IS300 2JZ-GE NAT #no compromise

[rob_clio172]

Hey everyone, so my old car has gone creating the way for my dream project! Always wanted to do this build its had to wait its turn and now is the perfect timing for it!

My old car was a MK1 Focus RS for anyone interested, i was pretty big into the ford scene going to nearly all the main ford shows in the calender. The Focus was running a healthy 411bhp, i had this for around 5yrs and once i completed a trip to he nurburgring it was time to sell. 

I took my time looking for an IS300, i wanted 1 which was solid with no rust. It had to be lowish miles and clean. I met almost all the plans....... i found an IS300 with just 28k geniune miles on it but .................. it was a cat c. The car itself wasnt too bad, the damage making it a cat c was front bumper, n/s/f wing, door and n/s/r door all dented from a drunk driver managing to smash every car is this poor blokes street. Not wanting to loose this car i drove 2hrs to rhyl the day it went up for sale. Quick scoot round it checking that the damage was limited to just panels and not suspension and sills, no signs of any rust and interior was absolutly immaculate. Gave it a very short drive up and down this guys street and i was happy so deposit was left.

There was no way i was doing a long road test or driving this thing back though as it had 3 nakered tyres and all different tyre sizes! Got my mate to stick it on his trailor and dragged her home. 

From the pictures you can this thing was peppered with bird sh!t, paintwork ropey, damage on the n/s, stupid rubber strip things stuck to the bumpers, bulge in the tyre...... this would have put most people off but i could see past all this as that low miles factor was the key.

So a quick wash later and now i could see what im dealing with

Didnt scrub up too bad tbh i was suprised. Paintwork up close was heavily stained with bird crap and water marks. Sooooo off i went again, cleaned up the bonnet, roof and boot lid 1st with a claybar and quick detailer, after just doing a small section of the bonnet i knew i had my work cut out....

But i carried on finishing off 2 clay bars in the process! I then hit it with the DA and 3m fast cut just 2 passes and 1 pass with the ultrafina and i was amazed....

Now down to the fun stuff......

I stripped it down, both bumpers, front wings, all 4 wheels and arch liners out and all undertrays removed. I must have pulled out 14lbs worth of sand off all the trays! Needless to say if this was left on the coast and not cleaned up it would have been a rust bucket! I then gave it a good deep clean of the wheel arches 

unfortunatly the car did not escape the dreaded tin worm, but it is just surface rust so shouldnt be a problem to clean up! I dried her off and tucked her away back in the garage.

[Farqui]

Well done finding a low mileage example and hopefully the damage is limited to just the panels.

She's cleaned up pretty well tho [emoji106]

It's good to see someone getting properly 'stuck in' to a job. Will be interested to see how the car develops.

Good luck.

[kellogsj]

Hey everyone, so my old car has gone creating the way for my dream project! Always wanted to do this build its had to wait its turn and now is the perfect timing for it!
My old car was a MK1 Focus RS for anyone interested, i was pretty big into the ford scene going to nearly all the main ford shows in the calender. The Focus was running a healthy 411bhp, i had this for around 5yrs and once i completed a trip to he nurburgring it was time to sell. 
I took my time looking for an IS300, i wanted 1 which was solid with no rust. It had to be lowish miles and clean. I met almost all the plans....... i found an IS300 with just 28k geniune miles on it but .................. it was a cat c. The car itself wasnt too bad, the damage making it a cat c was front bumper, n/s/f wing, door and n/s/r door all dented from a drunk driver managing to smash every car is this poor blokes street. Not wanting to loose this car i drove 2hrs to rhyl the day it went up for sale. Quick scoot round it checking that the damage was limited to just panels and not suspension and sills, no signs of any rust and interior was absolutly immaculate. Gave it a very short drive up and down this guys street and i was happy so deposit was left.
There was no way i was doing a long road test or driving this thing back though as it had 3 nakered tyres and all different tyre sizes! Got my mate to stick it on his trailor and dragged her home. 



From the pictures you can this thing was peppered with bird sh!t, paintwork ropey, damage on the n/s, stupid rubber strip things stuck to the bumpers, bulge in the tyre...... this would have put most people off but i could see past all this as that low miles factor was the key.
So a quick wash later and now i could see what im dealing with


Didnt scrub up too bad tbh i was suprised. Paintwork up close was heavily stained with bird crap and water marks. Sooooo off i went again, cleaned up the bonnet, roof and boot lid 1st with a claybar and quick detailer, after just doing a small section of the bonnet i knew i had my work cut out....

But i carried on finishing off 2 clay bars in the process! I then hit it with the DA and 3m fast cut just 2 passes and 1 pass with the ultrafina and i was amazed....
Now down to the fun stuff......

