Neil E

If Lexus can't, a professional car hifi shop should be able to help you. There are still some experienced and talented installers around.

I dare say they are quite expensive from Toyota/Lexus but it's worth checking. I recall the sub was quoted at £350 ish and it really shouldn't have that price tag. There are a few being broken on ebay but if it's the usual speaker surround repair that needs doing, there is a repair kit available and a tutorial on U-Tube. It looks fairly easy to do. If memory serves, I think Polk Audio made some 8 ohm drivers that fit or can be adapted to fit. I will try to do a little research to check. They are likely to be much better and less expensive than the ML drivers. Some owners have used 4 ohm replacements and not reported any issues but I wouldn't recommend it.

Yes it does have the same lovely, 3UZ-FE 4.3 V8 as the LS430 with a similar suspension set up to the GS430

That looks very nice indeed. The standard tyres are 245 40 18 front and rear on 8 inch width rims but it's quite common to have after market 'staggered' alloys to allow wider tyres on the back for better traction. I have 245 35 19 front and 285 30 19 rear. The wheels are 19 x 8.5 front and 19 x 9.5 rear. Some owners fit even wider wheels. The 6 speed is definitely an improvement but the 5 speed is essentially the same car so I wouldn't be too concerned.

For a long time I've put off attempting to fit headers to the SC430 but with some help from PPE Engineering in the US and MIJ in Walsall, the task has now been completed. It was a costly exercise but I'm happy to report that there does seem to be a fairly significant power gain. The original near side header is a direct fit. The offside header has to be modified to avoid the steering shaft of the right hand drive model so PPE shipped the parts and with some considerable effort MIJ were able to fit the nearside and then make up the offside manifold to fit. The 4-1 short pipe headers are designed to bolt directly to the cat flanges. PPE tests show a 20 whp gain when combined with a 3rd cat delete and a free flowing exhaust. I won't know until I book a dyno session but the signs are good.

Firstly I commend you on the choice of sub but be careful about using full volume, JL make a point of warning their customer that these products are capable of sound levels that can damage hearing. What make of head unit and amplifier do you have? Have you checked that all of the connections are secure and in particular the blue remote lead that runs from the head unit to the amplifier?

I think it is fuse No. 47 in the engine bay 30 amp

Yes it's nice to have a little extra power on tap....not that it's ever enough. Perhaps it will encourage me to clean mine and take a picture. It appears the SC250 also has the advantage of usable rear seats the 430 is barely a 2+2.

That does look very smart indeed. I think that's the same colour combination as my SC but yours looks so much cleaner and I am very jealous of the leather steering wheel with paddle shift.

Ah yes good thought. You could try functions such as the fader, treble, bass, etc to see if the link between the head unit and amplifier is working. I assume you have checked the fuses. Sorry, I can't help much as I replaced my head unit with an Alpine but I am aware that the ML amps do suffer with this type of failure.

Yes, it's probably the ML amp. Why not start a new thread and show us your new SC?

Mine has one on each side at the high part of the boot channel on both sides of the car. A plastic piece of trim collects the water and it drains by a tube in the centre of the bottom of each of the trim pieces. Others on Club Lexus have posted about water in the boot so it's probably worth checking with fellow owners in the US too.

Also check that the drain tubes and the trims they attach to on both sides are located correctly.

Look forward to seeing the results. It didn't take long to create the gauges in the last picture, I must get around to creating some more but other projects on the SC have taken priority.

Not sure if I am permitted to link to another resource but search google images and you can find the source of a very clear tutorial for removal and servicing of a Lexus SC430 door mirror with a complete strip down of it.

Dash Command is quite good fun. It can display a number of standard graphic screens or you can design your own set of gauges to compliment your car's instrumentation.

You're too kind Piers and after all the thousands of posts I've read on the merits of each if ever a one liner could sum up the difference, that was it. I drive a 'slightly' modified SC and an RX SEL these days. They are both great in their own way but in my book if you haven't owned a properly sorted Soarer you haven't yet entered the Lexus Toyota inner circle. They were way ahead of their time and the rest of the elite pack. I had the non emv UZZ31 on air too and it was really quick, smooth and comfortable. More stable than my SC430 at autobahn speeds. My 2,5 was the GTT with TEMS I don't want to think about how much I spent modifying and maintaining them. I always wanted to have a go at a 4 litre TT but the cost and pain would be eye watering. A few pics for old times sake including a rare one of the Pearl white supercharged 5.0 V8 cabriolet.

