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

[H3XME]

Car is now SOLD

Currently awaiting delivery of 1999 Toyota Mark II JZX100

[McShmoopy]

On 10/11/2022 at 2:56 PM, H3XME said:

Car is now SOLD

Currently awaiting delivery of 1999 Toyota Mark II JZX100

That’s a shame I quite enjoyed following your IS250 build, what prompted the sale? 

[H3XME]

20 minutes ago, McShmoopy said:

That’s a shame I quite enjoyed following your IS250 build, what prompted the sale? 

To be honest, I was never gonna advertise the car for sale as it had too many miles on. I really enjoyed it and I didn't think I'd ever get the kind of money I'd expect for it. However, somebody messaged me asking if I'd sell the car, and I said yeah, sure.. £4k takes it. If not, I'm keeping it as I don't really want / need to sell it. And to my surprise he said YES. It was a bittersweet moment when he came to get the car from Kent, but at that point I had an eye on Nissan 300ZX.. I guess I just wanted to scratch the itch for a 90s jap car again. However the Nissan fell through as it was rusty and then I noticed the Toyota Mark II with 1JZ engine for sale near me. That's absolute immaculate so I put my deposit down and now I'm just waiting for DVLA to register the car (fresh Jap import)/ send the logbook so I can take it home from the dealer. Whether I'll enjoy the ownership of that as much as I enjoyed the IS250, I don't know. Maybe not, but it's a cool car in my opinion and I will always get the money back for it should I decide to sell it as the value of those cars keeps going up. I'm currently car sharing and I really miss the IS250. It just did everything I wanted from it, so I think that until I can manual convert the Mark II, I will have to learn to love the automatic life for a bit. At least it's got pillar-less windows.. that's the coolest feature on a 4 door saloon haha. If I don't get on with it, I might just sell after a few months and buy IS350 

[McShmoopy]

44 minutes ago, H3XME said:

To be honest, I was never gonna advertise the car for sale as it had too many miles on. I really enjoyed it and I didn't think I'd ever get the kind of money I'd expect for it. However, somebody messaged me asking if I'd sell the car, and I said yeah, sure.. £4k takes it. If not, I'm keeping it as I don't really want / need to sell it. And to my surprise he said YES. It was a bittersweet moment when he came to get the car from Kent, but at that point I had an eye on Nissan 300ZX.. I guess I just wanted to scratch the itch for a 90s jap car again. However the Nissan fell through as it was rusty and then I noticed the Toyota Mark II with 1JZ engine for sale near me. That's absolute immaculate so I put my deposit down and now I'm just waiting for DVLA to register the car (fresh Jap import)/ send the logbook so I can take it home from the dealer. Whether I'll enjoy the ownership of that as much as I enjoyed the IS250, I don't know. Maybe not, but it's a cool car in my opinion and I will always get the money back for it should I decide to sell it as the value of those cars keeps going up. I'm currently car sharing and I really miss the IS250. It just did everything I wanted from it, so I think that until I can manual convert the Mark II, I will have to learn to love the automatic life for a bit. At least it's got pillar-less windows.. that's the coolest feature on a 4 door saloon haha. If I don't get on with it, I might just sell after a few months and buy IS350 

That’s fair enough mate, I did spot a IS350 Jap import on Facebook marketplace and was almost tempted but I’m very happy with my IS250 for the time being, just not at the petrol pump haha. Those old school toyotas look sweet and looks like you’ve bagged a good example! Hope you get many enjoyable miles out of this. 

[morgan_sa]

I enjoyed reading about the IS250's progress (even spotted it at Daikoku Nights once) so I'm sorry to hear it's sold, but the Mark II looks great and I look forward to seeing what you do with it!

[H3XME]

3 minutes ago, morgan_sa said:

I enjoyed reading about the IS250's progress (even spotted it at Daikoku Nights once) so I'm sorry to hear it's sold, but the Mark II looks great and I look forward to seeing what you do with it!