I stripped it down, both bumpers, front wings, all 4 wheels and arch liners out and all undertrays removed. I must have pulled out 14lbs worth of sand off all the trays! Needless to say if this was left on the coast and not cleaned up it would have been a rust bucket! I then gave it a good deep clean of the wheel arches 

unfortunatly the car did not escape the dreaded tin worm, but it is just surface rust so shouldnt be a problem to clean up! I dried her off and tucked her away back in the garage.

It's great to see this Lexus being restored to a high level. Good luck with the project. Keep us updated with photos. What's the inside of like.


Sent from my Iphone using Tapatalk

[rob_clio172]

Cheers guys, another big uodate to come today as i am quite far into this project. 

The interior is immaculate, no wear on the seats or carpet, it has never been smoked inside so no nasty burn marks or stale smoke smell and seat look like they have never been sat in, no sagging, scratches or marks on the leather. Will grab some pictures of this too 👍

[bobmc]

Great post, looking forward to updates.

I am surprised you spent so much time polishing the paintwork before stripping half the panels off the car! 

 

 

[rob_clio172]

17 minutes ago, bobmc said:

Great post, looking forward to updates.

I am surprised you spent so much time polishing the paintwork before stripping half the panels off the car! 

 

 

Cheers matey, I only attacked the bonnet, roof and boot lid with the clay bar and DA. I could have done the complete drivers side and n/s/r wing but as its in a tight garage and im walking up and down so it probably going to be picking up some swirl marks and light scratches, that will be done once im finishing this off. I just wanted to see if i could save the paint if anything as these 3 places was the worst areas not including the stoved in panels

[BarneyTT]

Hi Rob, and a belated welcome to the club.

I loved my IS300 Sportcross, hope you get as much enjoyment from your IS, certainly a rare find with only 28k on the clock.

It's nice to see someone take on an older Lexus and get really stuck into it.

I love projects like this, will be watching this thread/build with interest.

Wishing you all the best.

 

[rob_clio172]

6 minutes ago, BarneyTT said:

Hi Rob, and a belated welcome to the club.

I loved my IS300 Sportcross, hope you get as much enjoyment from your IS, certainly a rare find with only 28k on the clock.

It's nice to see someone take on an older Lexus and get really stuck into it.

I love projects like this, will be watching this thread/build with interest.

Wishing you all the best.

 

Thank you 👍 yeh i was shocked when i saw it on the advert i thought it was a typo so i checked the MOT history and it all adds up.

[rob_clio172]

So once it was back in the garage i got it up on the stands ready to remove the gearbox. The power goals i have in mind would blow the standard tranny to pieces so the best option for me and what i want it for was to convert to manual transmission.

This modification over in "merica" is very comon amongst the IS comunity, this is where i have got all my research, plans and ideas from. The best choice would be the v160 from mk4 supra but these are very rare and eye watering in price!! Other option was to used the cd009 from the nissan 350z with and adaptor plate but i wanted to keep this original with a toyota transmission. So this LED me to use the r154 found in jzx10, chaser, mk3 supra....... list goes on.

Very robust, proven to take big power, bit clonky and noisey but its good for the job and bolts straight up to the 2jz! So i didnt mess around, instead of going 2nd hand i just brought a brand new 1. I figured trying to get hold of a 2nd hand 1 and the price of a 2nd hand 1 just would not be worth it, it would need a refurb and even worse it coud be a completly shot gearbox.

The dogs not to bothered 😂

Gearbox coming out....

Clap of the hands and this happens.......

Once this was out i just trial fitted the r154 to see what would have to be done to make it work, this is when i hit a few road blocks.

Firstly the rubber mount from the auto box on the cross memeber does not fit the r154. So i got myself an uprated megan racing rubber mount designed for the w58 gearbox this bolts straight up to the r154 and the original auto transmission cross memeber (good old toyota 👌). This now makes the cross member sit too far back! 

Then i noticed the gearstick is to far back to come through the body. This is the 3rd revision of the r154 and this particular 1 is for a jzx10 so its using the tripod style gear stick support. This would need changing to center the stick up

This is what it would look like in relation to the trims when fitted...

Not to worry as i have another option for this. Another reason why i trial fitted the r154 was to get the measurments for the prop shaft. Measured from gearbox rear seal to diff flange.

The auto prop will not fit and the only real option is a custom made jobby. This part i ordered from america from a company called the driveshaft shop. Great customer service and did not have to wait long either.

This work of art turned up.....

Fits absolutly perfect, its alloy and weighs about 7kg, and can handle over 650whp! Game on, more to come shortly.

[TigerFish]

good stuff, will be an interesting build for sure

[Farqui]

I'm impressed that you stumped up for anew box, that shows true dedication.

