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From Hurricanes to Hollers - My First Lexus (Restore/Repair Thread)
Hi all,
This thread will be a recap of the work done to my 430 and will also recount my experience while buying my first car. I was having trouble deciding where to document my journey as I was going to do it locally on my pc, and when I read the thread explaining how to correctly run threads in the build forum I knew I had to document it here. I hope those who read through this get to enjoy my journey so far.
I have been looking at Lexus for a good while as a car to replace my 05 Honda accord. I was dead set on the SC300 for about a year and a half following the hype of the 2jz and dreaming of tuning and moving to NA-t, now I know that well above my capabilities for now, and over time I looked into the facelift sc400 for the 1uz and VVTI. The torque and pep were the main things I was looking into. I looked at autotempest for about a year and the only price I could find in my range were not great investments in my opinion, be it marketplace cars that people tore apart and modded, or the used car market being overpriced in recent times. I was interested in the LS400 but it fell prey to the same reasons I wasn't jumping on the SC400. I had done research on all of the UZ series engines and I never paid attention to the 3uz just from one look I had from the SC430 - I discounted any model with the 3uz entirely. I don't mean any hate towards the SC430, that body just wasn't my style. How big a mistake that was. I was blown away when I first saw an LS430 online while I was watching a slew of videos from the Car Care Nut on youtube. (I very much recommend checking his channel out if you haven't already) I fell in love with this car. It took me about 2 weeks to drown out the other models and I started learning as much as I could about this machine! This was the beginning of my hunt for my very own.
Autotempest was what I used primarily in my searching for cars. I transitioned to using Autotrader following a review from my friend, the user support and protection for myself being a first time buyer, and the private seller exchange because I would rather buy from an individual who could talk about the car's journey rather than a used dealership. I'm not sure of the exact time frame but I kept my filters set to what I wanted, black on black pre facelift. I'd estimate I checked it weekly for 8 months. The first one I found with a reasonable repair to price was a 2003 with 186k for $6,300 - perfect for my price range. I ended up selling my 05 accord for $5,000 previously and I was saving up to that total. I contacted the seller and never heard a response about the test drive or reaching out over PM. It didn't take very long after this before I found another listing, crazy how options open up when you save and can buy outright instead of weighing a car payment vs every option. I saw a mint black on black in Florida for $4,500 and I was hooked right away. Just looking at the interior after 190k miles I could tell she was well taken care of. The final selling point for me was the description, there was a balance of repairs listed that were needed and factored into the price, and they were all things I was comfortable working on. Secondly and most importantly, was the story behind the sale of the vehicle. I wont include details because I want to respect the previous owners privacy above all else, I will say that the warmth and hospitality I could feel in the words written about the car, the people, and the situation. Anyone near the east coast may recognize the overwhelming Appalachian hospitality found in our mountain range. I live in WV and I have experienced it from the Adirondacks all the way down to Tennessee; and I found it in this car's description from Florida. I got home from work and booked it to my computer to send a message, around 9pm, and following my gut I introduced myself like I was meeting a significant others father for the first time. Full introduction with all due respect. Despite autotrader warning to keep all communication on their secure platform for privacy, the Owner sent me his number within 10 minutes to give him a call to discuss the vehicle, and I was on cloud 9! I had a great feeling right from the beginning. Our call lasted for two hours and it covered almost every topic I could think of on top of his LS. The highlights being in the honor held for people looking at the vehicle, holding it for one at a time until they made a decision (There were to potential buyers ahead of me) and also how he greeted me. For those that don't know my state, WV, has one area code for everyone. When he answered that phone I swear the first thing he asked me was if one of my legs was longer than the other! We got at least a 3 minute laugh out of it. An old time saying around here, caused by walking on mountains all day. Another variation being that we breed our cows to have one set of legs shorter for the same reason haha. I was spot on when I thought I knew the way the man wrote the description, and how he spoke. He was from my part of the mountains originally if you can believe it! I afforded myself some space and tried not to get attached right off the bat, I still had to people ahead of me and I knew the Owner would keep his word even though I wanted to fly down the next day. I received a call two day later and he had said the buyer no call no showed and having one more ahead of me, I felt the huge rock in my stomach starting the grow. Damn I wanted this car more than anything in the world. It made me nervous waiting to be honest! Ill never forget the Tuesday he called me to say the 2nd buyer came to look at it and said he'd come back with an offer in a few hours. At that time I was at my mothers house doing some woodwork and that call sidelined me; in two hours I'd know if I had a chance to even go look at it and see why everyone had passed on it so far. I'll be frank, I was so worked up I was about to throw up, I had to quit the house work, had a beer, and watched the sunset to calm back down. I'll also tell you that when I saw my phone ringing my heart dropped through my chair - it was 50/50 now. He said the 2nd buyer was a no response. I told him Id buy a one way ticket right then and there and fly down the next day.
