Import Tuner magazine (www.importtuner.com) along with Tein (www.tein.com), are building the fourth Lexus IS F for SEMA.
Given that the IS F comes from the factory stout—what with its 416 hp, sport tuned suspension, and aggressive styling—our goal is to accentuate those attributes and build an aggressive ride that performs well on the track while being livable: A four seater to floss on the street during the work week…and a car to beat around the track during the weekend.
With this in mind, reliability is key. We’re going to go light on the engine mods (it does come stuffed with a V-8...stock) and heavy on the chassis and suspension. Cue Tein. A lot of our efforts will also be spent on lightening the vehicle to improve its power-to-weight ratio and tuning the suspension components.
To test the capabilities of our IS F, after SEMA, our Lexus will compete in the Street Class of the Super Lap Battle time attack finals at Buttonwillow Raceway, CA. The driver we have lined up? Mr. Tanner Foust.
STRIPPED (part 1):
After marveling at the IS F's stock beauty for about three days, what do we do? Order a bunch of parts and proceed to strip her down like a starving college student working for tips. We (as in Philip and Brian from Tein) ripped out the bumpers, fenders, headlights, doors, trunk, seats, carpet, to get to the sheetmetal to prep for stitch welding the chassis.
STRIPPED (part 2):
Now that we had access to the exposed chassis, all the tar and sound deadening material was scraped, chiseled and gnawed off in an effort to reduce weight. How much? According to our scale, 27 lbs or so, giving whoever drives our IS F, the equivalent of an instant diet; a portly 217 pound man would now essentially weigh 190 lbs. And once we tally the weight loss from removing the air bags (side curtain, knee), rear speakers, strategically cut holes, and the difference in lighter Bride seats, titanium Fujitsubo exhaust, and forged Volk wheels, it’s like the driver went on a really bad meth binge.
STITCHED:
To stiffen the chassis, M1 Fabrication, Tein and Fujitsubo all lent a hand and stitch welded most of the IS F's seams. Hopefully there will never be any need for major body work (knock on wood).
TEIN:
Once the chassis was nice and stitch welded, custom Tein Comfort Sport monotube coilovers went in to replace the stock shocks and struts. With a complete R&D team in the U.S., Tein was able to revalve the Comfort Sports in-house, for more aggressive damping. A coilover based on this setup should be available for all IS Fs soon.
VOLK/ YOKOHAMA:
For wheels and tires, there was a huge dilemma. We knew that we wanted forged Volks but sizing was an issue. Since the IS F comes stock with 19s, we couldn’t rock anything less for SEMA. But for competition in the Street class , we needed 18s. The solution? Two different sets of wheels with two different sets of tires. Our IS F will have 19-inch RE30s (19x9 +38 offset front; 19x10 +38 offset rear) for show and 18-inch LE37Ts (18x9.5 +40 offset) for race.
For tires, we went with Yokohama Advan Sports (255/35-19 front; 275/35-19 rear) and sticky Advan Neovas (255/40-18).
FIVE AXIS:
When it came to aero for the Lexus, the first company that came to mind was Five Axis. Troy is sick with designs, and he built an IS F for SEMA last year so it was only natural. Unfortunately, with time and budget being a constraint, we were only able to manage a custom lip. The photo is just a prototype, the final piece will be dry carbon and will be available through Five Axis as a production piece.
NOS:
Time once again being a factor, a custom turbo kit that would run competitively let alone properly (emphasis on the “run”) was out of the question. Liquid turbo (aka nitrous) was the simplest solution. Holley and NOS came through with a composite NOS bottle, bottle opener, drive-by-wire wet nitrous system, Ntimidator dual LED purge kit, nitrous bottle heater, P.O.D. system, and nitrous pressure gauges.
TOM’S:
For the chassis stiffening bars, we turned to the Toyota experts at TOM’S. If you look closely at all the silver bars under the chassis, they are all TOM’S (upper performance rod, front suspension member brace, rear suspension member brace, rear body strengthening brace).
BRIDE:
The stock seats on the IS F are heavy. A brand with luxury as one of its core values, it’s only natural that a Lexus seat has motors, thick padding and air bags—great for daily driving, bad on weight. To counter that, while adding some JDM appeal, we went two Bride seats for the front: BRIX II and its extra bolster for the driver, and XAX II for the passenger.
HOTBOX:
Import Tuner
www.importtuner.com
Tein
www.tein.com
Lexus
www.lexus.com
Fujitsubo
www.fujitsubo.co.jp
Volk
www.mackinindustries.com
Yokohama Tire
www.yokohamatire.com
Five Axis
www.fiveaxis.net
NOS
www.holley.com
TOM’S
www.tomsracing.co.jp/
Bride
www.tees-usa.com
M1 Fabrication
