new member, two time lexus owner

[19psi]

hi, just wanted to introduce myself. i'm on my second LS400 now, i had a 90 a few years ago that i built into a show car. i won 2nd place in my class at the NOPI nationals in atlanta in 2000 with it.
i just bought a 92 ls which i plan to do in VIP style now.
i'm also a perfomance junky, i've had several turbo mitsubishi's, my last one was a galant gsx which i converted to full vr4 spec.
i also have an 02 subaru wrx which is about to get a full upgrade in terms of fuel, intercooling and 20g turbo...
i was an audi mechanic and nissan mechanic for 3 years and i was a lexus mechanic for a year at a dealership, so i may be able to help anyone with technical/repair questions. i am currently a mechanic at a smaller shop now.
see you around!

 

[jibbby]

Welcome man!!!!

That's alot of cars you've owned....Which one was the fastest?

Being that you were a Nissan Mechanic for a few years did you ever try working on those 300ZX TT's...Compact engine...I use to own a few of those and the factory turbo's use to fry and lose boost often....The turbo lag time stunk too...

The 3000VR4 turbo'd Mits..probably experienced the same problems, right?

 

[19psi]

Welcome man!!!!

That's alot of cars you've owned....Which one was the fastest?

Being that you were a Nissan Mechanic for a few years did you ever try working on those 300ZX TT's...Compact engine...I use to own a few of those and the factory turbo's use to fry and lose boost often....The turbo lag time stunk too...

The 3000VR4 turbo'd Mits..probably experienced the same problems, right?

hah, that's not even half the cars i've owned! my fastest car was a fwd eagle talon tsi. everytyhing upgraded, would spin tires through 3rd gear on the freeway at 80 mph! tons of fun.

yup, the 300ztt's were nightmares to work on. replacing a fuel injector was a 6 hour job by the book! of course there were shortcuts but still....
i never noticed much lag on them, the turbo s were only T25's, very small with quick spool up. my rule for ddriving turbo cars is that if you're lagging you're in the wrong gear! any turbo will spool up almost immediately if you're in the right gear. 4th gear at 2300 rpms, sure , no spool, but drop it into 2nd and bam, tunnel vision!
i did own a 3000gt vr4, but didn't keep it long as i soon found out that trying to mod it the way i wanted was not going to happen if i also had to make the car payment! parts were very expensive for them.

thanks for the welcome, hopefully i can make a positive impact around here.

 

[jibbby]

Fwd Eagle Talon was your fastest car??? WOW...Interesting choice of cars to modify to say the least....

Well the lag time I was talking about was evident the 2 different 300zxtt I owned...Just gutless off the line unless you road and fried the clutch hard...When the turbo's kicked in then you felt it.. The lag I described was not because I was shifting at poor times, just turbo lag I guess... I never owned a Turbo car after that...

So from a guy that is use to supercharging, N/A motors, and NOS applications, any little turbo lag time may seem like a lot to me if that is the case...

 

[19psi]

Fwd Eagle Talon was your fastest car??? WOW...Interesting choice of cars to modify to say the least....

Well the lag time I was talking about was evident the 2 different 300zxtt I owned...Just gutless off the line unless you road and fried the clutch hard...When the turbo's kicked in then you felt it.. The lag I described was not because I was shifting at poor times, just turbo lag I guess... I never owned a Turbo car after that...

So from a guy that is use to supercharging, N/A motors, and NOS applications, any little turbo lag time may seem like a lot to me if that is the case...

yeah, the great thing about eagle talons, along with their twins mitsu. eclipse and plymouth laser, is that their engines are capable of 400 whp without even taking them apart! stock pistons, rods, cams, etc. just install large turbo, fuel system, intercooling, and clutch. they are very overbuilt, just like lexus engines. the other great thing about them is that parts are cheap, and easily accessible. there are also awd versions which are stupid fast off the line. i've had 2 of those, modded of course to different levels. lots of fun. the fwd car wasn't any good from a stop, but on the freeway, watch out!

i suppose you would notice some lag if you are accustomed to a supercharged, nos, or large cubic inch engine which just pulls right off idle.
i had a camaro Z28 with the LS1 in it with some mods and it was a fast car but i alway sfelt like i was driving a car with a truck engine in it! to me a car should make it's power up high. until i put the headers on it, there was no top end in the car, i hated it. the headers helped immensely but it still wasn't that top end rush i like.

 

[jibbby]

Yeah, my SC400 is all torque and I am still not that impressed with the topend or highway excelleration at full throttle even with the use of the bottle... Tons of lowend torque though....I'm thinking new cams might help my situation some...

It's always nice to experience full even pull from 0-7000rpms with no letoff..

 

[Toysrme]

I wouldn't say that at all.