I always have Thursdays off and I didn't give up my morning shift Wedensday (I work in the service industry), and I was able to find a cover for friday giving me a 3 day buffer to get down there and check it out. I got a one way spirit ticket for $45 + $5 choosing a window seat, and packed one carry on. My friend Jared offered to drive me up to Pittsburgh intl so that I didn't have to leave my winter car, 03 Sequoia Limited, parked up there waiting for a recovery mission. He didn't even let me pay for gas, though next time he needs to get anywhere I'll returning the favor with my opinion of the best LS ever made B) . I was surprised to get through security so easily as i had a laptop, batteries, pressure gauges, a code reader and other misc electronics, I had seen people stopped for less, but after a short delay I was on my way to St Petersburg. I was extremely fortunate to have family in the area, my cousin. He came to the airport to pick me up and gave me a place to stay overnight and was the second huge help I received alongside this journey. Come morning, I signed up for uber and lyft to see which one was cheaper, and I was on my way to the meetup bright and early at 9. I felt very out of place as I came from snow and sleet in my state and PA to 80% humidity at 85 degrees down there, I was NOT dressed for the weather. I will do some better planning next time!
I know I will remember seeing this LS pull into the parking lot I was waiting in for the rest of my life.
Meeting the owner was an awesome experience! Right off the bat, I knew I could treat him like family. He walked me around the car and reiterated the issues brought up, and showed me exactly where they were. The oil had been changed at the same shop full synthetic every 5,000 for the last 20 years and was garage kept. Immaculate interior barring the lacquer of the steering wheel cracking apart, and I didn't mind it at all. I went for a test drive and noticed an odd feeling on the front driver wheel, but not enough to warrant anything serious. Only a minor difference between the passenger. We took it on a test drive and there were small electrical things I noticed, such as all four door actuators not opening all the way while unlocking or a mildly drawn out starting crank, (Both fixed with a brand new battery, read on here that these LS are very sensitive to volatge) and I set off. First and foremost This car did not behave like a 4,100 lb sedan. Much quicker and fluffier than my accord, I liked the acceleration, braking, and of course the turn radius. The only thing that hadn't lived up perfectly to everything I had read online was the interior noise. First I will say the motor/trans mounts, engine noise, really anything mechanical was abolutely worthy of praise when it came to road noise and I couldn't really imagine a car being able to dampen that well. What got me was the oncoming traffic or folks passing me, they sounded kind of like my sequoia in volume and I was ok with that. I know I didnt have the double paned glass that came with the UL, but I thought that surely didn't reduce the noise to the levels people acclaimed for this LS.
This was when I noticed my fatal flaw.
Being on a florida cruise on a mid temp day, all four windows were cracked open, I'm used to just being an AC boy. I closed up the windows and I started to see the full LS experience. I was kicking myself for a whole hour after this, and then I realized, this cars windows noise was equal to my Sequoia or Honda, while being half an inch open all around!! We finished the test drive and after getting it up to temperature to check for leaks I decided to buy it outright. We went to wendy's and the Owner bought me a drink while we used my laptop to go through the sale process. There are some more interesting details about that day but I think its better saved for another post, specifically the buying experience through autotrader. He let me keep a change of oil all synthetic and a dime in the coin tray to remember him by, and I was on my way. I regret I didn't take a picture with him but I'm heading back down there later this year to see my cousin and might update this.