[Neil E]

3 hours ago, Farqui said:

I'm impressed that you stumped up for anew box, that shows true dedication.

Oh! just what the build section needs, I've pulled up a chair. Cheerleading section at your service. In the days of Soarer ownership, I used to dream of V160 and R154 but even the rich kids couldn't afford them.

No need to spill all of the beans just yet but I hope I know where this is going. I considered taking on an Aristo project a few years ago but the big bhp slippery slope looked a bit too steep at the time. If it was mine, I would re-badge it as an IS200. 

[rob_clio172]

8 hours ago, Neil E said:

Oh! just what the build section needs, I've pulled up a chair. Cheerleading section at your service. In the days of Soarer ownership, I used to dream of V160 and R154 but even the rich kids couldn't afford them.

No need to spill all of the beans just yet but I hope I know where this is going. I considered taking on an Aristo project a few years ago but the big bhp slippery slope looked a bit too steep at the time. If it was mine, I would re-badge it as an IS200. 

Haha you are right it is a huge slippery slope 😂 cheers for the support. Now thats an idea for the is200 badge, would be fun if i could use original is200 wheels to, could probably suprise a few people! 

The v160 would be a dream as these will handle 1000bhp aswell as being 6speed. There is something about the soarer that keeps me looking at them, i had considered that but the smaller size of the IS swung my decision. 

This was the good thing about the Focus RS mk1 is that they just kept going up in value, so the money ive made off the Focus i have just ploughed straight into this. By the time its done i would have input very little extra money to build this and ive got a car way more reliable, way more driveable, hell of alot quicker, sounds nicer, better place to sit in and something easy and cheap enough to fix if it ever has a little bump not like the Focus.

[rich1068]

I'm new to the whole Lexus thing too. Picked up my low mileage IS300 a few weeks ago. So I'll be watching this thread. Not that I plan on doing anything remotely similar to my old girl but so I can shake my head and say "You crazy kids..." a lot.

[rob_clio172]

So the journey continues, once i confirmed the prop was good to go i pulled the box back out. Now it was time to decide on a clutch setup. I have been watching alot of vlogs on youtube of people running supras and IS300s and 1 guy in particular his chanel is "garage project motorsports" now this guy has pretty much done exactly what my intentions are, very informative, attention to detail is amazing and an interesting chanel to watch. This guy did use a single disc setup clutch but he blew this to pieces and wiped out the bell housing in the process, he is running slightly less bhp and torque to what my goal is. So he swapped it out for a clutch masters twin disc setup and said its the best decision hes made...............

Ding dong delivery  😂 i had considered at clutch masters fx850 but it was very very expensive!! I went with the spec twin disc, ive had to use a 1jz kit because of the fitment to the gearbox and it all still bolts straight up to the 2jz (good old toyota again 👍). in this kit it includes a rebuildable very lightweight flywheel, the hydraulic throw out bearing (so converting it from pull type clutch), braided clutch lines and a wilwood clutch master cynider. None of these extra bits come with the clutch masters fx850 and its cheaper.

It will handle near enough 1500NM of torque ............... (i know i had to read this twice too) which is over kill but as we all know toyota over manufactured everything in this era which made them so reliable so why should i stop that tradition.

Few more pics to admire its beauty .......

There it is in all its glory, 1 6puck sprung disc, 1 6puck unsprung disc, center plate, pressure cover and that buildable flywheel. Once this was trial fitted to the gearbox to confirm the spline fitment i was back on the mission to sort the gearstick issue.

This bit is going to be tricky, this being the 3rd revision of the box means the shifter housing extension has a slightly different bolt spacing. Everywhere i looked just seemed to get me to a extension housing that was the early style fitments. There are places that do custom billet made housings but you also need the rod that goes inside which you cannot seem to by anywhere 2nd hand. The 1 i needed for mine i had no idea where to even get the correct part number and because its not the standard housing for the box i have toyota could not even try to look it up on there system. Every project thread i found for an r154 swap was using the early box so i was on my own.

I thought i was stuck untill just randomly searching on google images i came across a housing that is very close to what i need. This housing is from a very strange looking car called a Toyota Verossa...

This you probably guessed is fitted with a 1jz which uses the r154 (good old toyota 👍..... again) . So i got hold of the part number for the housing and got 1 ordered up ........ fast and furious style "overnight parts from japan" this comes with that rod inside too.

Old tripod setup....^^^

New setup ....^^^ this sits around 1inch further forward which now puts the stick in a decent position, coupled with a short shifter it should be perfect with plenty room from the trim surround. The added bonus of its original toyota part too.

More to come .............

