andyk134

Hi and thanks for your post. Simon who developed the kit and does all the work himself works in the family garage, so he has to work around whatever work comes into the garage. He has a stage 2 sportcross with the piggyback ECU and about 300bhp in his. Not sure I would want to go that far with the standard motor. I think mine was the 16th or 17th conversion he has done and has developed the kit over the last 18 months or so. Mine was actually the first polybush kit he has fitted, he hasn't even put one on his own yet, mainly because it is such a pain to do and took a full day to complete. Costwise it is about as much to buy as it is to fit, so around £900 all done. for me together with the LSD from the sport model, it has transformed the car. it is a bit more firm but in a secure reassuring way and not uncomfortable as you would expect, especially as I have coilovers and roll bars too. But I chose the Meister R coilovers as they have softer spring rates than BC or any of the Japanese ones that are made for their ultra smooth surfaces and not the collection of potholes and patchwork repairs we call roads! Personally I would go manual if you are going to fit the turbo so you can make sure it is the right gear when you need it, you might find it lags a bit more on auto, but talk to Simon, he will go through the pro's and cons with you. Yes he knows his stuff and loves doing it and just wants the customer to be happy, which so far I certainly am. If you want to know anything please just ask.

I guess my comment was really saying that swapping to another car isnt quite as easy as that sounds. We have all had our experiences of selling to tyre kickers and those with no money and once you finally find a genuine buyer after all the hassle and cost of cleaning and advertising its then finding a good car to buy and the gap in between if you need wheels all the time. or maybe just buy a GS430 as you have done?

Not sure that is really an easy option. Buying and selling is never easy when you have found a "good" one and you take a chance on somethnig you know very little about and as in another post currently running, it isn't at all easy to find a good IS as they are now 10 years old or more. Also you are going from manual to automatic/tiptronic whatever you want to call it (which for me i am not a fan of). You could finish up spending more on sorting it out than you would have if you had modified the one you already have and spend months finding a good one. And the 300 is in limited colours, I wouldn't want any other colour than the one I have. Currently on Autotrader there are only 7 is300's, 3 under 100k mileage and 1 CAT D rebuild.

You will find endless posts regarding what you can and cant do to tune the IS200. you can go induction and exhaust and get maybe 15bhp and a little more responsiveness but nothing in the realms of what you are after. The ECU is a "thinking" one so whatever you do it will reset itself to what it thinks is best, so you would need to buy a piggyback but with the standard engine again you wont get alot. you might want to start with suspension, springs, roll bars, make a big difference Superchargers are hard to find so you would be looking at a recon one. I have just had a turbo fitted to mine but had already sorted that suspension with coil overs, roll bars and strut brace as well as 8.5 X 18 wheels and sticky Pilot super sports tyres. Turbo cost £2300 fitted, but also went with a lightened flywheel and new clutch and big brakes. was it worth it? yes it was, some will wonder why spending 6 grand on a car worth only 3 standard isn't a good idea, but like you I love the IS. German mega saloons are everywhere, but you will stand out with a quick well looked after IS. I don't go for body kits or spoilers, I think the IS looks great as it is. just do it gradually and you wont regret it.

or it maybe worth taking it to someone who has a machine to check error codes? will save you money in the end I expect.

Ok, well talking to my Japanese tuning expert he advised that the only way to change the VVTI is a piggyback ECU I have mine decatted and a turbo but mine doesn't kick in until the standard time. decatting will give you a bit more power so that is what you are noticing. but if it works then its great I say.

Hi Stew, the 2 cars are very different, one is a salon and the other a 2+2 sports car so I guess it depends what you want your car for. I just love the way mine looks now, lowered with nice wheels filling the arches and the car was very good looking to start with. For me it is also about the reliability and reputation of the car, but very much about the individuality, there are BMW;s, Audi's and Honda's everywhere and the usual 4 wheel drive "rally" replicas. But in the six years I have owned my car, I only ever saw one with the same body and wheel colour combination, I wonder how many can say that. Before I took the plunge to have the conversion done I spent a lot of time on Autotrader looking at cars around 10 grand and i can honestly say I couldn't find anything I would rather have than how my car is now. Having spent the weekend driving I would say again that the poly bushes have transformed the handling and steering and it feels like a different car to drive in a very good way. We are very different but for me I have the car I want and am looking forward to many years of very happy driving.

