MY BLOG/LOG (not really updated anymore)

5-20-2009: I'll be installing Espelir springs/Tokico HP (Blues) struts soon. I need to work out the pesky camber issue, though, with an alignment and/or camber correction modifications, like Supra control arms or camber kits. Fixing the camber is kind of new for me. On my old lowered car I didn't fix the camber and my tires had a lot of uneven wear so I want to avoid that and get the most use out of the tires. Lowering is kind of a pain in the ass...sigh... I just hope I don't have too much of a clearance issue, especially my turndown tip. I might be installing them with my step-brother this weekend if the struts arrive in time.

Also, I looked into getting rid of the rattling issue from the turndown tip/cutout area when revved. I simply fixed it by tightening the nuts with a wrench. I had just been hand-tightening the nuts before. It seems to have eliminated the rattling. I am still loving my first exhaust mods I've done to a car of mine!

5-15-2009: I'll be installing Espelir springs/Tokico HP (Blues) struts soon.

3-10-2009: So today I'm cruising around, getting new tags, emissions, etc. and decide to go see my siblings. So I'm driving and this hot girl in a pink jogging outfit is bent down, tying her shoe or something and then I see her raise back up and she gives my car and me the hardest look I've ever seen with a big smile. I'm looking hard-as-hell back, checking her out. I wondered for a second if she was a hooker or something...lol. I don't think so, just a hot-ass jogging girl... :)

Spring is starting early for me! (kinda). Though, I see there's a chance of rain four out of the five days this week...typical...just mny luck. After my tire blew out on the interstate I went back to stock wheels. Since then, I have gotten a new tire for the wheel this weekend and put my Axis Supermesh back on, rotated the tires, changed the oil myself for the first time FINALLY after 7,000 miles...yikes... My first oil change went very well and now feel confident doing it. I just kept putting it off because I was unsure of what kind of oil to go with and didn't feel like taking it to an oil change shop. But Spring is starting early for me and I've fallen in love with my car all over again!

Fall/Winter '08: My car dirty-as-hell but hadn't taken pics in a while... huh, still looks clean... Winter sucks for driving...

9-24-2008: Been driving with my turndown for a few days now; lovin' the sound. Just washed my car in a month or two since I put my wheels on; still need to clean the wheels and tires up.

9-21-2008: I recently bought another turndown tip from SummitRacing.com after I lost my first one. I went back to stock sound for a while then recently started to add a little sound back for the summer with one of my modified block-off plates and, now, with the turndown, it will have a very nice, deep and powerful sound. I won't have had it this loud for a while so kind of forgot how it sounds exactly fully-open with only a turndown.

9-13-2008 12:25 p.m.: It's good to see CarDomain finally switched to HTML/code and bigger pics, GJ, CarDomain. Well, really want to do a lot of upgrades and updating but the money is not there at the moment...one more payment and my car will be paid off! Only took one year because I put a lot of extra money into it. It was originally a 5-year loan (:-O) and would have costed me a lot more if it took 5 years. I've learned a lot about loans/interest vs. money/cash and what not to do as far as buying my next car and future cars. Basically, F... the Corporations.

8-04-2008: I have three weeks off for my vacation and opening and cleaning the headlights and doing various maintenance. I would like to do an intake modification (BFI) for improved performance, etc. but not sure if I will do it now or later.

7-8-2008: Got my new wheels today! The car and wheels are pretty dirty but had to take some quick pics after getting them on. I'm very happy with them and how they look, a lot better than my old ones, in many ways. I plan on having these for a year or so then upgrade to another set of wheels.

My old wheels and tires were really falling apart; three wheels were bent, the two front tires leaked air, then started to have a problem with the rear right tire recently where the inner part of the tire expanded and swelled up and could barely drive on it, with a lot of bumpiness and instability, and started to have extreme tire wear where there was essentially no more tread left on the inside after a week or two of riding on them like that.

7-1-2008: My new wheels, used 19" Axis Supermesh, will be here soon!

6-8-2008: I might be close to getting a used set of 19" Axis Supermesh...

