ypkx

Apologies admins, if I have already made a similar thread in the past but I cannot find it.

Here is my IS250 2011 advance model
I wont take the build thread any further back than this but to give you an idea of what it looked like before this; it was on Klutch republic 18" and lowering springs.
Here, the car is on BC coilovers and AME shallen 3pc welded splits.


And then JAN 2015, I took the car off the road to have it ready for 2016 show season.

ypkx

The list of parts I had brewing in the past 6 months..

Lexus ISF rear bumper
Lexus ISF rear bumper reflectors
Lexon Exclusive Rocket bunny widebody kit
Invidia catback exhaust pipes
Work Wheels VS-XX
Nankangs ns2 tyres
Wald international boot spoiler
INGS roof spoiler (although I think this is a replica)
Godspeed Front camber arms
SPC performance Rear camber arms
Washers, rubber seals, finishers
Stancenation wheel lug nuts

Things pending to this very day --

Kingfab (Exeter, North Devon) Custom exhaust
Lexus genuine brake pads Front
Lexus genuine brake pads Rear
New battery

Shout out to these businesses who assisted in the build or the supply of parts -

Hoggy & Matthews bodyshop - Plymouth UK
Kingfab - Exeter UK
Lexon Exclusive - Japan
Wheel Power - Torbay UK
JDM Distro - Ireland EU
Shurms Decals - Plymouth UK

ypkx

First, I started pulling panels off that I knew was going to be replaced.
At this point, I firmly believed I was going Aimgain.
Front + Rear bumper, both wings and skirts all removed.



About a month after I had talked with the boss at Lexon Exclusive about retrofitting their ISF kits. He messaged me back offering a pre-order on an ISX50 kit that he was about to go ahead and create with the guys from Rocket Bunny + Greddy.
I didn't hesitate to paypal him over the money right away.

first "test fit"

ypkx

There wasn't really a whole lot I could have done at this point, the body shop that all the work was being carried out to were busy so we desperately tried to find the time.
So during these periods of time, other bits of the car got some TLC.

Front and rear camber arms were fitted.



I must add - By this point we were in May, I had ordered my wheels from JDM Distro middle of February. A mishap in the shipping of my wheels meant we could not test fit the kit, with the wheels. This was quite an important step because we needed to know how much extra suspension travel we needed, and how much camber would suffice the size of the wheels. Afterall, the widebody only gave me 75mm+.
Dave from JDM was nice enough to supply me with test fit wheels and spacers to compensate for the offsets of the actual wheels for the car.
This gave us a real taster of what we were up against.

ypkx

Toying with front camber

ypkx

My friends at Hoggy & Matthews FINALLY booked me in for every weekend until it was completed.
Here are the shots of all the test fits. To make the front fenders fit, we had to make a few cuts. These cuts were later on perfected and cleaned off - We took no shortcuts at all. Oh, and I wanted to see how nice the ISF *** was..

ypkx

So, after the test fit we realised my rear wheels were far too wide for the kit.. Then I remembered 'ADJUSTABLE CAMBER ARMS'. Harmless photo of me, doing work.


Now, don't quote me on this but I actually worked out how much camber I needed in order to close the gap between the wheel lip and the fender lip.
I left 12mm on the arms thread (+1 degree) which makes my rear camber arms on -2 degree. Minus that on its already natural camber I now have -4.5. This is the result.





And for those who see this and start screaming 'OMG Thats so much camber, give it a few weeks and you'll need new tyres' or whatever.. I've done worse.
The fact is, I took all my inspirations from the JDM scene - adapted some of what the americans did and.. brought it to the UK. I probably ain't the only one who has either.

ypkx

Day 1 - of actual kit fitting.

Me and Carl (panel beater @ Hoggys) were actually quite skeptical of cutting up my 4 year old car. So we started light, nearside wing.
It went down a treat actually, and once we got going we knew what we were doing.

He made the cut, cleaned the edges off and the rivnut holes went in.

ypkx

The rest of the kit fitting -

I won't go into detail of each day. We spread the work across a few saturdays, literally taking our time with every option we made.
It was time we tackled the rear and hell, I watched him work for 5 hours straight on this and im hella impressed.
You may not have noticed but when we test fitted the wheels we had marked out the suspension travel, wheel space etc. I think we gave it a round 2" more and made the cut.

Here is how it looked 5 hours later. Thats one arch tubbed.

ypkx

Closing in on the last couple weeks we pretty much had all the corners fitted.
I won't bore you.

ypkx

At this point we were ready for paint.
At first, the agreed price meant only the kit, 2 bumpers and 2 spoilers were to be painted but the lads decided to do all of that AND both sides of the car to get the perfect even match and a better finish.
They weren't wrong. Afterall, the Lexus Arctic pearl isn't the easiest of colours to match.
I had purchased some rubber seal in case it was needed, and it looks like it could make such a difference on the finish of the car.

ypkx

Purchased a few more bits -
Washers for the rivnuts.
Stancenation long wheel lug nuts.




And after the mishap with my wheels, I had finally found out the shipping date of when it lands in the UK. I was sent a sneak peak from JDM Distro.
Work VS-XX 19x 11 et -15 , 19x 12 et -29

ypkx

Today, said wheels arrived. as planned.
We test fitted to see how great the would look.


I then took a trip down to WheelPower to have my tyres fitted.
I ended up ordering 235/35 front and 255/30 rear as recommended by Lexon Exclusive. We were there for an hour and it just wouldn't blow past the lip.
Ray at wheelpower has now ordered in some bigger tyres 245/35 and 265/30 to try again tomorrow.

Its sort of bad news all round because i planned to head straight back to the shop and sort my suspension set up out. But hey, what can you do?
After work today I headed up there again and Iain had banned me from moving my car. I didn't have a clue why, and then I opened the door..

This is a genuine Wald spoiler; we don't actually know why it didn't sit flush with the car.. It needed quite a bit of weight for it to just cuddle up to the boot edge. It wasn't a bad fit, or a mould. It's injected plastic, and looked of very good quality.
So I guess they resorted to... this sort of tactic.

ypkx

Whats left to do now? In no particular order..

• Full mop and polish
• Part of the front bumper needs a blow in
• Have tyres fitted and collected
• Adjust suspension height and square up camber angles
• Brake pads all round
• Bolt exhaust back on
• New battery
• MOT test
• TAX the car
• Book an appointment with Kingfab to have Invidia pipes fitted and custom made catback exhaust.

Keo

iTrader: (9)

Holy smoke this is extreme modding. Love it man. Keep it up and I wish you the best. Works VsXX ftw.