Hi Stew. in answer to your first question, I don't really know what difference the flywheel is making as it was all done at the same time so have nothing to compare it against. in theory it should help to spool up quicker and take a little stress of the engine, so something I would always suggest doing and a new clutch goes without saying. I see you have the sport model so will have the lsd which was something I had done on mine. it has only been two weeks since it was done. the drive home was appalling but this was because the ecu hadn't been reset, once I did that, it was smooth as anything off boost and progressive on. I then took it to my own tuner to look over and he was concerned that the fuel pressure had been reduced down to 2 1/4 bar from the standard 3 as he found it running very lean at the top end, so he altered it back. with the "thinking" ecu it is the only thing you can alter as it controls everything else. Simon at MJS advised me to put it back to 2 1/4 as his experience with the kit was that it ran better that way and would get a misfire at 3. it did start to get bit lumpy after a few days but again resetting the ecu cured that and it has been fine ever since. for me running lean at the top end on full boost is not something I would want so would rather have it a bit lumpy lower down than risk it at the top end. as I said above, it is a fairly big turbo and too big really for the stage 1 which is why it does take a while to come on boost. That said for the price, you do get a lot of smiles for your buck so it is a compromise. a custom smaller turbo and manifold fitted by TDI is £5k ex vat without the flywheel and clutch so for £2300 fitted for the turbo and another grand for the flywheel and clutch and oil change it is good value for sure. I also went for the big brake kit which works really well and again makes sense when pushing bhp from 155 to around 230. I also did super pro poly bushes. it wasn't cheap, about a grand fitted as it takes so long but has tightened up the handling and made you feel more secure and also quickened up the steering which really is nice. I have also had the mid cat taken out (as it was chewing itself to bits) which has given it a bit more responsiveness, the engine light is on but that's a small price to pay. I am 61 years old, so boost gauges, 0 to 60's and top speed don't really interest me. what I was looking for was a "driveable" Lexus and the way it should always have been. I did change the wheels and tyres and tried to get as close to standard looking ones as possible to not get noticed too much and keep the car looking as "normal" as possible, but with the wheels and intercooler that hasn't happened! the lower front grill is removed to fit the intercooler, which is a shame but Simon has painted his black which I will be looking to do. Overall yes I am very pleased so far, but is till very early days. I have been running my car on vpower (optimax) since I bought it which will also help if you aren't already. Give Simon at MJS a call and talk through the options with him. All my work took a week that he did in Ipswich. Good luck

I don't think it about age as to what condition the cars are in its all about attitude. A know loads of older generation (my age!) whose cars are complete wrecks. My boss has 4 different makes of tyre on the car and couldn't tell you what tyre pressures should be if their life depended on it. There are still some very nice Lexus IS 200's out there, as shown by members of this forum. I have no doubt you will find a good one if you keep looking. And please not a Fiesta.........

Sorry good looking car, damn predictive text. That's my car before I had the work done, my profile picture is how it looks now

I have to agree, I think the saloon IS is a very good looking cat

Is there anyone here who has actually done exhaust mods who would like to comment fully? As I understand it the exhaust is a pipe within a pipe so there is a bit of restriction there. A few months back I changed the back box for a powerflow one and the pipes for the rear section were just one pipe with no internal restriction. There was a noticeable difference in performance, I know many here say it makes no difference. I had had my car 6 years and know it well, but changing the back box did make a difference, so their are improvements to be had if you do it right. Is there some one out there who has changed everything from manifold backwards who can give their input on performance? With the cats out it will fail the MOT, that's the point of them, so you either need a sports cat that will pass, a decat and change it once a year (not really a big job) or a friendly garage to get it through......

Give Simon a call and he can talk you through prices and options. but always good to get the suspension sorted first. you wont regret it trust me

That wouldn't alter the VVTI coming in sooner you would need something like an F Con controller to do that, it probably just feels a little more responsive with the cats out. And of course yes the engine management light is on all the time. You will need to put them back in come MOT time though. I will say the best thing I did before the turbo was to change the back box. I was amazed that there was a noticeable difference one done. Also reset the ECU is always a good thing to do after making any changes, it seems to reset better from zero than trying to adjust when already set, just my experience with the turbo. Like any tuning, it depends what you want from the car. It wasn't designed to be tuned like the Hondas with masses of bits for them, so get a real difference it will hit your wallet. To me it was well worth it, yes a lot of modern hot hatches will see it off, but how many quick is200's do you see about, very very few. good luck with your project

what tyres are you going for as that may make a difference

souds like an auto then, if all else fails, you can get a 200 auto, loads of them about with sensible mileage and history. I know the 300 has more grunt, but the 200 is still a nice drive if you cant find a 300 and she wants the lexus. good luck

Had Continental sport 5's on for a while and they were great and get very good reviews. i have gone turbo so bigger wheels and Michelin pilot super sports now, but the Conti's were very good and not expensive and wore very well. like everytihng it depends what you want. For grip super sports but they wont last as long as some others so its usually a compromise for most. we al have our favourites.

Why buy from Lexus, you can save thousands at an independent. as long as it has good history whats the difference. i never go near Lexus with mine to buy or look after unless you have a very fat wallet. with your budget you could get a much better one than those 2.

ECU sorry

i had a slight misfire and resetting the EC cured it, always worth doing anyway

these are some pics of the turbo install

sorry a couple of pics as to how it now looks

thanks for that, I know TDI sell them, I will chat to them.

I have the SE and never heard of any models having a front windscreen de icer?????

Good grief, why would anyone trust their Lexus at Halfords.... I never let anyone touch it except the specialist Japanese tuner I use. I don't pretend to be a mechanic and am always happy to pay someone I trust to look after my car. some may say its expensive, but then we are all different. My neighbours spend around 5 grand a year on smoking!!!!!!! Take it to an expert and get it properly checked out and set up for peace of mind and enjoyable driving.