5-23-08: My search for wheels has been slow and long trying to find a nice set of polished, BBS-style mesh wheels; these styles are rare and hard to find. One problem is that the wheels I see and like are usually in 16" and I'm trying to move away from 16" and go either 17", 18" or 19".
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I'm also looking for a cheap scooter/motorcycle for under $1000 as a reaction and protest to the gas prices. It's not really too big of a deal to me, just costing me an extra $10-$13 each fill-up, but I think it could save me some money and also think it would be fun to drive. Now that I think about it I've never ridden on a motorcycle/scooter before...Fuck it, first for everything, I guess.

5-11-08: I got the $600 rebate...hehehe...gas money...LOL not, hopefully going toward some wheels.

5-2-2008: I received chrome Lexus center caps from eBay for my current wheels.

April 2008: I'm looking for a set of 18" (+ or -) BBS LM and/or RS replica or original wheels, similar to my current wheels. Some things I'd prefer differently about my current wheels are a bigger and polished lip, among other things. I want to find exactly what I'm looking for at a good, decent price.

4-3-2008: My car and wheels/tires are so dirty because it's been raining every other day but I hadn't taken any pictures in a week or two so had to snap a couple with my cell phone. Somehow it still looks good even when dirty...D There's no rain in the forecast next week so I'm going to clean my car up real good finally and take some nice pictures with my bro's Canon. I'm going to try the Lexus dealership to get an oil change, just not sold yet on Precision Tune messing with my car, even though it's one of my favorite car places because they seem honest and professional. I guess I'll try the dealership out because I've never been to it and always wanted to see what it was like. I was going to do it myself but maybe next time, using Royal Purple.

3-26-2008: I'm on the lookout for similar 18" versions of my current wheels. That tax rebate better be fat ($600). Money has been tight for a long time since I've been trying to pay my car loan off quick with my tax return, etc. to avoid a lot of interest. Currently at around $900, was around $4000 before so will have it paid off soon.

3-17-2008: I'm having my gravel driveway paved with asphalt this week so finally no more gravel, dust and a dirty car!

2-29-2008: I mainly wanted to get some pics of the black SC 400, same body/year as mine. Black wheels (with a lip) on a black SC looks so nice. My SC wasn't the main focus, very dirty, but did want to take some more pics of the wheels...hehe

2-24-2008: I had the purpling tint removed yesterday and took some pictures over the last few days with my LG VX8300 cell phone because my bro has the nice Canon right now, so sorry for the quality. I also finally cleaned the wheels and tires a little after having the tint removed. Car is still dirty as hell, though, haven't washed the car in almost a month because it's been raining every other day.

2-14-2008: The New Look: 16" MHT, BBS-style wheels I got thru craigslist for $140. I can't even find out what model they are but they appear to be old/discontinued. I think they look very classy. I assume they're supposed to look like BBS LM (Le Mans) wheels but the MHTs have one more spoke/pair, which is nice. I normally don't like all-chrome wheels, a chrome lip is fine, but I usually prefer a polished lip w/ silver or black spokes or all-polished. But I do like how the dark aspects of chrome look with my car/color which is probably the same reason I like black spokes because I think it makes the SC body stand out a little more. I also plan on getting some 18s or 19s when I can find a good deal, locally; they'll be classy, as well. I'm thinking about the '02-'06 18" SC 430 wheels or 18"-19" BBS-style wheels.
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With these wheels, I was kind of going for a stock and classy look, nothing too showy or big. I still haven't cleaned the wheels fully or put any tire shine on yet because: 1. I have to get a wheel balance, there's some vibrations/bumpiness while driving right now. 2. The condition of the wheels aren't great, some chrome peeling in spots, mostly behind the face and tire area but there's a little around the spokes and lip. I would like to get them refinished in a silver with a polished/chrome lip eventually if I keep them for a while. I want an 18 or 19 inch version like this also. There's a certain kind of mesh style I like, with a thick, deep dish lip, if possible. BBS LM and RS are my favorite BBS models, but it's hard to even find wheels resembling the BBS style, especially locally. I think these MHTs will hold me over until I find a nice deal on some 18s or 19s. I have a seller from craigslist who wants $300 for the 18" SC 430 wheels w/o tires and tires would cost me somewhere around $600 + or -, but the SC 430 wheels have been hard to find locally. I guess we'll see.

