Yellow IS200
Yellow IS200
In January after my daily search of IS200’s on ebay I found this one, being 20 miles from where I live and after the Missus put the idea in my head we decided to go and have a look at this one.
It came with Dotz freerides, which can be seen on the front (noticed that one was damaged after some shaking on the motorway)
Japspeed cat back exhaust
Dodgy audio wiring with an Alpine head unit and Vibe speakers/amp
Poorly installed Halo Rings
Crappily done Stick on Leather with yellow stitching door cards and Speedo surround
Apexi lowering springs
and apparently a ‘stage 1’ clutch and lightened flywheel.
I’ve seen the receipts… but until I see em with my own eyes I can’t say for certain if the last two are on the car. As I’ve never been in a IS200 before this one, I have nothing to judge it against.
![[Image: 30iyl5f.jpg]](http://i64.tinypic.com/30iyl5f.jpg)
In the dark and in a rush (the only way to buy cars in my opinion), 2 days before I was due to fly to Lithuania I decided to buy it. So with one day to go till I fly, we picked it up, drove it to my parents, where we discovered a massive oil leak! The kind of leak that makes your bottom clench and your heart sink. I checked the dipstick for shits and giggles and found that we had left all my oil on the route from Whitwick to Burton!
Luckily after much head scratching in the morning (we couldn’t find the leak, seeing as everything was covered in oil, it only seemed to happen when the car had been ran), and nail biting on the plane journey in the afternoon, I touch down to find a text message on my phone telling me it was just a loose dipstick holder! Much joy was had!
The previous owner had fitted a new engine with 55k miles on the clock after the old one jumped a tooth apparently and must have not tightened it properly.
Easily done, but could have cost me an engine (kinda my fault for not checking properly tbh) and him some teeth! Apart from that, the car runs sweet as a nut, only gripe with it is the passenger side heater blows cold, tried flushing out the matrix and even though it helped, I don’t think my hose can get enough pressure to do a proper job. Seeing as I never sit there, I don’t care either, mine blows nice and warm!
Thought I might as well start a thread, my names Martin, even though my forum name is Wayne and I drive a bright yellow Lexus IS200. I’d been looking at IS200’s for a few months and yellow ones had always caught my eye.
In January after my daily search of IS200’s on ebay I found this one, being 20 miles from where I live and after the Missus put the idea in my head we decided to go and have a look at this one.
It came with Dotz freerides, which can be seen on the front (noticed that one was damaged after some shaking on the motorway)
Japspeed cat back exhaust
Dodgy audio wiring with an Alpine head unit and Vibe speakers/amp
Poorly installed Halo Rings
Crappily done Stick on Leather with yellow stitching door cards and Speedo surround
Apexi lowering springs
and apparently a ‘stage 1’ clutch and lightened flywheel.
I’ve seen the receipts… but until I see em with my own eyes I can’t say for certain if the last two are on the car. As I’ve never been in a IS200 before this one, I have nothing to judge it against.
In the dark and in a rush (the only way to buy cars in my opinion), 2 days before I was due to fly to Lithuania I decided to buy it. So with one day to go till I fly, we picked it up, drove it to my parents, where we discovered a massive oil leak! The kind of leak that makes your bottom clench and your heart sink. I checked the dipstick for shits and giggles and found that we had left all my oil on the route from Whitwick to Burton!
Luckily after much head scratching in the morning (we couldn’t find the leak, seeing as everything was covered in oil, it only seemed to happen when the car had been ran), and nail biting on the plane journey in the afternoon, I touch down to find a text message on my phone telling me it was just a loose dipstick holder! Much joy was had!
The previous owner had fitted a new engine with 55k miles on the clock after the old one jumped a tooth apparently and must have not tightened it properly.
Easily done, but could have cost me an engine (kinda my fault for not checking properly tbh) and him some teeth! Apart from that, the car runs sweet as a nut, only gripe with it is the passenger side heater blows cold, tried flushing out the matrix and even though it helped, I don’t think my hose can get enough pressure to do a proper job. Seeing as I never sit there, I don’t care either, mine blows nice and warm!
Turns out this had happened!
![[Image: flf4mf.jpg]](http://i67.tinypic.com/flf4mf.jpg)
![[Image: w9g1np.jpg]](http://i63.tinypic.com/w9g1np.jpg)
![[Image: 25unpr8.jpg]](http://i64.tinypic.com/25unpr8.jpg)
Never seen that many eggs on one tyre and never one as big as that. Glad I didn't just push on and try to make it home like that!
