High-mileage Lexus IS-F Hits the Dyno, Still Has It
Despite some 220,000 miles on the big V8, YouTuber Jared Pink’s 2008 Lexus IS-F retains most of its 400-plus horses in the stable.
Once upon a time, your classic Lexus had all the power and torque. Life was good. Life was luxurious and powerful. You remember leaving all of the Teutonics in the dust at the stop light, wondering why their owners would pay so much for something so flimsy. Then, you’d laugh at their folly on the way to the bank.
Alas, time marches on. And while you’re still good as far as repairs go due to that sweet Toyota longevity and reliability, you wonder if your Lexus still has it. That’s what Wrench Every Day host Jared Pink wondered about his 220,000-mile 2008 IS-F. Thus, a dyno run would be in the cards.
Trust the Process
“One of the first things you need to make sure you that you do when you’re at the dyno […] is do not bother [the tuner] after every single pull,” said Pink. “It’s going to take a lot of pulls. You’re going to hear a lot of noise. The thing that will slow them down the most, and ring every bell as far as pet peeves for the tuner, is [after] every single pull, going, ‘What did it make? How did it do? What was that noise?'”
Pink then goes on to list all of the things anyone needs to do to prep the car for the dyno. One of the most important is good tires. After all, you don’t want your Lexus trashing itself and the dyno due to a tired tire, right? Not to mention having all the cables and manuals needed to make the dyno a success in the first place, and lots of fuel to go for the entire session.
Rev It Up
“One of the first tests that you will see a tuner use — and this is the best way for fully calibrating your engine mapping — is called a steady-state or constant-force,” said Pink. “That is where they’re going to go in and set up the computer and the dyno to hold either a certain engine RPM or a constant wheel speed so you can vary the throttle input to load the engine, and get into different load cells.”
Thus, Pink sets up his steady-state pull for 40 mph, then goes through all needed adjustments to get an idea of where his IS-F’s engine map is going. Then, it’s off to the races for the ‘Gram-ready power pull graph.
“The tuner comes up to you with the great news: ‘Your car did not blow up, and you do have that awesome dyno chart that you can share with everyone on Instagram and the forums,'” said Pink.
Regarding his IS-F, the 12-year-old Lexus still has it. Packing some 450 ponies after mods, the IS-F currently makes 427 horses and 405 lb-ft of torque to the rear. Aging like a fine wine is a good look on his ride, for real.
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