BoostedE21

Hey Fellas,

A little background: We've had a MCV20 (that's the right production code, right?) ES 300 in our family since about 2001. It's been a great car. I'm an engineering student at Texas A&M. I DD a 2001 Ford Explorer, and use it to haul parts, engines, and tools. My weekend car is a Turbo 1980 BMW 320i that i built myself on slightly over 1 Bar boost. Since nothing's available for that car, I've become accustomed to making everything myself. My friends and I built the components for the turbo system, distributorless ignition w/ megajolt, frankenstein turbo compatible fuel system, stainless exhaust, and the many, many, many other modifications to the car. To be honest, I'm not used to buying pre-made performance parts anymore.

Now let me get to the point:

My sister has been driving our ES300 for the past 2 years. It's in fine shape at 150k miles, and I get it next year to replace the explorer. The only problem is that the shocks are destroyed, and will need to be replaced. I've heard the stereotype that Lexus's are impossible to work on, and to be honest, I don't believe it - a car is a car: it can always be taken apart and put back together like anything else. But the Lexus will be my DD, so if someone has a DIY available, it would be great to have that memorized before it goes on jackstands. Second, the car is very quiet. I don't like loud cars, but I like to know that the engine is running. I've heard what the 1MZ-FE sounds like with a proper exhaust and it's quite nice. I'd like to make a stainless steel exhaust for it myself (I love TIG welding), but if anyone with an aftermarket exhaust could chime in, that would give me a clue as to what muffler to look for. I'll use the search function for other performance stuff so yall don't get pissed off at me from the beginning. I don't want to turn it into a 3,400 pound rocket, but I do want to hear the engine doing its job and perhaps increase the bhp a little in the process. After all, it still has to be a reliable DD, so I can't do anything that will require several days of being un-driveable.

I'll start reading up on the Toyota/Lexus EFI and ECU systems of the time, since I'm very unfamiliar with computer controlled cars.

Thanks in advance for all of your help, and I'm glad to be a part of the CL community.

kiwies300

dude SLOOOW is the guy you want to talk to on all this kind of stuff .(he da man )
also as just about everone on here wants the same thing you do check the top 5-6threads as they are the most used there is a search by name function up there too.
magflow seam to be popular and you may want to look into a y-pipe.
good hunting : )type exhaurst into the search this foruam search

heorung

Boosted,

Welcome to the community.... great bunch of helpful people on here ... dont listen to kiwies300... if u type exhaurst in the search ... u wont find nothin

Good to see another prospective engineer on here bro...mechanical right? .. civil engineer dont know jack about moddin cars. Im from Australia ... graduated in 03.
Seriously... if u are looking for help and mods, these guys will do their best to help u out.

-Slowwww - suspension research expert & exhaust mods.
- Smitty - Coilover & headlight retrofit expert.
- Choas - Cluster & bulbs replacement ... i think, not sure.
There are many others ... depends on what u wanna do.

Ps.. there was a young dude who went nuts and fitted a bodykit on here some time back .. generated lots of interest and cat fights between our brothers and sisters on here if u interested too. Use the search funtion and

Good luck with ur finding and remember to post pics for all to drool over ur handy works.

chrispy

iTrader: (21)

Welcome! Impossible to work on? No way! They are pretty easy to work on. And the ES300 can use the same year Camry parts.