A customer had bought up a shed load of Compomotive wheels of various sizes and designs, so after having a hunt through them, I was able to find four 18” Compomotive M01880, with a 45 offset that would fit. At a very, very, very good price!
![[Image: 28bwtq9.jpg]](http://i68.tinypic.com/28bwtq9.jpg)
The only minor problem was that I couldn’t find all four the same colour, I had one white, one black and two grey. Pretty much every Yellow IS200 I have seen had dark wheels, so I went white, cuz, ya know… but my god they are a pain to keep clean.
I was planning on getting them powdercoated, but due to three of em needing it and me needing two of em for the car, I did a Halfords job on em. Didn’t turn out half bad, until you get close, if I was to do it again, I’d take my time…
I always disliked the wheels that came with the car, not to mention one was damaged. The wobble and shaking got so bad one day on the way home that I had to pull in and check it out.
Turns out this had happened!
Never seen that many eggs on one tyre and never one as big as that. Glad I didn't just push on and try to make it home like that!
A customer had bought up a shed load of Compomotive wheels of various sizes and designs, so after having a hunt through them, I was able to find four 18” Compomotive M01880, with a 45 offset that would fit. At a very, very, very good price!
The only minor problem was that I couldn’t find all four the same colour, I had one white, one black and two grey. Pretty much every Yellow IS200 I have seen had dark wheels, so I went white, cuz, ya know… but my god they are a pain to keep clean.
I was planning on getting them powdercoated, but due to three of em needing it and me needing two of em for the car, I did a Halfords job on em. Didn’t turn out half bad, until you get close, if I was to do it again, I’d take my time…
![[Image: 2vjboth.jpg]](http://i67.tinypic.com/2vjboth.jpg)
After much tea drinking and swearing, it sounded like I had ripped the underside of my car apart when I took it for the test drive trying to get on and off a mates drive, as well as catching like mad every time I so much as looked at the steering wheel.
So up it had to go and a arch roller was purchased. I couldn’t use the Scaff bar and rolling the car back and forth method, it felt too savage for my pretty little car.
![[Image: 2z8ch75.png]](http://i63.tinypic.com/2z8ch75.png)
Looking around at the IS200’s on display at Japfest and the ones in the carpark, mine seems to be lower than most. Personally, I didn’t think I was overly low. It still needs tracking, but my God does it go round bends so much better. It actually enjoys roundabouts now and country lanes are enjoyable, apart from ****** potholes!
Once the wheels were done and rubber was stuck on em, I purchased myself a set of HSD’s and set about fitting them. Drivers side was beautiful, the passenger side however, made me contemplate what it would handle like running one side standard and one side on coilovers!
After much tea drinking and swearing, it sounded like I had ripped the underside of my car apart when I took it for the test drive trying to get on and off a mates drive, as well as catching like mad every time I so much as looked at the steering wheel.
So up it had to go and a arch roller was purchased. I couldn’t use the Scaff bar and rolling the car back and forth method, it felt too savage for my pretty little car.
Looking around at the IS200’s on display at Japfest and the ones in the carpark, mine seems to be lower than most. Personally, I didn’t think I was overly low. It still needs tracking, but my God does it go round bends so much better. It actually enjoys roundabouts now and country lanes are enjoyable, apart from ****** potholes!
![[Image: 2hfrucz.jpg]](http://i63.tinypic.com/2hfrucz.jpg)
With that done, I turned my attention to another little thing I had stumbled across here that makes ya feel like a badass. Auto closing mirrors! Stav sold me a unit and when it came I was so excited I popped outside to ‘just have a look’. Many hours later, in the pitch black with a few cries for help to Stav and a few ‘told you so’ looks from the Missus, I gave in and returned it back to standard.
Feeling totally beaten and vowing never to attempt it again, I gave in a few days later and tried fitting it in the morning instead when I had a full days worth of sunlight to play with. No idea what I did differently, I followed the instructions and Stav’s advice to the letter much like last time, but this time it worked. Success! I want total closure for true badass points, but yeah, no, lesson learnt.