Thanks dude! I didn’t do anything major to the 250, but it’s been almost a 3 years long journey with it and I was quite happy with it the way it looked. I just planned on putting an apple car play unit in and getting the 3IS conversion front bumper but the guy who bought it already ordered those things so I’m excited to see it “finished”. I think it’ll look really good. 

As for the JZX100, I think I’m only gonna do coilovers and wheels as an immediate mod. I’m playing with the idea of BN/Vertex style body kit for it but I might just keep it original, body-wise. Its a super clean example

[H3XME]

2 minutes ago, H3XME said:

Thanks dude! I didn’t do anything major to the 250, but it’s been almost a 3 years long journey with it and I was quite happy with it the way it looked. I just planned on putting an apple car play unit in and getting the 3IS conversion front bumper but the guy who bought it already ordered those things so I’m excited to see it “finished”. I think it’ll look really good. 

As for the JZX100, I think I’m only gonna do coilovers and wheels as an immediate mod. I’m playing with the idea of BN/Vertex style body kit for it but I might just keep it original, body-wise. Its a super clean example

Doesnt need much to look good. 

[H3XME]

Well there goes my pride & joy. It's been with the new owner for 4 weeks and sadly it got 'a little' out of hand. RIP my old car. 

[scudney]

Ahhh such a shame 😔 

[TadasC]

such a shame... But will it be parted out?

[Mr Vlad]

That car can easily be repaired. There's a video on YouTube where an is250 worse than that is repaired superbly. 

Shame about that damage though 😕 

[morgan_sa]

Wow, that's pretty bad. 😕

[Mr Vlad]

check this out. I found it by accident (excuse the pun) the workmanship is outstanding. 

 

[H3XME]

On 10/31/2022 at 4:28 PM, TadasC said:

such a shame... But will it be parted out?

haha, yes and no. The new owner of the car (he's the one who crashed it), will be transferring all the good bits onto a new IS250 he's buying.

[H3XME]

Update time.

There are some exciting changes coming very soon...

As you may know, I was looking for a 300ZX some time ago, but I couldn't find one that's good enough. Ended up selling my IS250 and went for '99 Toyota Mark II JZX100. As much as I liked that car for what it COULD be, rather than for what it was, I swapped that for a '94 Nissan 300ZX because 1) the old-school automatic in the JZX100 just isn't for me 2) always wanted a 300zx.. 

So here it is. 1994 300ZX non-turbo, 2+2, manual with TT tops.. 

Now, this car is now 28 years old. It has its little gremlins and needs a little TLC. Not to mention these just rust before your eyes so there is no way I want to drive this over winter. This leads me to my Lexus related content again.. 

I really struggle to find something within the budget that's: RWD, Manual, min. 200hp, LSD and not silly money..

Well you guessed it. I am getting another IS250, this will be my third one and let's hope it's gonna be the last one..at least for a good while. They have been such good cars to me previously it's hard to ignore it when it comes to getting something else, especially since the IS250 does everything I want. 

Keep an eye on this thread.. I will be doing some bits to it when I get it. 

[Mr Vlad]

Eh up Lucas. That 300ZX looks sweeeeeet. Great in white. I didn't know they rust like hell and that surprises me. I'm sure you'll get it sorted over winter. Look forward to updates on it. So is250 number 3 eh? Is it manual box again as I know that was part of your requirements but not confirmed. 

[H3XME]

7 minutes ago, Mr Vlad said:

Eh up Lucas. That 300ZX looks sweeeeeet. Great in white. I didn't know they rust like hell and that surprises me. I'm sure you'll get it sorted over winter. Look forward to updates on it. So is250 number 3 eh? Is it manual box again as I know that was part of your requirements but not confirmed. 

The 300zx is fine just the wrong of the year to drive it atm. Need to get new fuel lines made as they’re corroded (was on the latest MOT) 

yeah manual, but the one I’m going for on Saturday is 06 so lower tax bracket luckily. It’s also in a rare green/jade colour like some r34 skylines were offered but I will have to fully rip out the interior and swap a black one in as its currently poverty spec cream cloth, no nav or camera.. I’ll be going down the route of android head unit, 3IS 2014+ front seats again and make it nice. It’s a low mileage example, full service history and for good money. It’s just a bit rough in every way other than mechanically.. luckily I can do everything myself to make it the spec I want. 
 

