rob_clio172

Really love the wheels and they sit perfectly flush to the arch

So another small update, i was hoping to get lots done this weekend as weather forcast was good and i was not working....... well the mrs had other plans and ive ended up decorating all saturday!! I also forgot to bring my tools home from work so today i set about doing something small that i didnt need many tools for. I made a start on relocating the factory engine ecu box up where the battery use to live. It was going to need some chopping and modding to make this work, i trimmed down the old air feed pipe that comes from the fan cowling. Also cut away the old pipe which goes down to by the washer bottle, this was to avoid contact with the brake pipe for the passenger front. I also cut away from 1 of the supports for the bolting positions as this was touching the wiring loom coming out of the bulk head. Now i know it looks rough as a bear's arse but this will be tidied up with a small set of fine files just so it looks tidy. Once this was done i trial fitted it to see if it was ok with the bonnet down. This is the advantage of having no engine or front end on the car i can crawl into the bay 😂. Plenty room, as you can see its resting on that brake line but it will sit around half an inch above this when i have had some brackets fabricated. This now means the factory body loom that goes in through the bottom of ecu box need to be lengthened by around half a meter or so. Ive also been eyeing up where to locate the AEM and the glove box is prime place, its looking difficult though as to where im going to get the loom through the bulk head to it. Its very tight up behind the glove box and around the blower motor.

Sorry matey i should have worded that differently. I meant how is the ride with the coil overs? Do they handle well? Also are you able to change the dampening stiffer or softer?

Bloodyhell that needs a build thread of its own! Nice new home for the lexus

Wheels look great, how are you finding the coil overs?

😂 i thought it was going to end in a trip to A&E

Yeh i thought either the belt i had doubled up on it would snap or the bar! Ive done hundreds of these when i was a tech a lexus but ive never had 1 as tight as this and absolutly no corrosion on the bolt or washer either

Another small update...... the crank pulley bolt has been giving me grief which i was not expecting! I dont have the pulley holding tool so i tried using my snap on half inch electric impact gun........ useless! I then borrowed an ingersoll rand electric impact gun ......... useless aswell 😂. Then i tried something i found on you tube, i doubled the alternator belt back on itself around the crank pulley in such a way, that when you undo the crank pulley the belt tightens down on it and locks it in place.... This ^^^ is what it took to undo it, a breaker bar and 2 jack handles!!! The breaker bar was bent like a banana and i was convinced it was goin snap! With a couple of cracks it went, at which point it was lifting the engine and the stand off the floor!!. Glad thats out the way, whilst i was faffing i got the hard clutch line fitted which i picked up from the dealer last weekend looks all nice and factory fitted.

Cheers matey, the weekends cannot come quick enough now for me to do more! Im swapping soon onto 4day weeks at work so get more time playing without the mrs nagging 😂

Love it 😂

Got some more done today, plans of installing the AEM was shelved as the weather was decent as i wanted to get the engine bay stripped some more and cleaned up. I removed the ecu and fuse boxes, unclipped and moved the loom on both sides of the bay, fully removed the a/c pipes and dusted everything down ready to wash. Bit of meguires gold class and some hot water and worked in using a brush, gave it wash down using a slow flowing hose and avoided the loom like the plague. It didnt come up too bad to be honest, lots of scratches around and on the passenger side it looks at some point like the battery has leaked acid! Its eaten into the paint and sent the metal rusty. This is going to be sanded down, and painted. Now thats done ive also finally got the engine on the stand. Its at this point i really started to think as to just how big this project is! Ive got AEM air fuel ratio and boost gauges to fit as well as the loom. I also need to sort the original engine loom and slightly extend some wires to relocate the ecu box where the battery was, which leads me on to having to relocate the battery to the boot which means a running a cable through the car front to rear........ and thats just part of the whole thing! Got a few bits stripped off the engine on saturday afternoon... And the child in me did this little fast and furious quote ............ my mrs just shook her head at me 😂... Next up going to sand down that rust and prep the bay for painting. Im also going to get the AEM in and plan where im going to route the loom and how to extend the original slightly.