A K&N Panel filter was purchased, the one in the car looked like it had sucked up most of the vegetation in the Midlands, so was a much needed swap. Can’t really say it’s made a noticeable difference, but I wasn’t expecting it to and as stated it was much needed. Sadly, after about a thousand miles into its million mile guarantee, it’ll be put into retirement as it’ll no longer be needed. Hopefully...
Next up was a Cusco front strut brace, pretty sure the seller had a mate up the price on ebay, I paid more then I was hoping, but it was still cheap, so I can’t complain.
![[Image: wwgpd3.jpg]](http://i65.tinypic.com/wwgpd3.jpg)
Wouldn’t say it’s a game changer, it’s easy to fit and was bought for looks just as much as it was to stiffen the front end up, if not moreso. Still need to decide on a final colour to paint the turrets and maybe get a new Cusco sticker, as the one on it is half missing. Much like the K&N, it may not be needed soon, hopefully it still fits but if not I’ll probably throw it up for sale.
After reading around some forums, I stumbled on the ‘Skyline’ fog-brake light conversion, I went the whole hog and went for the 3 way, driving light, brake light and fog light. It just had to be done, a trip to the breakers yard to get some rear light looms, saw me come away with a Sport spoiler (sadly not the one with the rear light, so I can’t make my pretend Rose look like one from the outside), an extra set of fog lights and a cool plastic Lexus boot tray thing, which cost me nothing and has already saved the day when a Coolant bottle leaked! Then over to Maplins to get the other stuff needed and a few hours later, I’m looking down my nose at all the standard IS200 rear ends, that go past me! It’s a pretty easy and cheap mod to do and makes ya feel like a badass. Highly recommend.
With that done, I turned my attention to another little thing I had stumbled across here that makes ya feel like a badass. Auto closing mirrors! Stav sold me a unit and when it came I was so excited I popped outside to ‘just have a look’. Many hours later, in the pitch black with a few cries for help to Stav and a few ‘told you so’ looks from the Missus, I gave in and returned it back to standard.
Feeling totally beaten and vowing never to attempt it again, I gave in a few days later and tried fitting it in the morning instead when I had a full days worth of sunlight to play with. No idea what I did differently, I followed the instructions and Stav’s advice to the letter much like last time, but this time it worked. Success! I want total closure for true badass points, but yeah, no, lesson learnt.
A K&N Panel filter was purchased, the one in the car looked like it had sucked up most of the vegetation in the Midlands, so was a much needed swap. Can’t really say it’s made a noticeable difference, but I wasn’t expecting it to and as stated it was much needed. Sadly, after about a thousand miles into its million mile guarantee, it’ll be put into retirement as it’ll no longer be needed. Hopefully...
Next up was a Cusco front strut brace, pretty sure the seller had a mate up the price on ebay, I paid more then I was hoping, but it was still cheap, so I can’t complain.
Wouldn’t say it’s a game changer, it’s easy to fit and was bought for looks just as much as it was to stiffen the front end up, if not moreso. Still need to decide on a final colour to paint the turrets and maybe get a new Cusco sticker, as the one on it is half missing. Much like the K&N, it may not be needed soon, hopefully it still fits but if not I’ll probably throw it up for sale.
After the charger, I would like to fully sort the handling and braking, as far as my wallet allows. I’ve got my eye on the kfd/Minty Fresh rear arm set. I’m after some decent uprated Anti roll bars which appear to be impossible to find at at a decent price! Found some Eibach’s and Hotchkis, but my heart is set on TRD yellows… which is never gonna happen!
I’d also like to fully replace all the bushes, but at £600+, it’s gonna have to wait a while yet. I’ll be looking into LS400 or a Supra brake upgrade at sometime in the future, I’ve never been fully 100% on the standard brakes, so not only will it look cool, but it should give me more confidence. I'm also after a Legana front bumper. Found a place in Loughbrough that sells em. £180 for a fibre glass replica, seeing as originals are worth more then my entire car and rare as rocking horseshit it seems, I'll have to make do. Probably a million and one other things that I plan to do, but those are the things on the 'Defo Doing' list!
The car is a daily driver and having no drive of my own the things I can do and the amount of time required to do them are limited. I’m in no hurry to get rid of the car, I love how it drives and with any luck, it’ll soon perform like it really should have out the factory! I'll get some decent pictures of it one day...
