IS250 - New beginning (bit of an ongoing "project")

[DannyM]

On 12/15/2020 at 3:36 PM, H3XME said:

Update. Clutch is gone, started slipping very very bad all of a sudden. I managed to get a good deal on Exedy standard replacement clutch kit (pressure plate, bearing and clutch disc) Part Number: LEK2001 for those who are interested. Link to buy here

I'm going to change it with my mate tomorrow. I'm not changing the DMF as I had no issues with it at all, no weird noises etc. I'm hoping it will be okay, but it's one of those things I won't know until I see it. Could only find a DMF from Lexus for £880+VAT and solid flywheel from Fidanza from the states works out to about £500. Bear in mind the car is now on almost 145k miles. Will be interesting to see.

Also got some Castrol Syntrax 75W-90 transmission fluid and some AP Racing brake fluid for the clutch.

 

Spotted that you used an Exedy clutch kit and wanted to know how you rate it. The clutch was replaced in my 250 just before I bought it 6 months ago (OEM clutch kit was fitted). I'm not a fan of it at all. Pressure plate is quite soft, very difficult to gauge the biting point and clutch is very sensitive (it's very easy slip it on a hill start!). Did you find the Exedy any better or is it much of a muchness being an OEM replacement? Cheers.

[H3XME]

15 hours ago, DannyM said:

Spotted that you used an Exedy clutch kit and wanted to know how you rate it. The clutch was replaced in my 250 just before I bought it 6 months ago (OEM clutch kit was fitted). I'm not a fan of it at all. Pressure plate is quite soft, very difficult to gauge the biting point and clutch is very sensitive (it's very easy slip it on a hill start!). Did you find the Exedy any better or is it much of a muchness being an OEM replacement? Cheers.

The OE replacement Exedy clutch feels a bit better than standard, but I've never driven the car with a fresh Lexus clutch as this was the first clutch change in it's whole life. It's a bit more aggressive, just overall better feeling compared to the stock clutch before it started slipping. We'd have to drive each other's cars to figure this out to be honest. 

[H3XME]

I had nothing to do one of the nights so drove into the city centre and took a few pics. Not too bad for a phone camera if I may say so myself😅

[H3XME]

Small brake update

I changed my rear discs and pads the weekend. Simple job this time round. I used standard replacement Brakefit discs (310mm vented) and EBC Ultimax (OE Grade) pads.

Discs cost £83.56 (pair) and set of pads is £26.53 - If you need any parts like this, let me know I can give you discount as I work for www.part-box.com

Some time ago I was struggling with changing the pads as I couldn't take the rear calipers off due to them being seized. Managed to hammer (with rubber mallet) the calipers off and replace the slider pins, although one of them was seized in so bad I had to drill it out. Anyway, 1.5 years and 20k miles later the calipers slipped right off.

I checked the pins and they were fine, didn't even need re-greasing. Some people say you should do this every 6-12months but I really don't think it's necessary. I re-greased them anyway since the calipers were off, but I wouldn't go out of my way to grease them up every year. Every 2 years seems more realistic - especially if you binned the standard pins and replaced them with brand new ones at some point.

 

[H3XME]

Another thing I forgot to post about was my new seat. I'm not a big fan of leather seats - even more so when you want to go for a "spirited drive" or in summer. I put a BRIDE X Cusco collaboration seat into my IS250 I got from work last year. I was waiting 4 months for the BRIDE seat rail to come from Japan, but I finally got it last month and now it's all in. Took me about 45mins to fit it. Driving experience & position improved by a lot! It's a suede-like material so it holds you in the seat very well, it's a half bucket seat so you get all the upper body support without sacrificing comfort as you can still spread your legs 😂 Driving position is a little bit lower which is what I needed because I'm 6'2 and I found the factory seat a bit too high even in its lowest setting. 

 

[H3XME]

Time has come and I finally did a drift day in the 250. The seat above came in handy. I went to Birmingham Wheels as it's local and for £50 you can't really go wrong. I put on my spare wheels on the back and off I went. It was a damp day - it wasn't raining, but they wet the track every 30minutes so people can do wet skids. You'll learn more in terms of control during the wet day, so I didn't mind going even though dry days are better. Oh well, next time..

The car performed really well. Factory LSD locked up nicely, and the steering lock is amazing too. Don't really have any complaints about it. It can definitely do with harder springs on my coilovers for dry days when you have to be more aggressive, but other than that I'm happy with it. I did between 7 & 10 laps before letting it cool down with the bonnet up for 10-15mins and then went back out on the track - the key to reliability.. DO NOT beat on it for too long, have some mechanical sympathy.

Everyone said the car is too nice to be drifted, but like I told everyone, I wasn't there to smash it. Drift cars meant to look good, sadly UK is too used to battered E36, IS200 & MX-5s.. 

Here's a few pics. Got a video coming too. 

[Alfalfa]

On 1/2/2020 at 4:47 PM, H3XME said:

Hello,

 

So I've picked up another IS250 last year. I had one previously and I missed it, so here it is.

Manual, black leather, sat nav with Mark Levinson audio system, air conditioned seats and the rest that's pretty normal for these cars.

Bought it completely stock.

Soon after I've done an oil change, I replaced a dirty air filter and put an HKS Super air filter in it and changed the oil cap for a Mishimoto aluminium one.

I've replaced a dirty & damaged gear knob gaiter and disgustingly used gear knob that just pained me every time I drove it.