Oh my which is the best engine has been debated to death and then some. Unfortunately the Soarer enthusiasts are rarely found on here. Yes they use coil packs and they have been known to fail but it's a 20 minute task on the V8. There's so much knowledge on these cars that anything can be investigated and resolved in no time at all. The 1UZFE V8 is one of the best and most reliable engines in the world, the 1JZ 2.5 TT is a little quicker, slightly more fun but the V8 has more toys. The later single turbo 2.5 VVTI is perhaps the most desirable now and so commands a premium. I personally would avoid the slow and least popular 3 litres unless you have grand plans to build a big single turbo monster. Most of the real expertise can be found in a few different UK Lexus / Soarer clubs and also where the SC400 / SC300 is most talked about on the other side of the Atlantic. Not forgetting a healthy following down under. In the past I owned a V8 Ltd and a 2.5 TT at the same time because they are quite different and a sensible GS430 for when 4 doors were required. The V8 Soarer was my favourite. Both were heavily modified in different ways but still retained their Soarer identity. A stock Soarer can provide a nice starting point but most of the well cared for Soarers have been modified to some degree. Avoid those set up for drifting and perhaps those that have fallen into the test pilot mitts of folk without the funds to maintain them properly. Search Soarer SC400 images or faults and you will very quickly pick up all of the links you need. If you are looking for a nice Soarer try the Lexusman as he frequently acquires good examples from club members so the car's history is often well known and documented in the archives.

Looks very nice. That's similar in design to the Megan set up. Other UK exhaust builders suggest that method and some don't use a rear mounted silencer. If only we could find one to build some quality headers that wouldn't break the bank.

Hi Wil Welcome, It would seem the motors that unlatch the top from the front screen assembly aren't operating or aren't moving far enough to disengage one or both latches. So my first thoughts are that it could be the latches or their unlocking actuators are stuck or that a sensor permitting their action in the opening sequence has failed. I did a quick search in the usual fashion and could only find one vaguely similar instance but no solution followed. Will dig a little more and let you know if I find anything. A few questions for starters. Did the roof work when you bought the car? Is the battery fully charged and the car running when you operate the roof? When the roof doesn't open, it should produce an error code. Has a diagnostic test actually been done on it by Lexus or with a proper scan-tool whilst the roof was in operation? (Info I've read suggests the codes aren't 'stored' so needs to be read whilst the roof is attempting to open.) Did the dealer attempt to reset the roof ECU by disconnecting the battery? (that would be my first move) Does the roof open/close switch flash red when the roof stops in its cycle? And finally if when the roof opening stalls and doesn't unlatch if you operate the button to close it momentarily and then try to open it again, does that free the latches at all? (It did in the other case I've read)

You need both sides to come together in a centre resonator or a cross pipe but after that separate boxes on each side will work fine. Not too many boy racers can afford a V8. Don't worry, tell the exhaust builders how you want it to sound and if they are experts they should be able to give you the level of V8 roar desired. Deleting just the rear box and having a small silencer each side would probably work quite well. Some delete the 3rd cat, some just have 1 silencer on each side and some just have the pipes going through a centre rear box like mine. In the US they use PPE headers and make some genuine power gains. They are now available for RHD cars too but they aren't cheap. There's lots of info on the internet about custom exhausts for our cars.

Yes done that in stainless steel and removed the 3rd cat too. Mine is still quiet with just a subtle low sport note. First 2 pictures show the standard exhaust. This is one way of changing it but others have used two separate back boxes and no other silencers. Also check out Craig's build thread.

Sorry, it's easy for me to say as I've removed lots of door cards in the past to change speakers or sound deaden, etc.. The guy in the video doesn't take the card off but it can easily be removed as one piece after removing all of the screws and securing clips. It's quite easy to do it when you know all of the locations of the concealed fixings. If it's like the older Soarer, the lock and door opener will have cables attached. They can be uncoupled or left in place. The card can be supported on a cardboard box or something similar while you investigate items that might be causing the rattle. Perhaps something is loose or one of the cables needs a little more foam wrapped around it. This may help.

No it shouldn't rattle at all, It should be an easy fix. The door card will probably need to be removed to find the cause. It's likely to be a missing/clip, screw or plastic popper. I haven't taken my door cards off yet as I'm still using stock speakers but the procedures to do it can easily be found. There's even a novice You Tube video.