The IS300 is a great car, but low on power in stock form. This one has had a Swift Racing Technologies turbo kit installed with a Haltech Sprint 500 ECU. We conservatively tuned the Lexus for longevity on pump gas at 16 psi and it is putting out 436 WHP. Now it’s ready for the streets.
Turbo should have been a factory option.
Friday, February 3rd, 2012OEM Goodness
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012The new quarter panel arrived today for a Supra rebuild. Nice to see Toyota still has these available.
The Supra is one of the few cars that can pull off an automatic trans
Monday, January 30th, 2012Drift IS300 cutting weight
Tuesday, January 3rd, 2012
We managed to find more weight that could be removed from our IS300 drift project. The hood weighed in at 35lbs before modifications, after cutting out the inner shell 10lbs was shaved from the nose of the car. It does not sound like much, but after doing this on multiple parts of the car, the overall weight can be reduced greatly. After removing the skeleton of the hood we ran into issues about how to hold the hood up. Our solution was to modify the hinges so that the hood now lays nicely on the windshield providing full access to the engine bay.
LS1 IS300 gets headers, exhaust and tune
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
Since no one makes 1 7/8″ headers for an LS1 IS300, we had to take matters into our own hands and make some. The passenger side header was pretty straight forward. Meanwhile, the driver side header had to wrap around the steering rack. After making sure the headers fit perfectly, the exhaust was fabricated. We used twin 3″ pipes going to an x-pipe and then through magnaflow cans. The muffler selection was made to keep the car a little bit quiet, but so the engine will still be heard over the spinning tires. After the mufflers the exhaust dumps just past the rear axle. The car was then put on the dyno and made a healthy 414 whp, and 378 ftlbs of torque. That is an improvement of 21whp over the old manifold/exhaust setup.
Drift IS300 gas tank modifications
Monday, August 22nd, 2011
In order to prevent fuel sloshing issues with a saddlebag gas tank in the LS1 IS300, the customer decided to have his gas tank cut in half. Then a plate was welded in place of the new large hole on the side of the tank. The only drawback is the estimated 7 gallon holding capacity. This is an inexpensive solution to the problem in comparison to a fuel cell.
Turbo kit modifications
Tuesday, August 16th, 2011
Direct “bolt-on” products from aftermarket manufactures are a lot of times, less than perfect. In this case, the intercooler piping was far from fitting correctly. After conferring with the customer, we decided to modify the piping as well as the intercooler to fit nicely on the car. The kit now fits, and the project continues.
Back gas when welding
Thursday, July 21st, 2011
Part of welding is having a shielding gas to protect the welding area from atmospheric gases, such as oxygen. Most commonly used gas in a TIG welder is argon. If you look closely at the torch used, it is made to flow argon around the welding area. When welding steel, it is nice to have gas behind the weld as well. Having gas helps promote a stronger weld as well as keeping the weld from growing on the inside of the pipe. be Most people in this industry do not use back gas, including us most of the time. This scenario, we are making headers, and it would be best if the welds did not distort the inside of the tubing. The easiest way to back gas an object is to tape up all of the openings, and insert a regulated line from a second tank at a very low flow rate. That way the gas fills the object from the inside, and the torch provides shielding for the outside of the weld. If you are wondering, these headers are for the LS1-IS300, we will blog about building them when they get completed.
Welding top of roll cage
Monday, July 18th, 2011
Many people wonder how do you weld the top of a roll cage. We are about to let you in on how we do it. You drill holes in the floor where the base plates go. Then when everything gets bent and tack welded together, you drop the cage through those holes. That way the top of the cage can be welded. After that the mounting plates get welded in above the holes in the floor, and the cage gets welded to the top of the plates.
AE86 gets a new final drive
Friday, July 8th, 2011
Here is an 1986 Toyota Corolla GT-S that we did some differential work on. The customer had a 4.7 final drive installed, but wanted a 4.3 instead, to improve highway fuel efficiency. We ordered them the correct ring and pinion as well as a complete differential rebuild kit. After the parts arrived, they brought us the car. The internals of the differential were removed so we could swap everything over. Differential’s do not just get put in. They have a few tolerances that must be checked, shimmed, and rechecked until within oem specifications. Then the diff was reinstalled into the corolla, and driven to make sure it functions correctly.