[rob_clio172]

19 minutes ago, rich1068 said:

I'm new to the whole Lexus thing too. Picked up my low mileage IS300 a few weeks ago. So I'll be watching this thread. Not that I plan on doing anything remotely similar to my old girl but so I can shake my head and say "You crazy kids..." a lot.

Nice to hear of your purchase, what age and mileage is she? Haha yeh sometimes its nice to sit back and watch what people do with cars this is the beauty of the project section. Im still a member on loads of different forums for different make cars and always enjoy reading build threads

[Neil E]

2 hours ago, rob_clio172 said:

Haha you are right it is a huge slippery slope 😂 cheers for the support. Now thats an idea for the is200 badge, would be fun if i could use original is200 wheels to, could probably suprise a few people! 

The v160 would be a dream as these will handle 1000bhp aswell as being 6speed. There is something about the soarer that keeps me looking at them, i had considered that but the smaller size of the IS swung my decision. 

This was the good thing about the Focus RS mk1 is that they just kept going up in value, so the money ive made off the Focus i have just ploughed straight into this. By the time its done i would have input very little extra money to build this and ive got a car way more reliable, way more driveable, hell of alot quicker, sounds nicer, better place to sit in and something easy and cheap enough to fix if it ever has a little bump not like the Focus.

Good research on the transmission, the mods may need to consider an  '18 cert' for the clutch assembly pictures. Just been to the garage to look for some radio bits for an LS430 and the V8 SC is now looking woefully under-powered.

The Soarer is a very special car. Only those that know really understand the statement but it's quite a big lump with some old skool high tech to navigate so you're better off with the IS 300. Like your thinking on the standard wheels but fear much smoke and tyre shredding could follow. There are low key wider alternatives that may not give it away but with lots of power are you considering a wider track?

[rob_clio172]

58 minutes ago, Neil E said:

Good research on the transmission, the mods may need to consider an  '18 cert' for the clutch assembly pictures. Just been to the garage to look for some radio bits for an LS430 and the V8 SC is now looking woefully under-powered.

The Soarer is a very special car. Only those that know really understand the statement but it's quite a big lump with some old skool high tech to navigate so you're better off with the IS 300. Like your thinking on the standard wheels but fear much smoke and tyre shredding could follow. There are low key wider alternatives that may not give it away but with lots of power are you considering a wider track?

Yes alot wider, im not giving any clues on body kit i want just yet (nothing extreme) but i will be using a 10.5 inch wide wheel on the back so maybe a 285 or a 295 tyre, i will probably need a 20mm spacer on the back to keep it flush with the kit

[Neil E]

5 hours ago, rob_clio172 said:

Yes alot wider, im not giving any clues on body kit i want just yet (nothing extreme) but i will be using a 10.5 inch wide wheel on the back so maybe a 285 or a 295 tyre, i will probably need a 20mm spacer on the back to keep it flush with the kit

Yeah no need for any spoiler spoilers, just keep the updates coming and watch the number of followers rise. 

[rich1068]

9 hours ago, rob_clio172 said:

Nice to hear of your purchase, what age and mileage is she? Haha yeh sometimes its nice to sit back and watch what people do with cars this is the beauty of the project section. Im still a member on loads of different forums for different make cars and always enjoy reading build threads

A 2002 and just turned 54k. Proper one careful lady owner stuff. And very much enjoying the 2JZ in it's more subdued form...

[dougie175]

Now this is what I call a build thread, top work! Look forward to watching the progress!

[rob_clio172]

1 hour ago, rich1068 said:

A 2002 and just turned 54k. Proper one careful lady owner stuff. And very much enjoying the 2JZ in it's more subdued form...

Looks lovely, got the tte bits on it too. Thats is very low for a 2002 model, the 2jz is such an amazing engine, very refined, quiet, smooth and effortless in NA form then a complete animal in high state of tune with huge amounts of boost and still just as reliable!

[rob_clio172]

1 hour ago, dougie175 said:

Now this is what I call a build thread, top work! Look forward to watching the progress!

Thanks matey, still trying to work my way round the project threads and the rest of the site. Some real good impressive stuff on here. 

[gdh300]

Watching with interest, Rob. Love to do something like this but I a) lack the space, b) lack the time, d) lack the budget, d) lack the tools, but perhaps most importantly e) I lack the skills to do it properly! 

[rob_clio172]

1 hour ago, gdh300 said:

Watching with interest, Rob. Love to do something like this but I a) lack the space, b) lack the time, d) lack the budget, d) lack the tools, but perhaps most importantly e) I lack the skills to do it properly! 

Dont ever give up hope i too was at alot of these points that you have said but now im at a point i can ive just jumped on it. As for skills tbh these cars are very very easy to work on compared to something like bmw where i work. The japanese made these things very easy to take apart and put together unlike the germans who seem to try to over complicate things.