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Great build! I love to put nice Lexus's back together like this and the ISF is certainly one to do it on. So what are your plans for the motor and performance? Are you leaving it Stock?
Great build! I love to put nice Lexus's back together like this and the ISF is certainly one to do it on. So what are your plans for the motor and performance? Are you leaving it Stock?
The plan for the moment is to keep it mostly stock in respect to performance. I have some suspension bits on order and a RR racing catch can, everything else I'll keep mostly stock.
Just got to take a peak earlier today. Unfortunately there is a few pieces of trash in the paint, but the painter I’m using said he will wet sand and buff out. At this point I am just waiting for that to happen and for them to paint the bumpers, rocker moldings, and a few other bits.
I was hoping to have the car back this week to at least start putting that together, but it’s looking like that isn’t going to happen…
It's really hard to be patient when the end is so close in sight, but it will be worth it to do it right - you've done everything else the right way, so grit your teeth and hold on!
Also a small update - the right side exhaust tip was missing and the rear bumper was kind of jacked up. I was very surprised to find out how much these damn things are. I found a guy on one of the ISF Facebook groups selling some for $250 as a pair, but they were plasti-dipped. No biggie I thought, but when I got them they are in garbage condition and EVERY. SINGLE. BOLT is rusted and broken off. Literally all of them have to be drilled out. I was kind of pissed about this and let him know, but all I got was a "sorry man, I didn't realize that". Also, the plasti-dip is burned on there pretty good. I asked to send them back and get a refund, but never heard back. I was able to get the plasti-dip off with goo-gone remover and some polish, and the bolts are drilling out, its just much more work than I expected.
Just saw this post - not only are all the bolts rusted together, but the welds that hold the tips on will eventually rust too causing the tips to fall off.
One of the tips fell off my car and I just bought all new "exhaust diffusers", along with bolts and mounting hardware that sits in the bottom of the bumper.
If its not too late you might want to have your shop put some more welds on the tips and paint the welds with etchable primer and then paint them with some black touch up paint.
Sorry for the delay! I have to say the painting process has been the most frustrating part of this whole thing. I don't know that I would ever attempt another car like this unless I were to give the paint a go myself. Its been in my body shop for almost three months. I made the choice to pay a bit extra and run it through the shop as if I was a regular customer instead of having one of the guys do it on the side in an attempt to get it done quicker, but that just didn't happen... Even with all of this, there is some trash in the paint that the painter states can be wet sanded out. Not my wheel-house, but I have no confidence that he won't take another month to get that done for me. I am just going to begrudgingly pay my bill and seek out someone else to do a paint correction and ceramic coating on the car..
On to the update - I currently have the car, front and rear bumpers, and the passenger side skirt at my house. I am still waiting on getting a few smaller pieces home hopefully this week. I was able to get the passenger side skirt, headlights, and front bumper installed. I also built the passenger front door that was new, that honestly took up most of my day. Seeing the car in this state has me really excited to finally get it on the road! It should be all down hill from here. I have to say that I am really excited to report everything is lining up REALLY well. I have one nit-picky issue with the way the front/bottom edge of the door lines up with the fender, but it really isn't off that bad. These updates are from today!
On to the pictures. Excuse the mess in my garage. I hate working like this and am totally looking forward to getting part of the car and reorganizing the place.
What a beauty! AFA assembling the door and bumper components - I have no idea how the factory does this so quickly. Every time I've done it I've been amazed at how long it takes to get these basic subassemblies completed when you want it done right. Congrats - this will be the closest thing to a brand new car you can find!
What a beauty! AFA assembling the door and bumper components - I have no idea how the factory does this so quickly. Every time I've done it I've been amazed at how long it takes to get these basic subassemblies completed when you want it done right. Congrats - this will be the closest thing to a brand new car you can find!
Thanks for the compliment! I agree completely about building those parts- they are so time consuming to do!
I got to spend a few more hours in the garage today and went for the entire rear end. I still have some small things to install like emblems, fender lines, engine covers, etc, but it is almost there! Also, I don't have a 1/4" rivet gun to do the gas door so I have one of those on order from Amazon.
After I got the rear bumper on this afternoon I had to pull it outside and I just starred at the car for a solid 30 minutes. I am in love with how well this car has turned out and I can't believe that its mine. I am going to try to finish up the small details one day after work this week and try to make it to our local Cars and Coffee meetup this coming weekend.
11-29-21, 01:58 PM
