1995 Lexus LS400 fix log

[Andrew]

There aren't any, I ended up being quite busy. Not sure when I can carry on again.

[Alex]

Stop spending your money on not car things.

[Andrew]

I did buy some spacers for the wheels so they could fit over the brake calipers, the spacers fit fine but with the wheel on, it pokes out an illegal amount so I need to send them back. I'm going to just keep the stock wheels. That does mean I can't get Michelin Pilot Sport 4s or any other high performance summer tyres though. I'm either going to get some Bridgestone Turanza T005s or Goodyear EfficientGrips.

[Andrew]

Slight update: I've been looking at bushings to replace the ancient ones that fall apart when poked with a screwdriver. It's actually kind of hard to find a full kit for them. I know there's full kits for a 1989-1994 models and 2000-2006 models but not 1995-1999 models which is annoying. Lexus themselves do sell the right bushings, but they want £36.50 + VAT for a single bushings. I need 4 per corner so that's going to get expensive very quickly.

[Bastiaan_NL]

That's a lot of money for a few bushings! 
I searched for urethane bushings, but I did not find any for your model. Is it a "press in" type of bushing? Maybe it's the same as some other Lexus model, or Toyota maybe..

[Andrew]

They are. The main problem I'm having is finding what specifications to get. I'm probably going to go for poly over rubber because they do last a lot longer. However, if I get the wrong ones, the ride is going to be completely ruined and by the time I find that out, its' going to be far too late to send them back. I can find third party bushings for a lot cheaper than OEM, but they're also individual ones rather than a kit so that makes it a bit more than a PITA.

[Alex]

Is it fixed yet?

[Andrew]

2 minutes ago, Alex said:

Is it fixed yet?

No, I'm following the way you're getting an S2000. I'm buying each piece at a time and slowly building it.

[Alex]

On 10/22/2020 at 4:00 PM, Andrew said:

No, I'm following the way you're getting an S2000. I'm buying each piece at a time and slowly building it.

Is it fixed yet?

[Andrew]

1 hour ago, Alex said:

Is it fixed yet?

Do you have an S2000 yet?

[Andrew]

I have made progress! And then bad weather came in and I had to stop. I managed to get a full 15 minutes of time working on it.

 

 

This bolt here is the problem. I thought there was threads in the chassis that it goes into, but it doesn't, There's a nut on the other side that has come loose and I can't get to it. I just used brute force to remove the upper part of the back seat. I can at least see the top of the rear suspension now. I just need to remove the parcel shelf without damaging it which is the next challenge here.

[Bastiaan_NL]

I bet that nut was once welded to the chassis, happened a few times to me too while working on cars. 
Some dirt buildup on the thread and it'll just snap the welds while unscrewing the bolt

But at least you spent 15 minutes more on your car project than I have in the last 3 years

[Andrew]

Another update, I moved the sound insulation and it turns out I don't need to remove the parcel shelf which is going to save a lot of time. Too bad I don't have the time to work on this today otherwise I could have the rest of the suspension changed today.

 

 

Semi-related: The sound insulation is incredibly heavy.

[Andrew]

I have progressed some more, this time I had a whole 20 minutes to work on my car and do some gardening.

 

 

I hate this. The days that have good weather, something comes up and I can't work on the car. Then when I can work on the car, I get 15-20 minutes then it starts raining even though the weather says it won't.

 

 

[Andrew]

I managed to make some progress and nearly died at the same time.

 

 

I need to remove this bolt in order to remove the suspension, however it is completely stuck. I'm hoping it's because of the anti-roll bar making it much harder to remove but I may need to cut the bolt out which is going to be a pain, not only because I don't have the tools to do it, but also to find a replacement bolt that's correct. The upper control arm also seems to be rusted completely through which is annoying because it's really hard to find a replacement one and chances are the other side is completely rusted through as well. I did find a website that sells them for a reasonable price, however they are US based so import cost is going to be pretty high.

 

 

This happened to the jack, a lot of the thread is now missing and it can't even support itself, let alone a car. Luckily I already had one jackstand on the front and the other side hadn't been lifted yet. The car also has near enough 50:50 weight distribution so I could just pick the car up despite it weighing nearly 1700kg with relative ease and I got someone to put a jackstand under the rear. While doing this, I also discovered the front brake doesn't work any more. I'm guessing it's just seized pistons as the brake pedal still feels "fine" and there's still a lot of brake fluid.

 

I can't make any more progress until I get a new jack in the post which I should have on Wednesday, but most likely Thursday.

[Andrew]

More updates: I have acquired a "workstation" so now it's professional! The only downside is now I have to charge myself £60/hr so this is going to get very expensive very quickly. Luckily, I will also be earning £60/hr from this.