Another small update, could not find m12 bolts with a 1.25 pitch thread long enough to go through the engine stand bracket and the engine block. I ordered some off ebay 100mm long and they are perfect. So will get the engine on the stand tomorrow and can set about pulling it apart. Also this turned up .......... Atleast now whilst im waiting for bits to come i can set about installing the AEM, im going to install it inside the glove box so its tucked up out the way. Im also looking to relocate the factory engine ecu in the passenger side top corner of the engine bay where the battery once lived. I can then relocate the battery to the boot. Its all about to get very fun!

Small update....... Now you see me........ Now you dont........ I had the engine stand ready to bolt it onto but the bolts i have are not long enough to get through the stand holder and the block. Easy enough to pull the engine out, i removed the a/c condensor to make life a little easier. Going to find some longer bolts tomorrow and get it on the stand.

120k service will be... oil, oil filter, engine air filter, spark plugs, a/c filter, rear diff oil, rear brake strip down and clean. No brake fluid as you say its 11yrs old and brake fluid is every 2yrs.

Ah yeh you checked him out? Top man he is, that is sound out of this world. Thing i love about his channel is his videos from the 1st one he did are very indepth and show you so much, where as some people try to hide things or just not speak about them

Lovely and clean and interior is immaculate. That paint looks great in the sun!

This project looks interesting especially the engine swap part look forward updates

Really like that boot light! Yeh the factory light is pathetic compared to that 😂

Yes that would be an interesting swap for sure but i do like the sound of a NA v8, nice induction set up and make it scream. I wasnt much of a fan when thses came out but like said already the more i look at them the more i like them. Especially with a few tweeks to the outside, lowered, wheels and a kit and it transforms them

Project thread up and running 👍 check it out in the build section

So time for some more updates, firstly ive just become a gold member 🤘 got to support the club. Ive tried to change my profile name too but im not sure thats worked. On to the car and time for some more transmission bits, next up was the pedal swap and master cylinder fitment. I was going to use the wilwood master supplied with the clutch kit but as this was designed for a mk3 supra, the billet adaptor supplied would have to be modified to fit the IS300. I really looked into this but i just could not see a way round it without butchering the billet adaptor and i did not want it looking crap. I decided the wilwood master would be sold and i am going for an IS200 OEM master and clutch line. This would again be using original toyota/lexus parts making it look nice and factory fitted. I first of all made a little template out of card to mark the bulk head. I then marked up the bulk head and drilled the holes for the master cylinder studs I the used a cone cutter to cut the hole for the mater cylinder plunger to go through. As you can see good old toyota came up trumps again by leaving a hole in the insulation for the bulk head exposing the master cylinder location. This was the same for the inside of the car on the bulk head insulation. It was pre cut so all i had to do was pull it out. I then fitted the master ready for the pedal to go in. Now as this was auto i would have to swap out the large auto pedal for the manual pedal, ebay provided these. Went from this ........ To this .......... Thats better, looking like a proper original manual now! Master cylinder all bolted up to the pedal box now and a paper gasket used. Just waiting on the factory clutch line now and the beauty of this is the clips on the bulk head holding the brake lines have the blank space for the line the clip into. So no ugly braided line hanging across the bay and another part i can sell on with the wilwood master. Whilst i was at toyota i also ordered a gear pattern plaque for the center console, not fitting this yet but just thought it would be a nice touch to make it look OEM factory fitted. This brings me up to date, from here updates will be slower but i will keep this going soon as i get something else done. Once the clutch line comes, next weekend im hoping the engine will be out so some juicy updates to come.

Dont ever give up hope i too was at alot of these points that you have said but now im at a point i can ive just jumped on it. As for skills tbh these cars are very very easy to work on compared to something like bmw where i work. The japanese made these things very easy to take apart and put together unlike the germans who seem to try to over complicate things.

Thanks matey, still trying to work my way round the project threads and the rest of the site. Some real good impressive stuff on here.

Looks lovely, got the tte bits on it too. Thats is very low for a 2002 model, the 2jz is such an amazing engine, very refined, quiet, smooth and effortless in NA form then a complete animal in high state of tune with huge amounts of boost and still just as reliable!

Yes alot wider, im not giving any clues on body kit i want just yet (nothing extreme) but i will be using a 10.5 inch wide wheel on the back so maybe a 285 or a 295 tyre, i will probably need a 20mm spacer on the back to keep it flush with the kit