2-1-2008: The same week I lost my turn-down, my license plate flew off my car... crazy week. Luckily, I had to get a new sticker anyway so I got a new plate and number at the same time so it all worked out. My new random license plate number is xxx SLY ... haha, yesss!

1-25-2008: My Turn-down got loose and came off the cutout while driving last night. This isn't the first time it's done this It came off once before while driving but luckily I was able to know where it came off and retrieve it. The nuts get loose somehow but I had been tightening it every day before driving. Unless I find it, I won't be using this particular turn-down anymore, so I've ordered a new turn-down to try out. I'll be going back to various plates now.

1-18-2008: I had to get an emissions test done this month so I had to take the turn-down off and put a plate on for the test. I couldn't believe how quiet it sounded, lol. I've been running only the turn-down tip with no modified plate for a while and this will probably be the setup for now on.

12-19-2007: I drove the car yesterday and it has such a different tone and sound with the turn-down, I love it. It sounds so nice revving high and hard; the higher you rev it, the better it sounds. I like the volume a lot now but I might have to go just a little louder now that the sound is better everywhere (inside/outside) with the turn-down. It's starting to sound more and more like I want while driving around town. I'm using my thinnest plate (from the QTP) now and probably going to be my main plate for a while, currently sounding roughly equivalent to about halfway-open or maybe a little less (if it were an electric cutout; 5 rough holes). I'm glad I got the annoying rattling issue fixed. The metal heat shield was in rough condition anyway with saw cuts and bent-up in places so that made me feel better about using a hammer on it. It's very flexible metal, thankfully. The only issue is that the nuts are barely able to fit and screw on because of the use of both a modified block-off plate and a turn-down; not much room left on the bolts after those two. To make that worse, the top bolt nut has so far been impossible to screw on when using the turn-down because of several reasons but mainly the limited bolt length; it's really hard to try to screw the nut on because of the angle, length of the turn-down and it's a tight squeeze on the top from pipe flanges, etc. close-by. Let's hope the new Lowe's nuts are as reliable as the Lexus. I'd hate to lose something...hehe. They seem much better than the supplied nuts.

12-17-2007: I recently drilled a fifth hole in one block-off plate. The modified plate is equivalent to about halfway-open or maybe a little less. I may still go louder, though, depending on how it sounds when driving. I managed to stop the initial rattling from the turn-down by hammering the metal in a little. The turn-down has more room now, but I had to leave the gasket off because I couldn't even fit the nuts on with a gasket. The nuts can barely screw on even without a gasket and with my thinnest plate.

12-4-2007: I drove with four holes drilled in a block-off plate yesterday. I REALLY like the sound and volume. Sounds closer to being open than closed. Now if I could just fit the turn-down on without any rattling...
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I waxed the front end of my car this afternoon. I initially only planned to do a body panel per day but I went ahead and did as much as I could. I'll probably finish waxing the rest of the car over the next couple of days.

12-3-2007: I drilled a fourth hole in two of three block-off plates I have; the third plate is unmodified from the second Flowtech cutout. I'm realizing spare block-off plates are hard to buy or find. I've read most people make their own or have an exhaust shop make one. I'm thinking about having a couple things made possibly: 1) One or more custom block-off plates with hole(s), etc, for sound. 2) A shorter turn-down tip. If I use my current turn-down, I will need to unbolt the protruding metal above the midpipe that's slightly in the way, causing rattling -- or if the metal stays, I'll have to have a smaller, custom turn-down tip, but I'm thinking that any turn-down tip MIGHT have to rest on that metal, unless possibly a new custom turn-down could be designed very short, shorter than my current turn-down where it just turns down after an inch or two from the base of the turn-down.

11-30-2007: I took the turn-down tip off temporarily. I can't fit a block-off plate (modded w/ holes) and the turn down on together because there's only so much room on the 3/8" bolts, unless I can find a bolt extension, etc., so I might try to find a custom/thinner plate or an equivalent. I need a plate on because it's just too loud driving completely open. With having three holes drilled in a plate so far, the third hole sounds very sporty :}. I think I will drill one more hole to make it four :D and see how that sounds. I was thinking about removing the protruding metal part so the rattling would stop and the tip would have enough room but I can't find info yet on what the metal part is, if it's a heat shield or something else.
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Also, I bought some new 3/8" nuts at Lowe's, which seem to be better than the nuts supplied, being less wide on the edges and it can screw tighter when on the turn-down because of a groove on the base of the turn-down.