Finally, I hit the road. It was about 4:30pm and I was crossing over to see my cousin for dinner but the evening rush hour prevented it. I turned on 75 north and booked it up to SC, and then a second stretch all the way home! It was only a few days but I felt like I had a life changing time in that 72 hours. The first thing I did when I got back into town was take my mom out to dinner in my brand new car.
Ill post the restoration/repairs in the following posts, I wanted to give the full story in the first one. I am looking forwards to being a part of the community and learning much more as I go on. Of course if you all any any suggestions or advice for me I would love to hear it!
This thread will be a recap of the work done to my 430 and will also recount my experience while buying my first car. I was having trouble deciding where to document my journey as I was going to do it locally on my pc, and when I read the thread explaining how to correctly run threads in the build forum I knew I had to document it here. I hope those who read through this get to enjoy my journey so far.
I have been looking at Lexus for a good while as a car to replace my 05 Honda accord. I was dead set on the SC300 for about a year and a half following the hype of the 2jz and dreaming of tuning and moving to NA-t, now I know that well above my capabilities for now, and over time I looked into the facelift sc400 for the 1uz and VVTI. The torque and pep were the main things I was looking into. I looked at autotempest for about a year and the only price I could find in my range were not great investments in my opinion, be it marketplace cars that people tore apart and modded, or the used car market being overpriced in recent times. I was interested in the LS400 but it fell prey to the same reasons I wasn't jumping on the SC400. I had done research on all of the UZ series engines and I never paid attention to the 3uz just from one look I had from the SC430 - I discounted any model with the 3uz entirely. I don't mean any hate towards the SC430, that body just wasn't my style. How big a mistake that was. I was blown away when I first saw an LS430 online while I was watching a slew of videos from the Car Care Nut on youtube. (I very much recommend checking his channel out if you haven't already) I fell in love with this car. It took me about 2 weeks to drown out the other models and I started learning as much as I could about this machine! This was the beginning of my hunt for my very own.
Autotempest was what I used primarily in my searching for cars. I transitioned to using Autotrader following a review from my friend, the user support and protection for myself being a first time buyer, and the private seller exchange because I would rather buy from an individual who could talk about the car's journey rather than a used dealership. I'm not sure of the exact time frame but I kept my filters set to what I wanted, black on black pre facelift. I'd estimate I checked it weekly for 8 months. The first one I found with a reasonable repair to price was a 2003 with 186k for $6,300 - perfect for my price range. I ended up selling my 05 accord for $5,000 previously and I was saving up to that total. I contacted the seller and never heard a response about the test drive or reaching out over PM. It didn't take very long after this before I found another listing, crazy how options open up when you save and can buy outright instead of weighing a car payment vs every option. I saw a mint black on black in Florida for $4,500 and I was hooked right away. Just looking at the interior after 190k miles I could tell she was well taken care of. The final selling point for me was the description, there was a balance of repairs listed that were needed and factored into the price, and they were all things I was comfortable working on. Secondly and most importantly, was the story behind the sale of the vehicle. I wont include details because I want to respect the previous owners privacy above all else, I will say that the warmth and hospitality I could feel in the words written about the car, the people, and the situation. Anyone near the east coast may recognize the overwhelming Appalachian hospitality found in our mountain range. I live in WV and I have experienced it from the Adirondacks all the way down to Tennessee; and I found it in this car's description from Florida. I got home from work and booked it to my computer to send a message, around 9pm, and following my gut I introduced myself like I was meeting a significant others father for the first time. Full introduction with all due respect. Despite autotrader warning to keep all communication on their secure platform for privacy, the Owner sent me his number within 10 minutes to give him a call to discuss the vehicle, and I was on cloud 9! I had a great feeling right from the beginning. Our call lasted for two hours and it covered almost every topic I could think of on top of his LS. The highlights being in the honor held for people looking