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[rice4life]

It all started with a phone call. My mom got a call from a former co-worker of hers that their Lexus was for sale for an incredible price. After my mom told me about it I decided that I would buy it. All I was told was that it was a 1999 Lexus with 275k miles for $1500. After a few more calls I was told it was an LS400. So a few days later I met up with them and paid cash, bought the car sight unseen. I was expecting something run down, but I was wrong.

It was a fully optioned car in Alpine silver 2 tone with an immaculate interior and some relatively minor cosmetic issues.


Night I bought it. (last night lol 2/28/17)

I found the original sticker, 60k in 1999 is $87.4k in 2017. For people who don't know, you couldn't buy the Nakamichi sound system with GPS, you only got the standard one with it. So this car has the Nakamichi optional sound system.(It's the best factory sound system I've ever heard)

Tonight I decided to clean up a the headlights. Started with 600, than 1000, followed by 1600, then I used some metal polish. After all that I sprayed it with clear coat.

Optional wooden steering wheel


A friend of mine has a set of 18x8.5 and 18x9.5 Work Emotion CR kai's for cheap I'm going to buy once I have the funds. Unfortunately one wheel is cracked.

Plans are:
Clean up the exterior(lights, buff, paint touch up)
Budget Air Suspension(Paddle valves w/ UAS bags on KYB struts)
Front lip and side skirts
Wheels
Exhaust (keeping the stock 3 resonators and upgrading the rear mufflers to something a bit better looking)

[scweet14]

damn man you work fast! looking forward to seeing this around town, if you need any help with it you know how to contact me!

[BozoBubble]

I love LS400s. I tried to set a buddy of mine up with one with 200k and a small wiring issue last year for $750. Unfortunately, we weren't able to trace the gremlin before some lucky sucker with a flatbed bought it out from under us. Still a little sore about it.

Anyway, this is going to be an awesome build. These things are THE quintessential VIP whip.

[rice4life]

damn man you work fast! looking forward to seeing this around town, if you need any help with it you know how to contact me!

I love LS400s. I tried to set a buddy of mine up with one with 200k and a small wiring issue last year for $750. Unfortunately, we weren't able to trace the gremlin before some lucky sucker with a flatbed bought it out from under us. Still a little sore about it.

Anyway, this is going to be an awesome build. These things are THE quintessential VIP whip.

Thanks guys! This car isn't going to be 100% VIP, but more like a lightly modified version you see cruising the wangan. That's why I want to do 18's with performance oriented tires(no stretch either) and have them sit flush with the fender with minimal camber. I'm not saying it won't look rich, because I will add some VIP touches here and there.






Tonight I decided to do some paint correction! This was a deep black scuff and scratch before I touched it. I'll get more photos up tomorrow. There's one scratch that runs from the front passenger side fender to the tail light! It's 11/10 gnarley but I'm sure 90% of it will come out with rubbing compound and polish.



So far I've spent $25 and 5 hours cleaning the car up.
So far I've bought
Sand paper
Clear coat
Turtle Wax rubbing compound
Turtle Wax polishing compound

More tomorrow!

[nishy]

I love UCF20s so much. If you're going for a clean, cruising style, you might consider a parking pole on the front bumper. Mostly worthless in the US, but you would get so many JDM points :P
What were you thinking as far as wheels?

[190Evan]

I'm in for this, I'm happy you didn't disregard it due to the miles like most would have. Having seen all of your posts on this forum I know you know exactly what you're doing and the UZ motor in this is invincible. Can't wait to see what you do with this and I'm especially excited to see a light VIP GT style on this thing.

[rice4life]

I love UCF20s so much. If you're going for a clean, cruising style, you might consider a parking pole on the front bumper. Mostly worthless in the US, but you would get so many JDM points :P
What were you thinking as far as wheels?

Work CR Kai's are what I want, and have a guy who has a set that's been sitting for 10 years.