 

 

I did manage to get the bolt out, but the ARB is in the way so now I have to take that off as well which is going to be a pain.

 

 

I was hoping I wouldn't have to remove it but it's not going to be possible to remove the bolt entirely.

 

I also have a demonstration of the soundproofing using a MacBook Pro at max volume + some Eurobeat

 

Edited April 16, 2021 by Andrew

[Supercrumpet]

Well that's a little sketchy.

 

Glad you're alright and glad you've been able to make some progress.

[Cerberus]

for that sway bar end link, most have a flat spot on the "inside" so you can put a open ended wrench in.

[Andrew]

I've managed to get the rear strut in, I also noticed that I'm a big idiot and put the other rear strut in the front so now I have to take that one out. I explained on the podcast how I managed to do that which should be out in the next couple of days or it should still be on the VOD on Twitch if you can't wait for that, I can link it then. But in the mean time, I did put the bolt in the other way which I don't think should make a difference once torqued down. It just makes it a lot easier this way. It turns out I can just push the ARB out of the way which does make it much easier to get out but near enough impossible to get back in the "correct" way, hence me putting it in backwards. I didn't get any pictures this time.

 

I did run out of time again today so all the progress I have made is just getting the rear strut in. hopefully tomorrow I will have enough time to remove the one I put in the front so I can put the correct one in. It's also going to be a pain to adjust the ride height more than a few mm once these are installed. It seem the best way to adjust the ride height is to turn the entire bottom of the strut which means basically removing it every time I want to make adjustments so for now I'm just eyeballing the one side for ride height, hope it's correct, then I'm going to measure it and get the other side the same height. I do know some race mechanics who do full race car setups so I'm going to get them to adjust it properly for me once the car is ready for an MOT. I have no idea how much that is going to cost for them to set it up since it's going to be more than just an alignment, which will also need to be done. These mechanics are the only ones I trust to do it properly

 

 

19 hours ago, Cerberus said:

for that sway bar end link, most have a flat spot on the "inside" so you can put a open ended wrench in.

 

The problem I have is they are extremely rusted and I don't think I'll be able to get them off without having to either use an impact gun which I'm not going to buy now or drill them out which I'm also not going to do because then I'd have to buy replacement bolts. But thanks for the suggestion.

[Cerberus]

56 minutes ago, Andrew said:

 

 

The problem I have is they are extremely rusted and I don't think I'll be able to get them off without having to either use an impact gun which I'm not going to buy now or drill them out which I'm also not going to do because then I'd have to buy replacement bolts. But thanks for the suggestion.

soak in brake fluid for a day, then propane heat it for a few minutes, you'd be surprised. (im a automotive technician, do this every day)

[Andrew]

I removed the rear strut that I put in the rear and put the front one in. Turns out putting the front strut in the front is a lot easier than putting the rear strut in the front.

 

[BWG]

Probably should just 'fold' the car in half this Sunday live on Twitch, just sayin...

[Andrew]

I promised myself I'd get both left side ones replaced today and I have done it.

 

 

Now I just need to get some 17/18 inch wheels to fit on it to open up my tyre choice significantly.

 

[Andrew]

 

Suspension is done. Ride height is near enough exactly where I want it, it will be 13.5cm or so higher once  I get some tyres on that can actually hold air. The car also no longer bounces 4-6 times after yeeting my full body weight so that's good. I think it might be a little too stiff but the dampers are adjustable. At the moment, they're on 14/33.

 

Next up, getting it running, after that, it's brakes and tyres then the car should be ready for an MOT.

[Andrew]

 

Got the rear seat back in. I also bought some wheels that are incredibly rare Lexus wheels because they were only on the LS430 with the dynamic handling package, and of course because it's a luxury car and not a sports car, almost no one bought them. I have legit been looking for 5 years for these wheels and I finally managed to find a set of 5 of them that come with the centre caps. I have found these wheels before for sale, but they're usually have some significant damage and/or missing the centre caps. I don't actually have the wheels yet but I have bought them. They come with a set of basically brand new Falken Ziex ZE914s which, while aren't the best tyres, they're at least decent name brand ones.

 

The biggest reason why I want these wheels is to open up the tyre choice as well as bring the cost of tyres down a bit. Stock, my car has 225/60 R16. This size is pretty much exclusively used in 90s luxury cars and is basically a dead size. The best tyres I could get in this size are Bridgestone Turanza ER300s which are mediocre at best. They are also £125/each. Going up to the new size which is 225/55 R17, it gives me a significantly better tyre choice that's also cheaper because this size is pretty common on modern small SUVs and large hatchbacks. For the same price as the Bridgestones, I can now get Michelin Pilot Sport 4s at £124/each and the budget option goes from £110/each (225/60 R16) to £82/each.

Edited May 21, 2021 by Andrew