at the vehicle, holding it for one at a time until they made a decision (There were to potential buyers ahead of me) and also how he greeted me. For those that don't know my state, WV, has one area code for everyone. When he answered that phone I swear the first thing he asked me was if one of my legs was longer than the other! We got at least a 3 minute laugh out of it. An old time saying around here, caused by walking on mountains all day. Another variation being that we breed our cows to have one set of legs shorter for the same reason haha. I was spot on when I thought I knew the way the man wrote the description, and how he spoke. He was from my part of the mountains originally if you can believe it! I afforded myself some space and tried not to get attached right off the bat, I still had to people ahead of me and I knew the Owner would keep his word even though I wanted to fly down the next day. I received a call two day later and he had said the buyer no call no showed and having one more ahead of me, I felt the huge rock in my stomach starting the grow. Damn I wanted this car more than anything in the world. It made me nervous waiting to be honest! Ill never forget the Tuesday he called me to say the 2nd buyer came to look at it and said he'd come back with an offer in a few hours. At that time I was at my mothers house doing some woodwork and that call sidelined me; in two hours I'd know if I had a chance to even go look at it and see why everyone had passed on it so far. I'll be frank, I was so worked up I was about to throw up, I had to quit the house work, had a beer, and watched the sunset to calm back down. I'll also tell you that when I saw my phone ringing my heart dropped through my chair - it was 50/50 now. He said the 2nd buyer was a no response. I told him Id buy a one way ticket right then and there and fly down the next day.
I always have Thursdays off and I didn't give up my morning shift Wedensday (I work in the service industry), and I was able to find a cover for friday giving me a 3 day buffer to get down there and check it out. I got a one way spirit ticket for $45 + $5 choosing a window seat, and packed one carry on. My friend Jared offered to drive me up to Pittsburgh intl so that I didn't have to leave my winter car, 03 Sequoia Limited, parked up there waiting for a recovery mission. He didn't even let me pay for gas, though next time he needs to get anywhere I'll returning the favor with my opinion of the best LS ever made B) . I was surprised to get through security so easily as i had a laptop, batteries, pressure gauges, a code reader and other misc electronics, I had seen people stopped for less, but after a short delay I was on my way to St Petersburg. I was extremely fortunate to have family in the area, my cousin. He came to the airport to pick me up and gave me a place to stay overnight and was the second huge help I received alongside this journey. Come morning, I signed up for uber and lyft to see which one was cheaper, and I was on my way to the meetup bright and early at 9. I felt very out of place as I came from snow and sleet in my state and PA to 80% humidity at 85 degrees down there, I was NOT dressed for the weather. I will do some better planning next time!
I know I will remember seeing this LS pull into the parking lot I was waiting in for the rest of my life.
Meeting the owner was an awesome experience! Right off the bat, I knew I could treat him like family. He walked me around the car and reiterated the issues brought up, and showed me exactly where they were. The oil had been changed at the same shop full synthetic every 5,000 for the last 20 years and was garage kept. Immaculate interior barring the lacquer of the steering wheel cracking apart, and I didn't mind it at all. I went for a test drive and noticed an odd feeling on the front driver wheel, but not enough to warrant anything serious. Only a minor difference between the passenger. We took it on a test drive and there were small electrical things I noticed, such as all four door actuators not opening all the way while unlocking or a mildly drawn out starting crank, (Both fixed with a brand new battery, read on here that these LS are very sensitive to volatge) and I set off. First and foremost This car did not behave like a 4,100 lb sedan. Much quicker and fluffier than my accord, I liked the acceleration, braking, and of course the turn radius. The only thing that hadn't lived up perfectly to everything I had read online was the interior noise. First I will say the motor/trans mounts, engine noise, really anything mechanical was abolutely worthy of praise when it came to road noise and I couldn't really imagine a car being able to dampen that well. What got me was the oncoming traffic or folks passing me, they sounded kind of like my sequoia in volume and I was ok with that. I know I didnt have the double paned glass that came with the UL, but I thought that surely didn't reduce the noise to the levels people acclaimed for this LS.
