My ls400 build thread (daily driver)

[Simoto]

So for about 10 years I had been looking at these beasts and thinking, I just don’t know, and kept putting it on the back burner, I’ve always modified cars, and to the horror of some, when I mentioned what I wanted to do with the LS. I want to help create the interest in the aftermarket world that most cars have. The LS is so underestimated and most would just rip the engine out and leave another shell behind. I’ve always loved the shape, and growing up watching NASCAR’s something just clicked with the shape and road presence of the LS. So along my journey so far I have documented the purchase and changes I have made to the car. Now I know it’s not going to float the boat of everyone, but I’ve tried to keep things tasteful and I change my mind a lot. So hope you enjoy, I’m no mechanic but learnt as I’ve gone along the road.

So here we go.

 

[Mo-]

I'm gonna watch this thread closely...it sounds interesting 

[Benaywood]

Is that a velour/fabric interior? Surely can’t be many of those... isn’t that more highly regarded than leather in Japan? Will be interested in what you do, same colour as mine!

[Happy Jim]

Lowered, bespoilered, tubbed, couple of blowers, roll cage - come on man stop being a tease and tell us what you’ve done 😂

 

Looking forward to this one

Jim

[Malc]

just a little confused here

you say you have a Celsior ( and the velour would suggest that too ) but it's badged Lexus ?

Why hide the reg number ?

Like the pearlescent white too, the colour of my first Ls400  J54DAP  some 19 years ago now

Malc

[ambermarine]

Malc 

You should never place your reg number on social media there are people out there who will use it for criminal activity.

[The-Acre]

4 hours ago, Malc said:

just a little confused here

you say you have a Celsior ( and the velour would suggest that too ) but it's badged Lexus ?

Why hide the reg number ?

Like the pearlescent white too, the colour of my first Ls400  J54DAP  some 19 years ago now

Malc

It seems that lots of Celsior buyers re-bagde to Lexus, people asked me if I'd do the same. Personally I like having the Toyota badge as it confuses many an enquirer! 

[Malc]

3 hours ago, ambermarine said:

place your reg number

this one was long ago scrapped I believe

surely anyone can pop any reg into a search engine, like DVLA MOT checker, and collect a type of car, colour, age, mileage etc !

Malc

 

[Simoto]

9 hours ago, Malc said:

just a little confused here

you say you have a Celsior ( and the velour would suggest that too ) but it's badged Lexus ?

Why hide the reg number ?

Like the pearlescent white too, the colour of my first Ls400  J54DAP  some 19 years ago now

Malc

So these are the pics off auto trader before I purchased her and that’s why I call it the Texus  prodject, as it has LS badges on already, but with the Toyota steering wheel, Toyota wheel centre caps, and the obvious Toyota engine badge, not to mention all the Japanese everywhere, Hence why I got the car the price for cheaper than list. I know at one point they did import the Toyotas and re badge them as Lexus so they could put the price higher, but judging by this effort it looks self made.

And hiding the numberplate something I’ve always done out of habit really. True that it doesn’t really make much difference as it’s easy to check with the DVLA checker now but I’m always cautious  about cloning number plates, you just never know.

 

[Simoto]

19 hours ago, Benaywood said:

Is that a velour/fabric interior? Surely can’t be many of those... isn’t that more highly regarded than leather in Japan? Will be interested in what you do, same colour as mine!

Yes it is, and I have struggled to find anyone else with the same. I’m not sure about how the japs would regard it realy, depends if it’s harder to get sheep or cows made into seats, well at least one doesn’t have to die I guess, 

[Simoto]

18 hours ago, Happy Jim said:

Lowered, bespoilered, tubbed, couple of blowers, roll cage - come on man stop being a tease and tell us what you’ve done 😂

 

Looking forward to this one

Jim

Haha, I’m going to be a bit of a sod, as I’m planning on doing some daily updates as not to spoil too much. And I’m still working on her so there will always be updates. 

 

[Simoto]

Ok, so first things first. I obviously purchased the car. And this was the first part that would make most including me cringe.

I purchased it unseen from a dealer down in London. Now yes I though I’m mad doing this, and even after doing lots of checks and my favourite, the DVLA MOT history checker as I think it gives more detail to its life than sometimes a fake service book that you ring the first dealer stamp and they say, we have only seen this car at purchase. Believe me I’ve had a few of those. And because the price was low and the mileage seemed to check out with the condition of the interior I though, give them a ring on the Mobly phone and get them to start it and walk round it for me. To be fair they mentioned all the things that were wrong that you can’t see in the pictures and I thought I want to save her regardless of the condition, because if someone doesn’t do it and only buys perfect, what’s going to be left.

So anyway I get the car delivered like a takeaway to my house, on the back of a small car  lorry that looked smaller than the car itself, now I did get a pic but it’s on my ancient I phone and I can’t even drag the pics off it anymore, but il have to do the worst best thing and take a picture of a picture so quality will be bad but anyway. So £165 pound takeaway delivery later, which I thought was good for London up to me, the cars off the lorry and I’m trying to now figure out what an auto is as I’ve never even been in one let alone driven one. That’s when the Nice delivery driver tells me as funnily enough he has an ls400 back in Poland, what are the chances. So park her up and let’s have a good look, and yep it’s smells of woolly jumpers, and yep the car is so quiet I thought it was electric, and ooooo the boot smells like someone died, so it’s either damp or it realy was a Sopranos mob car. But yeh everything seemed good. Took her for a quick drive and wow I wished I hadn’t waited to buy one, gearbox was smooth, acceleration was surprising for saying I had a sti scooby at the time and an Audi TT and an mx5, yeh I have a problem..... but as always it’s service time to see what’s really going on.

