have this done expect to pay over £1000, this may seem expensive but hopefully seeing the work like this helps you understand just how much work goes in to body work! The labour rate is often only about 60% of what an electrician or plumber will charge but there is some serious work involved to earn it!

[Shahpor]

22-25 hours?! That's dedication for you.  Looking forward to seeing the results.

[dougie175]

Just now, Shahpor said:

22-25 hours?! That's dedication for you.  Looking forward to seeing the results.

Yeah I've put a good 15 hours in so far and its far from finished! Its an epic job to do it like this, I got to the "Why on earth did I start this job!" point at about 2pm today but think I've done the hardest part now. Cant wait to get it finished and enjoy the work!

[dougie175]

Well the spoiler is smoothed and painted! Really happy with how it turned out looks as good as I expected!

So a nice 7am start has the spray filler rubbed down, masked up and primer applied!

Primer then rubbed down, tested the lower piece to make sure it still fits and looks right

Car masked up and ready for paint

All painted and looking awesome!

Built up and back outside

Back home and times for a damn good clean so I can see how it really looks without dust and grime everywhere!

[rayaans]

Looks really neat. The spoiler is almost like the bootlid on the 3rd Gen IS albeit its much smaller!

[dougie175]

9 minutes ago, rayaans said:

Looks really neat. The spoiler is almost like the bootlid on the 3rd Gen IS albeit its much smaller!

Yeah guess it is a bit like the 3rd Gen boot lid. Bit bigger though as you say!

[Shahpor]

Damn good job

Now don't touch a thing cause that is a fine looking IS you have got yourself there.

[dougie175]

41 minutes ago, Shahpor said:

Damn good job

Now don't touch a thing cause that is a fine looking IS you have got yourself there.

Thank You

No nothing major planned bodywork wise now, don't want to do anything that would make it look over the top

[rayaans]

I reckon it looks just right. What's the plan in terms of the ride height. Does seem quite low. 

Any trouble on the bumps and gradients? The 3is is scary on the gradients and yours is a lot lower?

[dougie175]

1 minute ago, rayaans said:

I reckon it looks just right. What's the plan in terms of the ride height. Does seem quite low. 

Any trouble on the bumps and gradients? The 3is is scary on the gradients and yours is a lot lower?

Yeah it is maybe a little bit too low, I haven't touched the ride height yet.

As far as bumps and gradients go no issues at all with the car touching the floor even on and off the 4 post ramp at work which is pretty steep it goes up no bother.

It has however touched the tyres on the left rear wheel arch liner twice on a really big dip in the road, I want to come up an inch or so on the rear to counter this though. It hasn't been a big issue it is only a split second it touches for and only in a very specific situations.

Mainly I want to get the ride height set to something that looks perfectly at the moment the arches come over the tyres slightly too much.

Need to get a car full of people as well though I would find it very embarrassing having a car full of people and my tyres hitting my rear arch liners, I have no idea why the VW guys think its cool and fun to scrape on the floor and ruin tyres, this area is full of them, I really don't get the whole VW scene thing!

[rayaans]

Yep get some big blokes too, it helps! Especially if you somehow end up carrying 2 guys who are significantly overweight.

[dougie175]

7 minutes ago, rayaans said:

Yep get some big blokes too, it helps! Especially if you somehow end up carrying 2 guys who are significantly overweight.

Yeah there's several chaps at work who would fit the bill but 100% sure how I can put it to them as to why I need their assistance coming out for a drive though hehe!

To be honest there are not many situations when I ever need anyone in the rear of my car especially not 2 big blokes anyway! Think if I get the rear up 1/2" - 1" and the front up slightly it will be fine no matter how much weight I shove in the back and what the road conditions are like!

[lex28]

Very nice looking motor! Great styling and beaut colour...I remember seeing this on AT months ago and took a fancy to it..

everything you have done from wheels and spoiler look amazing. 

Well done 

 

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