That’s about it for stuff actually done and on the car. As with every project, we have a list of things we want to do. Some are just dreams, like my need to 1JZGTE it, to things that I’m actually doing to it. Such as Supercharging it! I’m hoping that within the next month it’s on and working. Just a few more things to do, buy some extra pipework, after seeing a few Turbo’d ones at Japfest, I realised I need a few more bends, get my Merc pulley drilled out, fab together the Bypass plate and await delivery of my cradle! Oh and buy a belt. I’m quite excited! At just over £700, I can’t really grumble on the cost either!
After the charger, I would like to fully sort the handling and braking, as far as my wallet allows. I’ve got my eye on the kfd/Minty Fresh rear arm set. I’m after some decent uprated Anti roll bars which appear to be impossible to find at at a decent price! Found some Eibach’s and Hotchkis, but my heart is set on TRD yellows… which is never gonna happen!
I’d also like to fully replace all the bushes, but at £600+, it’s gonna have to wait a while yet. I’ll be looking into LS400 or a Supra brake upgrade at sometime in the future, I’ve never been fully 100% on the standard brakes, so not only will it look cool, but it should give me more confidence. I'm also after a Legana front bumper. Found a place in Loughbrough that sells em. £180 for a fibre glass replica, seeing as originals are worth more then my entire car and rare as rocking horseshit it seems, I'll have to make do. Probably a million and one other things that I plan to do, but those are the things on the 'Defo Doing' list!
The car is a daily driver and having no drive of my own the things I can do and the amount of time required to do them are limited. I’m in no hurry to get rid of the car, I love how it drives and with any luck, it’ll soon perform like it really should have out the factory! I'll get some decent pictures of it one day...
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
![[Image: FB_IMG_1474048273787_zpsnbfq6a3s.jpg]](http://i1227.photobucket.com/albums/ee440/davis5835/Mobile%20Uploads/FB_IMG_1474048273787_zpsnbfq6a3s.jpg)
![[Image: LexuS-Copy.jpg]](http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h204/Sparkystav/LexuS-Copy.jpg)
Read my thread here: The Evolution of my Turbo Lexus from NA-Supercharged-Twin Turbo-Massive Single
Please leave your comments.
Sparkystav
18-03-2023, 12:09 PM #7Good update mate, a good start you've made!
Read my thread here: The Evolution of my Turbo Lexus from NA-Supercharged-Twin Turbo-Massive Single
Please leave your comments.
![[Image: 1449mvn.jpg]](http://i68.tinypic.com/1449mvn.jpg)
![[Image: 24opp4n.jpg]](http://i66.tinypic.com/24opp4n.jpg)
![[Image: 2lcrd4.jpg]](http://i68.tinypic.com/2lcrd4.jpg)
Yes, that is a screamer pipe, yes, it sticks out the middle of the bonnet and yes, I spent the entire time laughing... seems to have solved his issue for the time being. His exhaust dude went on holiday for 3 weeks today, once he's back it'll be sorted properly.
I've took 2 steps back with me charger. The inlet and outlet I had made, I'm not gonna use. They will work, but I want a different design after looking at em and my eBay bought bypass vacuum has a broken plastic nipple, so a trip to BMW to see if you can purchase the vacuum unit on it's own or if I need to purchase the whole thing.
Told ya it was gonna be pikey...
Yes, that is a screamer pipe, yes, it sticks out the middle of the bonnet and yes, I spent the entire time laughing... seems to have solved his issue for the time being. His exhaust dude went on holiday for 3 weeks today, once he's back it'll be sorted properly.
I've took 2 steps back with me charger. The inlet and outlet I had made, I'm not gonna use. They will work, but I want a different design after looking at em and my eBay bought bypass vacuum has a broken plastic nipple, so a trip to BMW to see if you can purchase the vacuum unit on it's own or if I need to purchase the whole thing.
Read my thread here: The Evolution of my Turbo Lexus from NA-Supercharged-Twin Turbo-Massive Single
Please leave your comments.
Sparkystav
24-03-2023, 12:59 PM #10I'm confused what's this car?
Read my thread here: The Evolution of my Turbo Lexus from NA-Supercharged-Twin Turbo-Massive Single
Please leave your comments.
4 Guest(s)
4 Guest(s)
Views 102,604
Last Post by
Views 67,458
Last Post by
Views 397
Last Post by
Views 1,453
Last Post by
Views 3,079
Last Post by
Views 1,919
Last Post by