[Malc]

is that the new and old cambelt ?  did you replace the waterpump too ?

cambelts usually look newish even when 100k+ miles 😉

Malc

[Simoto]

Just now, Malc said:

is that the new and old cambelt ?  did you replace the waterpump too ?

cambelts usually look newish even when 100k+ miles 😉

Malc

No it’s the alternator belt, but I know the rule of sorting the water pump while your there just makes sense.

[The-Acre]

So you've got wool seats like me.  I wasn't sure at first but I'm glad I did it as they just feel so good, so soft.  Do you know what year yours was imported?

[Simoto]

1 minute ago, The-Acre said:

So you've got wool seats like me.  I wasn't sure at first but I'm glad I did it as they just feel so good, so soft.  Do you know what year yours was imported?

Yeh they are so comfortable, and no seat burn in summer or freeze until your heated seats kick in, and it was imported in 2005  

[The-Acre]

2 minutes ago, Simoto said:

Yeh they are so comfortable, and no seat burn in summer or freeze until your heated seats kick in, and it was imported in 2005  

So have you found many quirks that UK models didn't have?  Mine has several, most not a great deal of use but amusing all the same!

[Simoto]

1 minute ago, The-Acre said:

So have you found many quirks that UK models didn't have?  Mine has several, most not a great deal of use but amusing all the same!

To be honest i haven’t really looked at the differences other than the seats, I did like that I found some Yen in the car under the rear seat.

what sort of quirks do you mean?

[The-Acre]

1 minute ago, Simoto said:

To be honest i haven’t really looked at the differences other than the seats, I did like that I found some Yen in the car under the rear seat.

what sort of quirks do you mean?

I have a TV, a parking aid on the front bumper which pops up with a blue LED, the passenger front seat and head rest folds forward to give the rear passenger loads of room and a clear view, very thick "Celsior" over mats, nice long grab handles on the back of the front seats, the original and unused "Celsior" rear tape deck, and a sensor of some kind on the dash that I've yet to determine the function of.  Oh yes, and a DVD player! And something I only discovered recently was cornering lights.  And the front fogs are yellow which I like. Also the side and rear windows are very dark tinted. Only downside is the spare wheel is a space saver.

[Simoto]

8 minutes ago, The-Acre said:

I have a TV, a parking aid on the front bumper which pops up with a blue led, the passenger front seat and head rest folds forward to give the rear passenger loads of room and a clear view, very thick "Celsior" over mats, nice long grab handles on the back of the front seats, the original and unused "Celsior" rear tape deck, and a sensor of some kind on the dash that I've yet to determine the function of.  Oh yes, and a DVD player! And something I only discovered recently was cornering lights.  And the front fogs are yellow which I like. Also the side and rear windows are very dark tinted. Only downside is the spare wheel is a space saver.

The craziness of the newer shape gets me every time with the extras, I mean I have the multi disk changer and original head unit and antenna is in the rear window, but I think I have a base model, I do like how the seats are full electric even down to the headrest, and the seat belt height adjustment is electric too, and heated folding mirrors, it’s still beyond what most modern cars have now. Always makes me chuckle when I tell people. Love all the models, but just fell for the old school look of mine. 

 

[The-Acre]

2 hours ago, Simoto said:

The craziness of the newer shape gets me every time with the extras, I mean I have the multi disk changer and original head unit and antenna is in the rear window, but I think I have a base model, I do like how the seats are full electric even down to the headrest, and the seat belt height adjustment is electric too, and heated folding mirrors, it’s still beyond what most modern cars have now. Always makes me chuckle when I tell people. Love all the models, but just fell for the old school look of mine. 

 

I've said this before on this forum, I believe the LS lost that classic limo look after the LS430, and really,  that's the thing that got me interested in them in the first place. So although I'm sure the LS460 is a fine car, the shape just doesn't appeal to me. 

[Simoto]

So as promised, a realy bad picture of a picture from my stupid old I phone, plus a couple of the boot or should I say swimming pool.

[The-Acre]

The leaking boot is common across the LS400 range but easily rectified.

[Simoto]

Ok so at this point I decided, after a service the next step is well, drive your car about 250 miles for a test drive to Torquay, so with the kids and all the baby stuff, and bags and spare wheel and tool kit ( just in case) the boot is huge as you all know. So off we went, trip there and back and driving around for the week was amazing, car ran like a dream, just parking was interesting, the turning circle really helps but the length of the beast is crazy.

Anyhoo so lots of driving with it being stock and just enjoying the car for a while. Then I got going with my plan. Remember I said I was a bit of a fan of NASCAR’s, well I purchased these and spaces because the four pot callipers are too big for almost every other 16” wheel. So yeh again sorry about the pics, honestly they are the last ones on the phone, promise.

 

[Simoto]