11-25-2007: I test drove the car to see how loud it was with the turn-down tip on the cutout and it's still too loud and obnoxious so I may put back on a variety of modified block-off plates with drilled holes I made so I can get a little more sound without it being completely open. I'd like to put on a modified plate with holes AND the turn-down tip but it might not fit. Also, the rattling because of the turn-down tip resting on that metal part can be annoying.

11-23-2007: My Turn-down tip came in from JC Whitney today and here it is on the cutout. It sounded a little quieter/better in the cabin with the turn-down tip facing downward, giving it a different, more rumbly, deeper tone. A part of metal on the side is almost in the way of the turn-down tip. You can see the scuff marks on the turn down from trying to make it fit onto the cutout; it barely fits, having to rest on that metal piece. I've also drilled some holes through spare plates for different setups (i.e. with or without turn down used). Here's the video.

11-13-2007: I put some 3M double-sided tape behind one side of the side markers because only one screw out of two was able to be used. The sides with no screw kept wanting to come up above the surface, so I think the tape will fix that. I'm finally happy with the clear side markers now.

11-03-2007: I drove Friday with the nuts on the block-off plate slightly unscrewed and it was a lot better, quieter and had a little better torque than with it completely open. when the cutout was completely open, my car felt really slow, torque-wise. I might screw it slightly tighter since it's still quite loud but much more tolerable than open. still going to test it in different/tighter positions. the good thing is that i can control the loudness, although a little ghetto-rigged. an electric cutout would just be a lot more convenient. i could have the cutout opened more at higher RPMs and have it closed at lower RPMs to keep low-end/torque performance. i'm also going to look into getting a bolt-on turn down, like this one. Also, I'd eventually like to have one hole (or more, if needed) in the plate or something similar so some sound/gas comes out, simulating a cracked-open position of an electric cutout. Right now, the nuts are just unscrewed a little, pretty much the same as a cracked-open position, just ghetto-rigged.

11-02-2007: I'm experimenting with loosening the nuts slightly so that just a little more sound comes out. It appears to work. I will have to get a video of the sound when it's completely open :D. I might even get an electric cutout motor/butterfly at some point so I can control it easier, having it closed or cracked-open when I'm just driving in my neighborhood or when there's a cop close by, etc., cracked-open or open more when I'm on the highway/interstate, etc. and completely open when I'm just idle and showing it off to someone.

11-01-2007: The sound is crazy raw, kind of scary, at times. the sound inside the cabin when revving is like a constant loud, annoying hum. if it wasn't so damn loud even at low rpms, it would be a little more tolerable. also the sound/tone is different than I expected/wanted, at least when i first heard it, it didn't even really sound much like a V8, had an unattractive "rattle" sound at the shop, especially at idle, almost how a 4- or 6-cylinder might sound. maybe the sound will adjust/"break in" after a few days...? i closed it temporarily, mainly because the car would not go, lost torque w/ the cutout apparently when it's open. i had to really rev it more than normal to get the car moving lol and of course had to pass one cop on the way to my house after getting it done; i had to take my foot off the gas pedal completely so it would rev as low as possible LOL. i'm thinking about having it somehow cracked open a little, like not screwing the nuts very tight so that a little comes out. i know you can crack the butterfly on electric cutouts, but mine is just a metal plate. might have to get better hardware, though, like a stationary butterfly in a cracked-open position, etc., not sure. i would like to have a little more sound and be able to keep a little more of my power. i would probably keep it closed most of the time, though, and make it loud whenever i choose.

