Drift-happy Lexus LS400 is One Amazing Sleeper
This potentially one-of-a-kind LS400 is filled with many homegrown mods from a father and son team.
Lexus upended the luxury segment when it released the LS400. Basically, long-established brands like Mercedes and Cadillac were pretty much instantly forced back to the drawing board to catch up. Thirty years later, it’s apparent more than ever that Lexus introduced an industry game-changer. Without the LS400, Lexus wouldn’t be where it is today. Nor would it have such a great following.
It seems LS400 love is stronger than ever. Motor1 recently featured a story about Richard and Leon Blackburn. This amazing duo thoroughly modified an LS400 into a drifting monster. Fortunately, they allowed Jamie, proprietor of the Officially Gassed YouTube channel, access to the sedan and gave him the chance to sample it. He came away extremely impressed with their engineering prowess.
An Unconventional Drifter
Why would anyone turn a first-generation LS400 into an absolute monster of a vehicle? Because it probably hasn’t been done before. “We just decided that the car was too nice to scrap the rest of it. So we thought, why don’t we just build a ridiculous LS400? Because nobody was doing them,” says Richard. The internet coalesced around the LS400 once Matt Farah revealed his Million Mile Lexus project. Sadly, as Richard suggests, these cars weren’t exactly sought after several years ago. People were tearing them down for the engine and leaving them to die. That’s what makes this particular LS400 so special.
Amazingly, the father and son team didn’t have to do as much to the LS400 as you might think. The engine is a number-matching original. That being said, they’ve had to do some things to it to make it the sleeper it is. “The main way it makes its power is it’s got the biggest turbo that we could fit in the engine,” says Richard. Their efforts propel the LS400 to a whopping 750 horsepower, with 1,000 horsepower being their ultimate end point. Obviously, the duo had to upgrade other things to make the LS400 roadworthy. The cooling system was revamped and the fuel system modified with more robust components. But the internals of the LS400’s engine are of such high quality that they can withstand the additional punishment the father and son team saddled it with.
Modified LS400 FTW
In order to make the LS400 a bit more of an untamed beast, the Blackburns outfitted the Lexus with a manual transmission straight out of a Nissan 350Z. That enables them to wring out the Lexus as best as they possibly can. Richard took Officially Gassed out for a spin to show him what the Lexus can do. It was all smiles and maniacal laughter. “The more you go through the gears the quicker it gets. It likes it. It pulls more,” says the influencer. They clearly engineered the Lexus to be stupid fast right from the start. With Richard at the helm, they see how fast the LS400 can get to 60 mph. In three runs, he’s able to wrangle a 6.2 second 0-60 mph time. Plenty quick for a homegrown Lexus drift machine.
Officially Gassed gets his chanced to try out the LS400 and he likes what he experienced. That may be a bit of an understatement. “This is mad! It just puts the power down,” says the YouTuber. The amateur engineering team behind the Lexus appears to have done a great job calibrating the powertrain so it continuously builds power. “When you’re in like third, fourth, fifth, it just comes into its own,” says Officially Gassed. Overall, the Lexus is one crazy sedan.
The Lexus LS400 always received the attention it deserved due to its history. But as an enthusiast vehicle, no one has really given it a chance. That is until Richard and Leon Blackburn decided to outfit their sedan with some crazy horsepower and a manual transmission. Combined with the legendary Lexus V8, the full-size sedan is practically unstoppable. Make sure to watch the whole video to get an understanding of this insane LS400. And head on over to Richard and Leon’s YouTube channel if you want to know more about the build. We have a feeling we’ll be covering more of their exploits in the future.
