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

[dephrank]

I might just end up doing a Harakiri for an IS350 sedan this year. My mates are suggesting an ISF instead but that, is not the way of the Samurai 😤

[H3XME]

6 minutes ago, dephrank said:

I might just end up doing a Harakiri for an IS350 sedan this year. My mates are suggesting an ISF instead but that, is not the way of the Samurai 😤

Haha id go for 350 over the F. Easier to live with.. fuel bill wise. 310hp is enough for the roads

[Mr Vlad]

Blimey Lucas. 30bhp is enough for the roads considering the amount of traffic and those pesky cameras lol. 

[dephrank]

On 1/7/2023 at 8:17 PM, H3XME said:

Haha id go for 350 over the F. Easier to live with.. fuel bill wise. 310hp is enough for the roads

How does one deal with the speed limiter on JDM imports?. I’m told they’re restricted to 112mph? Amean, that’s well above the national speed limit but for track days OR just incase Godzilla emerges from River Thames or something along those lines 😈

[H3XME]

2 hours ago, dephrank said:

How does one deal with the speed limiter on JDM imports?. I’m told they’re restricted to 112mph? Amean, that’s well above the national speed limit but for track days OR just incase Godzilla emerges from River Thames or something along those lines 😈

HKS sell a little plug in device called the Speed Limit Defencer.. just unlocks it basically. I’m sure there are other ways and on is350 it could probably be mapped out through tech stream because it’s a modern car. the SLD is generally for older jdm cars (90s skylines, rx7s etc)

[H3XME]

UPDATE time..

I may have mentioned before that when I got the car, there was some damage to front bumper and the driver's side front wing. The interior was like a cream velour (super soft cloth?), which I wasn't a fan of, but the main issue was the fact that the previous owner was a tradie and the whole car was just a bit dirty and smelt really really bad - sweat and who knows what else, really wasn't nice to sit in with the windows up.

The day after I got the car I swapped as much of the interior as I could at the breaker's yard. Made a huge difference, but it's still not finished. At least I got rid of the stench though!  😂

Things left to do inside:

• Seat belts need swapping for black ones 
• Carpet needs fabric dying black
• Knee air bags need replacing - I didn't manage to swap those out when I was at the breaker's yard - they just wouldn't come out easily, so I just left them.
• Rear parcel shelf needs fabric dying black - I'll see what's what, I might just buy a black one and just straight swap it

As for the exterior, the car was overall fairly clean apart from the damage on the front wing, bumper and kerbed alloys. 

Last week I got a 3IS bumper conversion, which is something I wanted to do on my previous IS250. I managed to fit it and paint it with the help of @TadasC on Sunday! It needed a lot of trimming, both the bumper and the car, but it fits quite good now. Obviously the front wing is still damaged and needs replacing so there is a bit of a panel gap as it's pushed up by a few mm. However it looks way better now. 

I drove down to Bristol yesterday after work to pick up some new wheels (forged RAYS from a Nissan 350Z) for this car. Everything is slowly coming together.

The wheels are the same size as my F-Sport wheels which I've sold to @Linas.P but they have a lower offset so they sit further out by roughly 15mm. I will still need some spacers in the near future once I lower the car, but it'll do for now! 

Some pics below, including photoshopped image to display how it's gonna look lowered. 

 

[H3XME]

Finally had a crack at dying the carpet black.. this was done maybe over a month ago now.. still not rubbing off, so works good! 

[dephrank]

You may drive a Lexus but your soul belongs to BMW. When you’re ready, I’ll personally welcome you to the dark side 😈  

[H3XME]

9 hours ago, dephrank said:

You may drive a Lexus but your soul belongs to BMW. When you’re ready, I’ll personally welcome you to the dark side 😈  

Why does it?🤣

I can confirm it definitely doesn’t belong to ze Germans🤣

[dephrank]

It remind me of a 3er from behind 😃. Making the car look thicc AF with a slight drop and camber to boot. I absolutely love it - modding a car to your own taste.

[H3XME]

4 hours ago, dephrank said:

It remind me of a 3er from behind 😃. Making the car look thicc AF with a slight drop and camber to boot. I absolutely love it - modding a car to your own taste.

Haha, soon! 
Picked up BC Racing coilovers today, so they’ll be going on.. maybe as soon as Tuesday after work if I can be bothered. 
 

I also ordered tail lights. Something slightly different to what I’ve seen on people’s cars. 
Vland headlights are also on the way. 
 

 

[dephrank]

On 7/2/2023 at 2:24 PM, H3XME said:

Haha, soon! 
Picked up BC Racing coilovers today, so they’ll be going on.. maybe as soon as Tuesday after work if I can be bothered. 
 

I also ordered tail lights. Something slightly different to what I’ve seen on people’s cars. 
Vland headlights are also on the way. 
 

 

🧐 Looks like a 3D light strobe design. I like it!. Did you go for the red or clear ones? Don’t tell me. Just fit em and post it up. BC coilovers are nice. Adjustable damping and height. It’s coming together very nicely Lucas 🫡

[H3XME]

The BC Racing coilovers are on. The ride height is much better, but I can't lower it anymore with the current wheel/tyre setup. That being said I couldn't avoid rubbing on the front arches, so the dremel will have to come out so I can cut a little bit of the arch liner that catches. However, as low as it may seem, I can clear regular speed bumps without scraping (even head-on), so practicality hasn't gone out of the window...yet.