10-31-2007: I had a Flowtech cutout installed today. It wasn't exactly what I thought it'd sound like but I had to try it. The sound is just extremely loud when revving, especially in the cabin, and it made the car lose some torque. I had to rev it up a little more than usual to even keep the normal speeds up. I'm glad I have the option of having it open or closed, so I'm probably going to have it closed right now until I can have it where it's just slightly cracked open. Update: When I started it up in the garage the morning after, I have to admit, it sounded really good (and F'ing LOUD) and very raw, and I could smell the gasoline from the cutout. :-)

10-30-2007: Power sawed/sanded the GS/IS clear side markers to fit. Goodbye Amber/Orange! I'll take more/better pics tomorrow when I wash car. Car hasn't been washed in about 3 or 4 weeks (water spots piss me off too much). I also plan to wax it soon.
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I'm probably going to have to get a steel cutout Y-pipe (not stainless steel), like a steel Flowtech. I bought a stainless steel one when I should have gotten a steel one apparently. Newbie mistake. I'm completely new to exhaust systems. I figured the stock exhaust piping was stainless steel (still not really sure if it's steel or ss). The biggest problem is finding a TIG welder to weld stainless steel on a car's exhaust system (w/ a lift, etc.). Most exhaust shops can only do MIG welding.

10-25-2007: I received the cutout Y-pipe and went to have it installed but turns out exhuast shops need to TIG weld it since it's stainless steel and apparently most exhaust shops can only do MIG welding. TIG is higher temperature than MIG, I guess. GREAT. Always something... It probably wasn't a good time to do it anyway; it's been raining all week. I can't wait to hear how it sounds in person.

10-23-2007: I ordered the QTP 2.5" manual cutout Y-pipe from ebay and it should be arriving shortly. I read about some people having problems with QTP electric cutout motors (and other brand electric cutout motors) but not problems with the actual manual cutout Y-pipes themselves, I believe. I'm not sure if there's any/many differences between the cutout Y-pipes or if they're all made in the same or similar manner and specs. The main questions now are which side to mount it on, and also if I should go ahead and get some more needed/improved exhaust work done while I'm getting the cutout welded in. I really want to replace all the cats with Magnaflow cats or maybe replace the two cats up front and just delete the center cat only if I can pass emissions. I might try to look for some Magnaflow cats locally. I have seen on a Toyota/Lexus site (lextech or a soarer site) that the Catco cats the muffler shop I'm going to uses aren't as good as Magnaflows but are slightly better than the OEM cats.

10-15-2007: I picked up two Sylvania 1157AST (Amber Silver Star) bulbs from AutoZone for the turn signals. The bulbs have a blue/chrome appearance when unlit, then has a regular amber/orange look only when lit. Much better-looking in the housing than amber/orange bulbs. I couldn't tell if the regular clear 1157 bulbs were amber or white when lit. I might get some of these clear bulbs also.
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I also went by Custom Muffler to talk about and get a quote for the cutout I'm wanting. I will probably get that done soon.

10-14-2007: I cleaned the headlights to see if I could get the yellowness off and, to my surprise, the yellowness came off the outside after using various chemicals on them. I was glad I didn't have to open up the headlights (yet) to get the yellow off. I took the passenger headlight out and was struggling with the drivers side headlight so then I just gave up and stopped. I accidentally broke off a minor plastic piece from two harnesses's connectors because they were so damn hard to unplug. I ended up trying to unplug them with a long flathead. Thankfully the pieces don't affect the working of the harnesses. Now they're just easier to unplug :-D. I'm still researching on a high beam mod to get some utilization out of them because they're so nice-looking, on or off.
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I'm also disconnecting the parking lights so that the projector light will now be the only light on in each headlight housing. I'm also going to change all the amber/orange bulbs around the headlights, etc. to either clear, chrome or LED bulbs to make my car's color appear lighter and more silver-looking (I love silver). I've got clear side markers made for a GS coming so hopefully they won't be too hard to fit. No more amber/orange! YUCK! I will take some pics tomorrow probably.

10-6-2007: I replaced the fog light bulbs recently. Apparently the old bulbs were out/bad. Also, I'm very interested in turning the high beam lights into the low beams. It would look so sweeet. And eventually get or make clear side markers and replace orange/amber bulbs with bulbs that appear more clear and play around with different kinds of bulbs that are also in the head light housings.