This was when I noticed my fatal flaw.
Being on a florida cruise on a mid temp day, all four windows were cracked open, I'm used to just being an AC boy. I closed up the windows and I started to see the full LS experience. I was kicking myself for a whole hour after this, and then I realized, this cars windows noise was equal to my Sequoia or Honda, while being half an inch open all around!! We finished the test drive and after getting it up to temperature to check for leaks I decided to buy it outright. We went to wendy's and the Owner bought me a drink while we used my laptop to go through the sale process. There are some more interesting details about that day but I think its better saved for another post, specifically the buying experience through autotrader. He let me keep a change of oil all synthetic and a dime in the coin tray to remember him by, and I was on my way. I regret I didn't take a picture with him but I'm heading back down there later this year to see my cousin and might update this.
Finally, I hit the road. It was about 4:30pm and I was crossing over to see my cousin for dinner but the evening rush hour prevented it. I turned on 75 north and booked it up to SC, and then a second stretch all the way home! It was only a few days but I felt like I had a life changing time in that 72 hours. The first thing I did when I got back into town was take my mom out to dinner in my brand new car.
Ill post the restoration/repairs in the following posts, I wanted to give the full story in the first one. I am looking forwards to being a part of the community and learning much more as I go on. Of course if you all any any suggestions or advice for me I would love to hear it!
-Allo
That's a lot of heart and soul in your recount . Wish you all the best in your journey and the enjoyment of the car. As a 4 year owner,I can tell you that you will enjoy your car tremendously! Keep us in the loop and travel safe!
Hi all. Wanted to let you guys know about the earliest things I did to my LS. First on the chopping block was new windshield wipers and an oil change after the trip. I read on these forums that an 18" passenger side wiper would work (Oversized 2 inches from base) and it works perfectly! The oil change was the easiest change I had ever done. My previous car had a crazy oil filter placement. Grateful for being able to work on this machine .
The next upgrade I did was the installation of a GROM bluetooth audio kit by using the CD changer port of the head unit. I have not had good luck with interior trim, or much experience really, in the past. I took my time and got some soft trim tools from a local store and it worked out pretty well! I estimate it to be around a 30 minute job. While this was happening I had the LS up on jack stand and had the front suspension taken all the way apart. I had a blown front driver strut and was replacing them with OEM struts from my l parts. I used rock auto for the control arms and was surprised how easy everything was to service. In hindsight having the knuckle, strut towers, and tie rods off gave me a lot of room to work with. I learned how to compress the springs and got everything torqued back up. First drive was not what I expected and I had felt pretty defeated about a knocking noise now occurring on both sides of the suspension. After 1 minute of a youtube diagnosis I had seen a common issue was not torquing the center top bolt of the strut piston after installation - low and behold, I totally missed that and 20ft-lbs later I was blown away by the ride quality. Planning on updating all the bushings on the rear suspension very soon.
Lastly on the first round, I learned how to restore the headlights. I originally used a headlight repair kit that came as a thick coating to the covers, however I wasnt happy with the streaking or the yellow that remained. After some research and my roomate offering to let me use his polish drill bit, I decided to sand and polish the covers and it turned out much better than I would have expected. All for $20 of materials as well! I started with 800 grit to really get the yellow out, followed by 1500, then 3000. All of the sanding was done by hand and I masked off about an inch of the paint on all sides of the headlamp just in case. Take a look at the before and after! Thanks for reading!!
04-09-24, 02:27 PM
From Hurricanes to Hollers - My First Lexus (Restore/Repair Thread)
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