So it begins...

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XavierMace

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2013
4,307
450
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Greetings everyone. JLee has been harassing me for over a year that I need to get on here but I kept refusing because I knew getting on a forum of car people would just make me spend all my money on making my car go faster.

Turns out, I don't need to be on here to try to do that. I managed to start down that road all by myself, so no reason not to join. So here I am.

I just picked up a white 2001 IS 300 with front end damage and the plan is to use it as a project car for an LSx swap. Right now one of three things will happen.

1) I stop spending every last dime on electronics and spend it on car instead. JLee teaches me how to work on cars and in a year I have a nice LS swapped IS to go with my boring one.

2) My laziness wins out, I get half way in and give up. JLee buys the IS and in 6 months he has a nice LS swapped IS.

3) Better judgement wins out (LOL, yeah, right), I fix the project IS and sell it for profit.

Get your votes in now, some naysayers are warming up for the "I told you so" down the road.

Now for the pr0n.

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Black2na

Senior member
Nov 25, 2010
629
1
0
swap tailghts around from white car to black one! and you need pictures of the front for these folks! and either you finish it or jlee ends up with it! now fly me out to help you fix the nose one that!
 
satyajitmenon

satyajitmenon

Golden Member
Apr 3, 2008
1,911
9
81
XavierMace said:
2) My laziness wins out, I get half way in and give up. JLee buys the IS and in 6 months he has a nice LS swapped IS.
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Something tells me this might have been JLee's plan all along. :ninja:


I'm not familiar with the IS platform. Is the LSx drivetrain a straightforward swap? Or would you need custom driveshaft, etc?
 
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XavierMace

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2013
4,307
450
126
Black2na said:
swap tailghts around from white car to black one! and you need pictures of the front for these folks! and either you finish it or jlee ends up with it! now fly me out to help you fix the nose one that!
Click to expand...

Never been a fan of smoked lights, especially on a black car. They do kinda work for me on the white one though.

Flying you out is definitely on the list. :)

satyajitmenon said:
I'm not familiar with the IS platform. Is the LSx drivetrain a straightforward swap? Or would you need custom driveshaft, etc?
Click to expand...

Worse case, custom drive shaft. I'm still trying to find that out for sure. Two guys didn't even make any mention of even trying to get the stock one to work. One just said it was a custom drive shaft. The other one said his was like a modified Tundra shaft. However, I've seen two people state at the start of their build that an F-body shaft should work but then no mention of if it actually did work.
 
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AMCRambler

AMCRambler

Diamond Member
Jan 23, 2001
7,715
31
91
LS motor in a Lexus. Ultimate sleeper. No one is ever going to see that coming, haha!

And yes, more info on how much work an LS swap into a Lexus is. Do you need to replace the whole harness? How bad do you have to chop it up inside an out to get that in there? Lexus quality with the noise and horsepower of an LS? Best of both worlds FTW.

Welcome to the forums and I look forward to hearing more.
 
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XavierMace

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2013
4,307
450
126
GM ECM runs the engine, Lexus ECM runs all the electronics. You don't have to chop it up at all, that's the awesome part. Needs some custom fabricated parts (available online) but fits in without chopping anything up. You actually end up with a little more room up front because it's a shorter engine.

JLee came over and we spent a couple of hours starting to pull the trashed parts out. Here's what it looked like to start.

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After a couple of hours, we got most of the trashed stuff out.

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It was started up (briefly) before picking it up to drive it on to the trailer to bring it home so we knew it at least started and ran. Pulley on the water pump is trashed as is the accessory belt so both of those need to be replaced. Engine was due for a t-belt change anyways, so might as well replace the pump completely and do the t-belt at the same time. With no radiator in the way, it will be a much quicker job than it was on the other one. LOL.

So far that puts us at $1,913 in parts if nothing can be salvaged, including a better radiator for the LSx. Black2na, I'll get you some better pictures in good light to see what you think can be salvaged.
 
exdeath

exdeath

Lifer
Jan 29, 2004
13,679
10
81
AMCRambler said:
LS motor in a Lexus. Ultimate sleeper. No one is ever going to see that coming, haha!

And yes, more info on how much work an LS swap into a Lexus is. Do you need to replace the whole harness? How bad do you have to chop it up inside an out to get that in there? Lexus quality with the noise and horsepower of an LS? Best of both worlds FTW.

Welcome to the forums and I look forward to hearing more.
Click to expand...

Yeah nobody is going to notice a Lexus rumbling like a funny car.... :awe:
 
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Black2na

Senior member
Nov 25, 2010
629
1
0
you need parts 3,5,7,9,11. LH side headlight area looks like it can be useable. but better pics will be the judge of that also there is a center stay for the front that needs to be ordered as well that isnt pictured.
 
exdeath

exdeath

Lifer
Jan 29, 2004
13,679
10
81
LS3 swap, twin 67s, 300 shot, 345 MTs out back, /done.

Of course if that happened, I'd have to upgrade the Cobra... ;)
 
manimal

manimal

Lifer
Mar 30, 2007
13,559
8
0
jlee said:
Much more expensive than you'd think - more (reliable) power is easier with an LS swap. It's not really much cheaper
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its crazy how true this is becoming. A friend of mine blew his TT350z after 10k miles on a mediocre build-that a known butch shop did. When we priced him out the build and the power he wanted the costs of the LSswap started getting right in line. If he had decided to upgrade turbos the costs to power would have been WAY towards the LS swap.


Now that kits are so commonplace LS swaps on even minor platforms are B level work in most cases. Sure a little fab work here and there if a driveshaft is needed for less common platoforms but for cars like a 350z, S chassis, 510s, RX7-8, Supra, among tons of others have full near turn key integration available.

We live in Sweet times if you like to go fast!!

I personally love the fact that I can do all these swaps here in indiana and NEVER had to touch a sniffer!




Last three LS's that I have come across cheaply I have passed on to peeps in need. Its gonna be my turn someday....
 
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