10-3-2007: Finally bought a MicroSD card and an SD adapter and finally got a few videos off my cell phone that couldn't be transferred to an e-mail address (Why, Verizon? Soo stoopid!).
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I'm looking into doing further exhaust modifications. I am going to try to unbolt one or both of the mufflers just to hear how (crazy) it sounds. I may have extra pipes made so I can switch out the mufflers for just pipes and vice versa when/if I need/want to. If I like the sound of the mufflers off, the mufflers may stay off. I will probably eventually do something with the cat(s), like an X-pipe or Magnaflow cat(s), etc.
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I'm thinking about doing a cutout (manual or electric) on the exhaust. I'm still researching and deciding which brand to go with, etc. Here's a Lexus SC400 with a cutout (WOW, huh?).

9-12-2007: I put a Toyota/Lexus V8 emblem on my car. I like it a lot. I just hope it sticks...

9-9-2007: I had problems with the red paint coming off on my tail lights so I'm looking into other methods, like painting from the inside on the amber/orange part.

9-2-2007: My Lexus battery went dead today so I had to buy a new one. Also, I bought a matching Toyota/Lexus "V8" emblem on eBay for the right side of the trunk.

8-17-2007: I just had the two rear resonators deleted from the exhaust. It sounds slightly louder when revving now. It's still nearly silent at idle. It sounds very nice and is pretty much what I was wanting; not too quiet, not too loud. That faint, low sound of the V8 at the bottom of the RPM range is really deep in person.

8-13-2007: I just painted the orange/amber part of my tail lights. It looks so much better and cleaner and gives it a more updated look. I used spray paint specifically designed for tail lights called AUG Lens Painter, made in Japan. I bought it on eBay for $20 (shipping from CA included). I only painted the bottom part of the tail lights. I taped everything off and taped paper around it. I got a little overspray on the bottom, which worried me for a second, so I went to Auto Zone real quick and got something called Oops!. It did an excellent job getting the overspray off the paint, thankfully.

8-12-2007: I think I'm going to have my resonators deleted to give my SC4's V8 a really nice, powerful and loud sound that I've heard in videos on clublexus.com. I've even thought about the extreme of taking off both my mufflers (temporarily) and replace with straight pipes just to see what it would sound like.

8-11-2007: I took out the spare tire recently. It weighs around 45-48 lbs. I have a little less traction from the rear wheels now. I may put it back in since my driveway is gravel and on an incline/hill. I really wish it was a paved driveway.

8-5-2007 9:53pm: I'm going to buy some red taillight spray paint from eBay and paint the amber/orange part of the taillights red.

7-24-2007: Well, I heard back from my mechanic at Autotech Import Car Repairs performing the tune-up today... He said it needs a MAJOR tune-up but did say that the car had been taken care of. It looks like the timing belt, water pump and all that stuff hadn't even been replaced yet. I assumed the timing belt, water pump, etc. had already been done.
UPDATE: I got my car back on 7-26-2007. The total came to $1,911 but he only charged me $1,850. Well, there went my wheels...

July 2007: My first Toyota/Lexus. This SC replaced my '95 Honda Civic DX coupe that I had for nine years (crazy, huh?). I bought this Lexus SC400 for $7989 with 129k miles on 5-31-2007. It was a one owner car and garage-kept. It has the factory gold package all the way around including on all four center caps. This is how it was when I bought it and I think it looks really luxurious. I'm thinking about getting some classy mesh wheels with a thick lip (silver w/ polished lip), like the BBS LM or RS wheels or replicas, and then maybe lowering it an inch or more. I'm thinking about 19s right now. I'm not really trying to go for the dub (20"+) look. I think 18s or 19s would give me the look I'm wanting. Here are a few other quick wheel edits I did in Photoshop. I had 5-spoke/-star silver/machined-lipped 17s for several years on my old Civic. My tastes have evolved, I think. I don't really care that much about flashy anymore, just clean and classy now. Too bad the BBS replicas don't have the exact style as the originals but some are very close.
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I'm also thinking about adding the later model SC factory side skirts and possibly the factory front lip (painted) or the later model SC front bumper although I like how the current bumper looks so maybe I'll just add a lip or nothing at all. I'm also going to try to get the taillights red/clear or nearly all red and try to do clear side markers if I can. All pictures except the two dealer pictures were taken with my cell phone, the LG VX8300. It was originally bought in Houston in '94 or '95 for about $52,500 with several premium options installed.