[H3XME]

The time has come. Finally got my tail lights yesterday, so decided to fit them on my lunch break.

They grabbed my attention because I've never seen these lights before and they look very OEM+ I'd say. Subtle design, sequential indicators (in the bottom chrome bit) nothing too crazy. However, I am not 100% sure on them.. Maybe it's because of my car's colour, but I'll keep them at least until I get the rear spoiler & rear lip fitted and then make my mind up.

[Linas.P]

Reminds me styling of LS/ES lights of certain years, but overall makes the car look more JDM somehow (last gen Toyota Crown maybe?). Call me old-school but my favourite tail-lights for IS are IS-F ones with white indicator, the only problem is that they are rare and expensive. 

You didn't mention you planning to strap rocket boosters?! Fistable doesn't even come close to describing it now... going to the moon? 

[H3XME]

7 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

Reminds me styling of LS/ES lights of certain years, but overall makes the car look more JDM somehow (last gen Toyota Crown maybe?). Call me old-school but my favourite tail-lights for IS are IS-F ones with white indicator, the only problem is that they are rare and expensive. 

You didn't mention you planning to strap rocket boosters?! Fistable doesn't even come close to describing it now... going to the moon? 

Believe it or not, this is only 0.5" bigger than the HKS system I had and it looks ridiculously huge. I didn't think the 0.5" will make any difference but here we are. I will be going back for a reduction unless I can find a used HKS system somewhere.

[Linas.P]

And HKS was already like 1.5" bigger than standard - so that is compounding enlargement and as far as I know 2" makes a difference 😄 

By the looks of it the car must be making 2000hp, because 1000hp Supras usually have one of them!

[H3XME]

21 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

And HKS was already like 1.5" bigger than standard - so that is compounding enlargement and as far as I know 2" makes a difference 😄 

By the looks of it the car must be making 2000hp, because 1000hp Supras usually have one of them!

No Idea what the standard size is, but they're oval anyway. 

This was the HKS system with 4.5" tips and 6.5" mufflers. Already pretty big but that's how they're made for this car and it wears it really well in my opinion. But yeah, the stuff I got now is too big I don't like it.

[Linas.P]

Yes I believe they are 1.5-2.5" ovals. HKS in my opinion is already on larger size (didn't realise they were 4.5" already), sort of "tuner looks", but still not too ridiculous...

[H3XME]

1 hour ago, Linas.P said:

Yes I believe they are 1.5-2.5" ovals. HKS in my opinion is already on larger size (didn't realise they were 4.5" already), sort of "tuner looks", but still not too ridiculous...

What can I say.. I loved played NFS Underground as a child.🤣

[Linas.P]

43 minutes ago, H3XME said:

What can I say.. I loved played NFS Underground as a child.🤣

yes sounds appropriate... Mazda Miata and 5" double exhaust with the snow plow bumper and green glow.

[dephrank]

On 7/20/2023 at 9:01 AM, H3XME said:

The time has come. Finally got my tail lights yesterday, so decided to fit them on my lunch break.

They grabbed my attention because I've never seen these lights before and they look very OEM+ I'd say. Subtle design, sequential indicators (in the bottom chrome bit) nothing too crazy. However, I am not 100% sure on them.. Maybe it's because of my car's colour, but I'll keep them at least until I get the rear spoiler & rear lip fitted and then make my mind up.

I agree on the car’s colour playing a part on how the rear lights look. If it were a darker colour, there’d be more contrast. I’d leave the exhaust tips standard tbh and probably delete a secondary CAT or something just cos it’ll tie in with the OEM+ look you’re going for. Larger tips look out of place cos they hang lower than the rear bumper. The rear lights will grow on you. I’m fitting B12 pro kit dampers on my bimma soon. If I ever spot you at a traffic light, it’s on 😈 

[H3XME]

5 hours ago, dephrank said:

I agree on the car’s colour playing a part on how the rear lights look. If it were a darker colour, there’d be more contrast. I’d leave the exhaust tips standard tbh and probably delete a secondary CAT or something just cos it’ll tie in with the OEM+ look you’re going for. Larger tips look out of place cos they hang lower than the rear bumper. The rear lights will grow on you. I’m fitting B12 pro kit dampers on my bimma soon. If I ever spot you at a traffic light, it’s on 😈 

I wouldn’t say that I’m going for OEM+ look overall, because that’s definitely not the case but I’d like for it to have some oem+ elements here and there. Overall look is going to be stance car. Similar to the attached pics. 
Yeah the exhaust will go, the tips are way too big, so I will go back to HKS mufflers. The only reason why I havent already is because 1) I thought my HKS tips were 5” but weren’t 2) it’s £900 I didn’t wanna spend on the exhaust just yet. 

Ahh, the old Bilsteins haha. Enjoy

[Mr Vlad]

That car of yours Lucas looks superb 👌👍

[H3XME]

The lights are finally done. Banged it out today after work. It’s slowly coming together… now just wait for wheels to arrive from Japan and camber arms.