[Mr Vlad]

Blimey that is250 looks great in that colour. Well done you. 👍 

[H3XME]

20 minutes ago, Mr Vlad said:

Blimey that is250 looks great in that colour. Well done you. 👍 

Thanks! I think so too, although my friends were telling me to wait until a black one pops up haha. I had two black ones and I like this "Desert Sage Metallic (6U3)" colour.. it's very rare. 

[H3XME]

Well, it’s home. It was very grubby so had to give it a quick-sh*t wash at Asda on the way back. 
Just clocked 72k on the 2.5h drive back from Dagenham. Other than clutch being on its last legs it’s mechanically sound.

It’s got a cream inteior which i absolutely hate, but there’s about 30 manuals for sale in the whole country and this was the only one in this Desert Sage Metallic colour that I quite like so my next step is to swap the interior for black leather. Spoke to the guy who bought & crashed my black one, and I’ll have some interior bits (glove box + lower dash trim that goes under the glovebox and under the steering wheel) from that one, but not all as he’s going to be using it as a donor car for a new one he bought. 
 

Scrappy by me has IS300h leather seats that I’ll be putting into this, another scrappy not far from me has rear black leather seats & door cards. 

Carpet I’ll be dying black as swapping that would be a sh*t job. 
 

Clutch I’ll sort over Christmas as it’s not slipping yet.

[Mr Vlad]

Eh up Max. Its Your location that has the 'olive' green cars and gold ones. I feel sorry for you living there. I've been to a lot of areas in this great country of ours and that colour on Lucas's is250 is superb and RARE in all the places I've been. On the is250 it's one helluva colour and arguably the best. Mine is obsidian black. Really good but can be bettered. 

[MartinH]

Ha yes that's the colour of my car and I love it! Very seldom seen in the London area or anywhere else I've driven for that matter. Can't get with your beef about the interior, the tan leather seats with heat/vent are really nice and so too the matching carpets, tho not ideal for muddy boots of course. Sunroof and Levinson too, on an SE... the dude who specced this car was mindful of car tax liability I reckon. 

[H3XME]

2 hours ago, MartinH said:

Ha yes that's the colour of my car and I love it! Very seldom seen in the London area or anywhere else I've driven for that matter. Can't get with your beef about the interior, the tan leather seats with heat/vent are really nice and so too the matching carpets, tho not ideal for muddy boots of course. Sunroof and Levinson too, on an SE... the dude who specced this car was mindful of car tax liability I reckon. 

All subjective isn’t it. It wasn’t even leather in mine. The seats were quite dirty and smelt really bad..
I’m a little jealous of the sunroof, not gonna lie. 

[MartinH]

10 hours ago, H3XME said:

I’m a little jealous of the sunroof, not gonna lie. 

As pleasing as it is in use, the sunroof proved an unexpected Achilles' heel. The gutter surrounding the roof has narrow drainpipes voiding... somewhere. But they can block. (Rodding them through is not ofc a service item.) The spill worked its way down through the A-pillar and into the electronics, causing the car to have a fit — trailered away to Lexus Edgware Road, for the second time in a year. (Previous occasion was to have all the electronics fixed.) It took the techs a little while to figure it out but was all done foc under the warranty for the previous work, thank goodness.

[H3XME]

18 minutes ago, MartinH said:

As pleasing as it is in use, the sunroof proved an unexpected Achilles' heel. The gutter surrounding the roof has narrow drainpipes voiding... somewhere. But they can block. (Rodding them through is not ofc a service item.) The spill worked its way down through the A-pillar and into the electronics, causing the car to have a fit — trailered away to Lexus Edgware Road, for the second time in a year. (Previous occasion was to have all the electronics fixed.) It took the techs a little while to figure it out but was all done foc under the warranty for the previous work, thank goodness.

Yeah definitely. Girlfriend's new Civic has a big sunroof and while it's really cool, it doesn't get used very much because it creates a weird vortex in the cabin and it's way too loud compared to just having the windows down.