The 4g63 is not a 400whp capible engine in the least. It's capible of running 400whp for absolutely no duration what so ever. S why so many people blow the hell up trying to make just 400bhp.
It's the same as saying the 3s-gte is a 400bhp engine. No... *Some* are 400bhp capible. The majority should be rebuilt at 350bhp+ if it's going to be driven at all.




Jibby port your heads, that'll free that upper rpm band up alot.








My favorite thing about the vq30det/tt's (300z) is that they average 5-7mpg even re-tuned with 550cc injectors lmao! **** we had Sean's 3.0L 3vz-fe ES 300 running 550cc with no manamgement, a walbro 255, the stock FPR (which rises 1:1, starts at 41.25psi), and a 12:1 FMU. He was getting 15-17mpg with no management what so ever. hahahahahahahahaha
silly, silly nissan v6

 

[jibbby]

Toys - Porting the heads you say on the early model 1uz-fe's will help you think? I read that it really won't yeild gains unless your boosted..Hmmmm????

I was thinking an increase in cam lift should yeild some good topend gains for sure......The headers and other exhaust helped some to my suprise but I would surely appreciate some more topend power...

 

[19psi]

I wouldn't say that at all.

The 4g63 is not a 400whp capible engine in the least. It's capible of running 400whp for absolutely no duration what so ever. S why so many people blow the hell up trying to make just 400bhp.
It's the same as saying the 3s-gte is a 400bhp engine. No... *Some* are 400bhp capible. The majority should be rebuilt at 350bhp+ if it's going to be driven at all.

you're right, they're not ALL capable of that level, but in theory, if they are all in tip top condition internally, they are. obviously, most kids take them and start modding before a rebuild. they don't think about the engines being 15+ years old! mine have always been rebuilt to stock spec with a mild overbore just to make sure the holes are round... even in my small part of the country, there are 4 or 5 guys making 400+ right now on a stock spec engine and have been for a couple years now with no reliability issues. it's all in the tune.
my fwd talon had an engine in it that i bought from a kid after sitting in a barn for a couple years. put it in the car, slapped on a big turbo and fuel system, safc, intercooler and exhaust and MBC, made 368 whp at 25 psi. i later installed cams which made a huge difference, at least to the 400 mark, and drove it daily 50 miles round trip with no engine problems. i will say that i obviously wasn't running it at full throttle full boost the entire 50 miles, but on on ramps and such i was on it! i know i said that i rebuild my engines, but that one never needed it, so i figured i'd use it until it blew up. i can have one of those out and back in running by the end of the day, so the labor isn't a big deal, plus i have several blocks sitting in my garage for rebuild purposes, so i wasn't concerned. nonetheless, this is a lexus forum and i don't want to defend the mitsu engines here, since they really need no defense anyway.

 

[jibbby]

I think the best vehicles Mits. ever made were the Montero's 4x4's... I owned and mod'd the early 2 door carb'd models...Made one a very light weight off road little beast...Not to shabby for a 4 banger it really got the job done for what it was...I Later owned a 1996 Montero V6 and that ran strong for a long time...You can really beat on the Montero's off road and they just don't seem to break... I never bothered to modify my 1996 because that was more of a city driver....

 

[19psi]

I think the best vehicles Mits. ever made were the Montero's 4x4's... I owned and mod'd the early 2 door carb'd models...Made one a very light weight off road little beast...Not to shabby for a 4 banger it really got the job done for what it was...I Later owned a 1996 Montero V6 and that ran strong for a long time...You can really beat on the Montero's off road and they just don't seem to break... I never bothered to modify my 1996 because that was more of a city driver....

oh yeah! my friend has an 87 2 door montero with the factory lsd. we lifted it an dput 32's on it. it's a beast off road! another friend of mine had a 93 which we beat to hell and it just wouldn't die.

 

[jibbby]

Yeah, mine was a 1986 Montero 2 door 5 speed if I remember correctly...I too lifted it, blackjack headers, total custom exhaust, installed a high performance carburator, intake, MSD, etc.. some weight reduction, 32 inch tires, LSD, etc...... That little truck had some really good pull for what it was (4 banger).... It could climb, jump, and it was pretty fast too..you name it....It never got stuck in mud because it was so light in weight.....Just a fun little truck to beat on....

I would say that little Montero could hang with my 74 Toyota Landcruiser that was totally built for off road abuse, 283ci Chevy small block, headers, exhaust, rancho, 35" inch super swampers, etc..etc..etc.. The Cruiser was a Torque monster and had way more power then the Montero obviously...The Montero could probably hang with my cruiser in almost every way....Great little amazing truck that suprised alot of people, wish I still had it...

The Cruiser would break spindles, axles, twist the gear box, etc.....The Montero never broke once...and I beat on them both about the same...Amazing....