sc300L

Well its been awhile sense I have been on the forums and im looking for some of your knowledge, im torn because I want to put money in the Lex but the cost and difficulty of working on the car myself is a problem, when a good old muscle car seems much easier to work on and more effective power wise then a sc ever could without dumping 20 grand in it witch I would be fine with if I had the money lol. But anyways I was wondering about how much money am I looking at to make the Lex substantially fast with out engine swapping. I have a stock 97 Sc300 Auto, wish it was manual, it has 80,000 miles on it so its still a baby.

plex

iTrader: (11)

NA-T will be ur best bet. Figure out what your budget is and go from there.

Dx3

iTrader: (13)

Can you do the work yourself? Also, how FAST is FAST?

Jonny

mikeloc24

I'd say somewhere in the range of about $6-$8k to go NA-T depending on what parts you opt to run.

5sp_jzz30

iTrader: (2)

uhm....sc are not hard to work on. what do you consider a muscle car? if you think working on a toyota or a lexus is hard try working on POS fords and GM. THOSE cars are crap.

figure out your budget and go na-t. if you do the work yourself its not expensive. it gets pricey when you start paying some "specialist tuner" to do your work. if you can do the work, then learn. its very satisfying and saves you a ton of money.

Toshima

Just get a 100 shot, $500 and you might be in the low 14's maybe high 13s with some bolt on's'. Plus If you find a muscle in good condition, plus some after market parts. You could of just spent that money on the LEX and made great power. Now if you have a muscle car in good condition. With a strong motor. Then it would be cheaper.

sc300L

I was thinking of buying a 69 camaro, but its a big hassel to find one thats not either completely refurbished and over the top redone, and I dont want a shell, Not to mention I love my SC to much, im looking to get into the low 13's high 12's possibly, and as far as bugget go's anywhere from 3-6 grand.

Psionic

You can easily get a turbo kit up and running for that price.


And for the record, my 66 mustang is WAY easier to work on than my SC.

5sp_jzz30

iTrader: (2)

^^^^maybe a 66 mustang is easier to work on. the current fords are not. they are engineered like garbage. the location of some bolts is ridiculous.

have you tried to do a radio in a new mustang? its not hard to work on it. its just that you have to take off. the top piece of the center console, the center console, about 20 screws, and to top it off you cant unplug the ac controls when you pull out the panel. you have to go behind the dash and unplug it and THEN remove the center piece. oh and after that you have to remove the whole radio. way too much to do for a very simple job. very poor engineering. it looks like it was engineered by a failing stoner engineering intern from a pathetic university.

i have taken just about everything apart on my sc.....from the complete suspension, diff, interior, exterior, and everything else in between. the interior disassembly is cake. maybe it easier for me since i work at circuit city in mobile audio install and have all the right tools to do it.

toyota engineering never ceases to amaze me. any time i work on any toyota made vehicle its so nice not to have your parents come out of the house and tell you to stop swearing because the neighbors are taking notice.


sorry about the ranting.....back to the thread.

if you have a budget of 36k then piece together a 1.5jz swap. use the stock bottom end with a thicker head gasket and arp head studs. even with the stock ct12a twins you can run about 14psi boost and definitely break 350whp and into the 12's

plex

iTrader: (11)

With Aristo Motor/ECU/Harness around 2K now you could get a nice BPU setup but since you don't want to swap, I would get a basic Dave H Kit and build from there. I would opt for a 67DBB Turbo with the Dave H Mani. A BL Tranny might be an option when the boost bug hits. The XS Power kits on clubna-t is an option I would just swap out their turbo and WG and run a PT67DBB and Tial 44mm gate.

parnzen

it would take a 5-6k turbo kit to run in the low 13s u might be able to pull off a low 12 if u try hard enough.

sc300L

hmmm I now being an auto helps with turbo lag but, is tubro the best for a Auto?? im looking to only do this once and get the best or most effectiveness out of it as well as being reliable, if i turboed it what would be better 2 mid size turbos or one big?