Best year SC400?

[1992/SC400]

I have had a 92 sc400 for about 3 years and love the car but without spending some big BUCK$ the car will never be a nice car again. I am looking for an sc that is in very good condition and would like to know your opinions on what years are the best. I plan on changing the TQ, LSD, and adding a 100HP wet shot of nitrous. Any opinions would be great.

Thanks

 

[jibbby]

Sounds good to me...What you want is what I have and it's fun... Lot's of races... Some wins some loses.. However, I am always in the races 0-50mph or so, it's after that that the little 4.0 liter and auto tranny starts to let off, nos or no nos...

98 SC400's are the best SC's around with all the comfort, vvt-i power and luxuries that the 92's just don't have...However, the 92 motors are the strongest of the bunch and should hold up the longest if your intentions are too modify... Mine is pounded on daily for years and still purs today...Just an amazing engineered motor...

 

[1992/SC400]

My brother has a 99 GS400 with pretty much the same mods you have on your SC just a few more ponies to start with. It is one sweat car! We were in the Dustball rally (dustballrally.com) this last weekend and we were as fast to 130 as anyone. Thats with the 125 wet shot but you have to do something to keep up with the vettes. I would like a 98 sc400 but one in great shape with low miles would cost alot of money.

 

[jibbby]

Yeah, the 98 SC400's are bit more pricey and rare when comparing them to the 92 SC400's....The 98 GS400 are even more pricey but nice......

Sounds like your brother has a nice ride... He has no problems running the Nitrous in combination with his VVt-i motor? 125 wet shot is a little less of a shot then what I have, and keeping up with those vette's is hell... I still have trouble keeping up with those Vette's...They grip, shift and haul even at stock...

In addition to the few mods that you mention, I also have a built tranny, complete reworked exhaust, intake, piggy-back ECU, and a bunch of other little goodies.. I am still trying to boost this bastard one of these days...

 

[1992/SC400]

I've read several of your posts over the years (I don't post often) and I thought about that when we were adding things to his GS. He has SRT intake with ECU mod for that,Ltunned exhaust, TC, LSD, 19" volk wheels with General UHP tires 245/35 front 275/30 rear, tien struts and springs, and the EDFC. The car has a 125 ZEX shot that sprays under full load, we also put a ZEX window switch that only sprays between 3500 and 6000 RPM allowing for the shift. We haven't had any problems over fifty MPH like you though. The car pulls like :saeek: all the up on or off the bottle. I would post a pic of the GS400 after the first Day of the rally but don't know how

The only real mod I have on my SC is the 125 shot of nos but that works great, and the car has always been great after 20. 60 seems fast I think because I don't have to shift to 3rd until about 80 and with the bottle it pulls hard all the way through those long gears. The GS shifts about 57 with the 5 speed and the LSD.

 

[stevechumo]

I think the newer 98 SC400 has maybe 40 more hp than the 92. So with 100 shot, it should be a nice combo. Going more than this can put it in the dangerous zone. Just like Jibby said, the newer 1UZFE engine is weaker than the older. The broken rods are more likely. So it doesn't matter how good you tune it. This has been proven by many of us. If you can afford the newer SC and with that hp goal, then it's a good choice. But if you aim for a turbo or a supercharger with higher hp, then go for an older SC.

 

[1992/SC400]

Daily use the car is fast and runs great with no nitous. We also have a 75 and 100 shot that is usually in the car the 125 only goes on for events like the road rally were we knew we would need every last ponny. So the newer ones have weaker rods? I've heard that but I've also read where David wrote that they were the best 1 uz. Over on clublexus there are several GS with superchargers that run great.

What year or years should I stay away from?

 

[jibbby]

Yeah, I slam my 150 dry shot only in second gear and all hell breaks loose... It's fun with the bottle, but always a pain to take the time to re-fill...

No progressive shots here with my beast...

 

[1992/SC400]

How about 1997 SC400?

 

[jibbby]

97 has the weaker motor...The 92-94 is the most stout years...

Remember, the non vvt-i 97 motor, and the vvti 98 motors should handle more hp then their stock SC400 trannies so in the end it really doesn't matter which year or motor you have because unless you beef up the stock tranny it's really irrelevant... Tranny would blowout first before the motors in most every case..

The automatic tranny's can't do much more then 350-400whp even with a cooler, and I think the weaker newer model 1uz-fe's motors can handle that power output without failure.....

 

[1992/SC400]

I'm starting to lean towards the sc300 manual tranny. I know they are hard to find but are available. How about those years. I think they changed the tranny a bit in 95 but not sure if that was for the better or not and is it better to go with an OBD I or OBD II. Any input would be great.

Thanks

 

[jibbby]

The only reason you should consider an SC300 because they are equiped with a manual tranny.... Also those SC300 motors you can't do much with, no lowend grunt, weak internals, infact most people swap those engines out for a 2JZ, or 1UZ motor....

 

[1992/SC400]

I am thinking that I could put the 1 UZ in it easier that I could put a manual in the 400. I want to keep the option open to put a 2jz tt with the 160 tranny. I think that it is a strait swap??? I want to know if I should stick with the older OBD I or the OBD II I would rather avoid problems but if it doesn't matter. problems like avalability of parts.

 

[jibbby]

Yeah, it may be just a bit easier to swap in the motor rather then the manual tranny....Just remember the SC300's are not as stout as SC400's and there are suttle differences between the two rides...Also no wing on the trunk with a SC300's... There are also limits on that stock manual SC300 tranny....

Good luck with what ever you decide....

 

[1992/SC400]

How are they different? I always thought they were the same exept for the fact that it has a smaller engine and the other things that go along with that.

 

[jibbby]

Well from my experiences the differences are in the drive train... The spindles on the rears are fatter and stronger on the SC400's rather then on the SC300's... There are also some differences in the brake structures.. Also the suspension bars are a bit different and beefier on the SC400's...

Ask me how I know this?...Well I broke the spindle on my SC400 with 500lbs of sand bags in the truck to try and gain traction... I went to the junk yard and ordered the needed parts from the same year SC300's and sure enough they didn't match up.. I got the full SC300 rear spindle and suspension bars complete and the 300 stuff was smaller and weaker when looking at my SC400 rear end stuff...Brakes, spindles, etc I had to return it all and go for the SC400 replacement parts.... The actual independant axles are shorter and stronger on the SC400's too..

There are many suttle differences in suspension parts for sure....The SC400's are simply built stronger which most people are not aware of...

 

[1992/SC400]

I know it is kind of an old thread but I thought you might want to see my brothers 99 GS400 all done up for the dustball rally 1000 it was alot of fun.

This is the car I ended up getting. 95 sc300 5sped not even a door ding, well maybe one or two. I bought it in mid Sep. and have been playing with it non-stop. I will be dropping it an inch and putting supra brakes on it hopefully by track day on Nov. 30th. It has gone from pretty slow to fairly fast. I run in the 14's(14.1) at 104 mph. I think that is pretty good being that at 4500 feet you loose about 15% hp. At this elivation that is better than most most Z28's run even with several BPU's. The GS still blows me away running mid. 13's.