I'm in for this, I'm happy you didn't disregard it due to the miles like most would have. Having seen all of your posts on this forum I know you know exactly what you're doing and the UZ motor in this is invincible. Can't wait to see what you do with this and I'm especially excited to see a light VIP GT style on this thing.

Thanks man, I know these are bullet proof cars, and for a UCF20 $1500 was a steal. Especially considering that the interior is 9/10 no rips, no tears, no saggy head liner. I might just get a parking pole, I've always thought they were cool! I also found out the timing belt was done 35k miles ago, so that's a huge bill that I don't have to pay for a while. The PS pump also looks really good(better than the rest of the engine) so I think that was done recently as well.



Well, here's another minor update! I wish I took before pictures, but I wasn't planning on doing so much today. I just got carried away!

New air filter and I did rubbing, polishing, and wax on the drivers side and trunk/rear bumper. It went from about 30 noticable scratches down to about 3 on the drivers side, and from about 10 on the trunk/rear to 4. Those are really minor and touch up paint will hide it real well!

Passenger side is much worse, I'll get pics tomorrow when I do it. Oh yeah, my steering rack is leaking. It's not major, so I'm going to try some Lucas Stop Leak in it. I'll also try to zip tie the boot back together as it's cracked.

Tomorrow will be more paint correction, I'll finish the passenger side headlight, then I'll start with cleaning/conditioning the leather.

Soon I'll be removing the front fenders and working the small dents out. I want to get the car to 100% before I start doing any heavy modification.

[rice4life]

Ready for a bombshell of an update?

I almost died today.

The rear drivers side tire was dry rotting and became hard(it was the full size spare?) but it was the same make as the other tires so I thought it wasn't bad as the sidewall and tread looked great. I was making a left turn and a car was next to me and he cut the corner a bit into my lane, I adjusted and the car started to slide in the rear(VSC was on). I countersteered, but said car was next to me so I steered into the slide where there was a hill, when that car was ahead of me I lifted and the car gained traction all at once and spun the car. The front tires lost traction and I slid into a light pole. Luckily there was a police officer at the light, but he didn't see anything. No one stopped. One guy who lived across the river asked if I was ok. He was a cool dude. The police officers were astounded I wasn't dead. One of the firefighters was good friends with my brother, and the AMR EMT was an old friend of mine from high school.

The police confirmed that I was going 25mph and said that the older traction control in this car was fooled by the old tire slipping across the ground, and it didn't kick on until the car was sliding and it was too late. I got discharged from the hospital with only a bruised left leg and a hurt ego.





No, I wasn't tokyo drifting. I wasn't driving recklessly. I just was put in a position where I all of the variables added up. While I was at the hospital I was also treated and given resources to treat my mental health issues. Later that night(tonight) I was offered a job. I feel it was a blessing in disguise.

edit: oh yeah, the side airbags didn't go off. That's the drivers side airbag in the middle of the car.

[Whiskerz]

jesus not the update i was expecting as i scrolled through this thread!

Glad you made it out of that fine, certainly looks gnarly!

[Nagah]

Good to hear that you are well.

Metal can be replaced but not your groove! Heads up, something cooler with emerge from the pain. It is always like that in the end.

[burnzyben]

wow. glad youre okay man

[ruittie]

Be happy you drove this kind of car think if it was some kind of "cheaper" car you would be dead...

Glad you're oke!

[190Evan]

Really glad to hear you're okay man, It's a bumme rbut hey it $1,500 and life is worth a lot more than that. Luckily you didn't sink too much money into the build yet and I'm hoping the car was insured so you can get like 3K for it! Good news about the job it's funny how sometimes that happens. Ready for a bounce-back from you man. When I crashed my benz i was so bummed but two days later I was given a scholarship from my school for 3 grand and it was almost like I was being watched out for. I sent that pic to my EMT friend and he agreed, SUPER lucky, most head on crashes in older car will send you through the windshield and the recoil can decapitate you. Glad to hear you only bruised a little!

[nishy]

God damn man, I'm glad you're okay

[EricT93]

Glad you're ok man, sorry about the ride!