Then the exciting stuff happened.. a set of RAYS Gramlights 57CR 18x9.5 ET38 paired with very average TOYO Proxes TR1 225/40R18.. I've used the older compound (T1-R) tyres and they were fine. Definitely a very noticeable upgrade over the previous 245/45R17 Continentals that someone put on it. 245s are just way too wide for the amount of power this car has in my opinion. It feels a lot more nimble now on the narrower tyres, but also much more grippy due to the Toyo's being just better in every way. The AVG mpg's have also changed after changing an air filter & wheels. I used to average 21mpg on my way to and from work (14mile one way mixed commute - dual carriageways, town and country roads). Now it's around 26mpg and strictly motorway driving - cruise control at 70mph went from 36mpg to 43mpg. Safe to say I'm very happy with it so far.  

Currently I need to get rear discs & pads all round as these are sh*t and very bad on dusting.

Plans for the future are:

TEIN Flex Z Fully adjustable coilovers to improve the handling.

HARDRACE front LCA steering response bushes - that should stiffen up the steering wheel a little bit as it's way too sensitive for me at the moment.

GT86/BRZ OEM differential & 4.1 final drive - will reduced the top speed, but will increase the acceleration which is something very noticeable, especially on A/T cars as they have 3.7 FD and M/T have 3.9 FD, but my Manual will benefit from it too.

HKS HI-Power exhaust (currently on back order - should arrive in April) - unleash the V6 noises! Sound clip from someone in the USA here

Rear diffuser

Vland tail lights

+ lots more but I won't list everything..

 

 

 

Are you using spacers or only wider rims?

[Mr Vlad]

Looking forward to seeing the video, pics look really good 👍 

[H3XME]

1 hour ago, Alfalfa said:

Are you using spacers or only wider rims?

Both. I chose 18x9.5 ET38 wheels which were sticking out of the arches on stock ride height. When I lowered the car, I gained so much camber the arches soaked the wheels in by too much. I ended up putting 22mm spacer on the rear. I'm gonna put 20 on the front as well but it's a bit too much for the front without camber arms. I don't want the front to poke out too much. 

[Alfalfa]

7 hours ago, H3XME said:

Both. I chose 18x9.5 ET38 wheels which were sticking out of the arches on stock ride height. When I lowered the car, I gained so much camber the arches soaked the wheels in by too much. I ended up putting 22mm spacer on the rear. I'm gonna put 20 on the front as well but it's a bit too much for the front without camber arms. I don't want the front to poke out too much. 

Is Mot any problem vith spacer in the UK?

[H3XME]

4 hours ago, Alfalfa said:

Is Mot any problem vith spacer in the UK?

No problems. 

[dephrank]

On 1/2/2020 at 3:47 PM, H3XME said:

18x9.5 ET38

This set up all round? Thought these cars ran on staggered wheels (forgive my ignorance if I’m wrong) I’m liking the fitment but finding it hard to get a decent one with the perfect offset to give that flush or slight poke fitment as I’m averse to using spacers.

[H3XME]

5 minutes ago, dephrank said:

This set up all round? Thought these cars ran on staggered wheels (forgive my ignorance if I’m wrong) I’m liking the fitment but finding it hard to get a decent one with the perfect offset to give that flush or slight poke fitment as I’m averse to using spacers.

Only facelift and F sport had staggered wheels. 

9.5 +38 gives you flush/tiniest poke on stock ride height. If you Lower the car and don't want spacers, you'll need lower offset wheels. Like et22

[dephrank]

2 hours ago, H3XME said:

Only facelift and F sport had staggered wheels. 

9.5 +38 gives you flush/tiniest poke on stock ride height. If you Lower the car and don't want spacers, you'll need lower offset wheels. Like et22

See? Didn’t even know that pre-facelift had a square set up.
I’ve just seen a square set of XXR wheels 18x8.75 ET35 5x100/114.3. It’s almost a miracle to find aftermarket wheels with Lexus’ 60.1cb in the U.K. Thanks for the heads up. You just saved a drive train. 

[H3XME]

1 minute ago, dephrank said:

See? Didn’t even know that pre-facelift had a square set up.
I’ve just seen a square set of XXR wheels 18x8.75 ET35 5x100/114.3. It’s almost a miracle to find aftermarket wheels with Lexus’ 60.1cb in the U.K. Thanks for the heads up. You just saved a drive train. 

Don't worry about the centre bore. This is why you buy spigot rings. 

[Conorccg]

Would you happen to have a link to where you got your debadged grill from?

Thanks

[H3XME]

23 minutes ago, Conorccg said:

Would you happen to have a link to where you got your debadged grill from?

Thanks

It was this one but it seems like they no longer ship to the UK. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fit-06-07-08-IS250-IS350-Honeycomb-Badgeless-Mesh-ISF-Style-Front-Hood-Grille-/192767288715?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0

[Conorccg]

Perfect. Cheers for that. Cars a credit to you. Unreal 👌

[H3XME]

I've been slacking. Here are some photos from my little autumn shoot.. my friend is handy with a camera. You can see her Caspian sky (rare) pearl white colour facelift. Love that car, she just needs to lower it and put some nice wheels on it 😃

Feast your eyes.. Christmas shoot to follow. 

 

[Mr Vlad]

I'm sure Lucas you'll talk her into it 😉

Great photos by the way 👍

[samplify]

Hey maybe next time I can bring mine and it'll look like your cars' lovechild! 

[Mr Vlad]

How much ground clearance is there between the exhaust and the ground samplify? There seems to be very little from your photo.

[H3XME]

11 minutes ago, Mr Vlad said:

How much ground clearance is there between the exhaust and the ground samplify? There seems to be very little from your photo.

Yeah, i thought the same thing. It's like the piping goes under the diff. Lowered car would struggle. 

[samplify]

It is about as close to the boot floor as you could possibly get. I think the angle of the photo makes it look lower than it actually is. Been over speed bumps, potholes, no issues.

[H3XME]

Just for a reference, here's mine, @Mr Vlad