Lex Luthor

Shane, guess I gotta update you. Got really busy with work, so I haven't been in touch, my bad. Anyway, never ever go to Lexus of Massapequa! They kept telling me they had ordered my converter, and they never did. When I went down there the Service Mgr Dan Daly told me they had to road test the car, and their 'technician' told him he couldn't find the problem, even though I showed him the symptom over and over again. Idiots. It's just as well, i'm sure they would have botched the job, these guys know so much less about the car than I do! None of them have even seen the inside of a 1UZ motor! I thought that was impossible, they told me it's because these motors never blow, I asked them how it was possible that they were 'Elite Of Lexus' without ever having even been sent to a seminar about the Lexus engines. So, I decided to finish up my tune up, but the #@$%@# fittings on the fuel filter were seized, so I ordered all new fuel lines from the tank all the way up to the rail, because i'm THAT obsessive. I called Steve Gantz at Carson, he told me to order the lines locally because they were warehoused in NY. I ordered them from the jerkoffs at Lexus of Massapequa, day by day went by, until I lost my temper and went down there and threatened the parts manager's health. I tell you, these guys just give you a line until you're right in their face going ballistic, then they tend to listen. So, they ended up ordering both of the lines from California, I could've ordered them from Carson and had them next-day air. When I get them, they didn't even box them! The parts mgr, Buster, tells me lots of ppl return the lines because they say they don't fit, he tells me I may have to bend them a bit. I was ready to bend HIM! I bring them home, and sure enough, they're totally tweaked, had to do alot of re-bending to get them to match the existing lines, not easy with hollow tubing. Got them in, took two days, but it's now good as new. Still have to finish the tune-up though, just got my Iridiums, caps, rotors, PCV, plug wires, etc. By the way, turns out Lexus of Massapequa was charging me a good percentage over list! They were raping me, $142 for plug wires, they're $99 from Carson, and I assure you Carson is still making money on them. They charged me almost double Carson's price on the fuel lines, and ended up making me wait for them anyway. How sick is that? Anyway, after spending about $400, maybe more, on tune-up parts, i'll deal strictly with Carson for parts now. Once the tune-up is done, Paisley Automotive may be doing my converter, if they have the time. Then again, i've looked at a couple of SC3's to turbo.....
Jon.

P.S. - Shane, when all this is done, i'll return to re-doing my speakers, I don't expect you to hold on to the Focals, if someone wants them, cool, if not, we'll probably get to do that at some point. Now that the cam is fixed, anxious to see the door install pics up close, plus let's see those f-body pics, found more photos to show you, i'll put them up when I get a chance, plus I found a video someone shot with their camcorder, it's my T-Type, doing a run in Baldwin against a local hotshoe's Mustang. Swear, you can hear the tyres break loose on the shift into third, must've already been doin' a buck. Hairy ride.

SSmith

iTrader: (7)

Sorry to hear about the car. I was just thinking of doing a tune-up, now you've scared me to death. Anyway, I think I'm having converter problems myself. Between 40-50 mph, my car seems to jump back and forth like it's searching. Had my power steering pump replaced, still in the morning when i start it, i get about 2 seconds of whine. I'm thinking the rack will probably go next. I'll tell you this, one day somebody is going to get almost a brand new car. I think I'll give Steve a call myself. I've been ordering most of my stuff from Thompson Lexus. I think I've been getting very good pricing from them. There listed on the enternet as Irontoad.com. Man, those F-bodies sure were cheaper to fix!!!
I was going to ask you, I noticed that you have the moonroof
deflector on your car, does it make a difference with the roof closed. I'm getting some wind noise and was thinking about adding it. Not in any hurry with the Focals. Would rather someone have them who could use them. Good luck on running those new lines.

Shane

Lex Luthor

Shane, the lines are done, good as new. Gonna finish the rest of the tune-up this weekend. Nothing to be scared of, the 28deg weather that night had more to do with the fitting seizing than anything else, just bad luck. The rest will be cake, just make sure to use 14mm and 19mm Spanner wrenches on those fittings, and soak them with a catalyst first. Yes, the f-bodies were much cheaper to fix, but they broke more often too. My Formula went through five motors in five months, rears, well, you know, i'm sure the 305 juicemonster used to eat rears and trannies, right? The deflector works extremely well with the wind noise, I have a thing about that. It's so quiet I actually forget it's open sometimes. It's the Bene Vento unit, i've tested it to 137mph, still works. Then again, you've been known to bounce off the speed limiter at around 150, so I dunno. 40-50mph, sounds like the converter Shane, maybe we'll do ours same time.
- Jon

SSmith

iTrader: (7)

Man you had to make me thimk about all those rear ends!!! SO on the wind deflector, how does it attach?? Is it one of those 3M
stick on jobs or what. What do you think about our ignition system?? I remember on my F-bodies how much the MSD helped out on the upper RPM's, you think they make one for the SC. My car is running perfectly, but I'm really considering a tune-up. Car has 75,000 miles and the motors never been touched. Man I hope I don't have to get into the transmission. I know they make a shift kit for the SC 300 Auto, how about ours?? You know it's amazing with all these guys on hear how there is really a lack of information. Stereo for example. You would think there would be all kinds of pics of upgrades. Oh well.

S

Lex Luthor

Deep in the heart..of Texas....
The stars are bright.....

Shane, i've had some really hairy runs with that crappy 7.5" rear, see the post between me and ComputerWiz elsewhere, I think it's the one about scrapping his motor, you'll see what I mean. The deflector attaches with hidden brackets, no tape, seals with a gasket in the front, real nice. The car was ordered with every option, then everything that the dealer could add he did. Lexus cel phone w/ steering wheel controls, the Bene Vento deflector, tinted windows, pinstriping, mud guards, gold pkg, wheel locks, chrome wheels, etc. You'll need two MSD-6AL boxes, talk to Todd Matsubura 'DoubleWoosh' from TM Engineering. He can also show you how to wire up Crane coils, and a niiiice fogger setup, nudge nudge, wink wink. The MSD didn't really help my F-bodies 'till I put juice in, and the stock SC ignition is pretty nice, we don't need it for now. I'm assuming my car's never been tuned up either. Runs like brand new, but I just feel it's time to do the overhaul. SC3 and SC4 trans are the same, basically the same as the Supra auto, different torque converter pattern and a few other things. It's plenty strong until you make close to 500hp, pretty impressive for an auto, IMO. Talk to Lance at Toyomoto about a shift kit, you may want to slap on an aux cooler too. Oh, meant to ask you, do I have to make the MDF baffles for the door enclosures, or can I just dremel out the openings in the plastic to fit the 6.5s? Do you need the added 1/2" of depth from the MDF?