Pete’s GS400 Build Thread by Sevenevez

17 minute(s) of a 283 minute read

7-19-2015

Black Sheep

7-27-2015

Time to Migrate
Last pics in Maricopa. Been here for years. Time to try something else
Blessed with a pink overcast day. I'll be back once i get settled in to the new spot.

8-13-2015

Made it to Yuma!

I try to migrate every couple years or so. Was in Maricopa too long.
Love it here in Yuma. Everything has been simplified. Things were too crazy where i was. Sometimes its good to change things up.

9-1-2015

Paint was starting to look a little hazy. Time for a quick Wax. Last time i actually Polished it (takes hours to polish/cut) and i only had a couple hours to spare. I will probably do the full polish in the winter when it's not one-hundred-and-hell degrees outside.

Griot's Garage random orbital with a blue pad for wax. 

Speed setting between 2-3 to lay it down.

Before:

After:

My buddy came through and hit up his NHRA T/A right quick

Pics.... ... .. .

11-2-2015

Mobil1 Full Synthetic was on sale for $5.99qt. Figured it wouldn't hurt to bust a quick oil change. I usually post these just so i can remember when i changed my oil last

This time: 212,088 is the number

but then.. ., i cracked a beer, and had a smoke and started staring at the car. and thought hmm, let's see what this looks like. 

Figured i would be reppin' the cheapest tires on the market to the fullest and do some homemade white letters (tirepaint) on the tires. 

Ignore the blurry pics. Blame that on the Bud Light

so i scrubbed the heck out of all the areas i wanted with rubbing alcohol real good (i was out of acetone)

i had this corny little (hot tires) paint pen in my toolbox and figured i would give it a try. 

it takes forever to put it on and get a decent smooth coat, so i just sat on the concrete and took my time doing each letter and staying inside the lines etc.. 

then i used a testors white enamel paint pen after it all dried and went over everything again. 

i Only did the drivers side just in case i hated it i can easily enough remove it all with sandpaper etc..

Then i went over every single nipple tip and hit it with white. 

At first i was like hewl naw! that looks like a Lexus NASCAR

then after about a half hour of staring at it, i kinda started diggin it. 

Let me know your thoughts. I'm sure some will like it and some will hate it.

12-20-2015

Hope you guys all have a great Holiday season and NYE. Here's to 2016. 

shot out the back window while driving

12-28-2015

Snapped a few last pics to round out 2015

12-29-2015

ahh i remember Lumarai. arent they designed specifically for lexus? i checked out your system thread too. looks good, must sound great.

yes, i put a shift boot on mine. actually i think i did about 6 of them before i got it right haha.

these pics will give you an idea. my final template i made ended up being about 16in from edge to edge as you can see it below here

template

This was a tan one i did using old armrest leather.

this is how i have it now

1-10-2016

Man, i gotta chime in and just compliment these cheap asz tires i bought over a year ago.

My first set i bought were Falkens
My second set was Federal
BOTH of those two brands only lasted me about 6 months.
and i work from home and rarely drive far.

well, these Mayruns have lasted me over a year and i have put more miles on my GS this year than the last 3 combined.

So, yeah, Mayrun sounds weird and i thought they would be pretty wack, but they have proven their affordability to me for sure. One day i will be able to afford a michelin or a toyo or whatever the good brands are. But for now, once these go bad, i will most likely buy another set of mayruns
Every once in awhile, cheap stuff makes the cut. Lord knows my whole build has been on a very small budget all the way through. Just passing the info on.

For the time being, this is my latest debacle.
My "other" girlfriend had a blow out and i need to switch her from Bias Ply tires to custom radials and put a fresh frontend/steering rebuild kit on it to tighten her up before i can back to do anything cool on the Lex

1-26-2016

I got sick of having that ugly rattling remote clipped to my Visor. I had my buttons programmed before at my last house, but finally got around to programming it for my current house.

It's very easy. But i always forget

Step 1:
Of those 3 little buttons, hold both outside buttons down for 20 seconds to clear any previous codes (starts blinking once cleared)

Step 2:
Hold one of the 3 buttons you want to operate your garage door until it blinks. KEEP holding it down and then place your crappy handheld controller about 1 inch away and hold that button down until the Blinking goes to rapid blinking. Then let go of both. If your Garage door is actually a "Homelink" brand, you would be done at this point. But none of mine ever are, so, on to step 3.

Step 3:
Grab a ladder and get to the actual receiver mounted on the cieling and you will see a "Learn" button on it. Press that once. Get off the ladder, go back into your car and press your new programmed button twice. Right now you should hear your Garage door make a couple subtle click noises showing it has just learned your Lexus' built in button.

Good to go now

2-28-2016

So i have had a lot of starting and power issues. Replaced battery (luckily was less than a year old so it was under warranty) and the new one was draining down to like 10v after just a few hours of driving. Bought a trickle charger and starting machine just to keep it alive. Had the local part store check it and they said my alternator was shot. So i ordered a new alternator 

My buddy Adamn helped me get it in there. was a tight squeeze took about 3+ hours or so because the power steering pump was blocking it. So we jut loosened that up and pulled it out about an inch then had enough to swap with the new alternator.

But i was still having sporadic starting / cranking problems. Figured maybe the terminal was bad. So i replaced that. Turns out that was one of the biggest issues this whole time.

Couple pics

5-5-2016

Couple fresh daytime shots out here in Yuma on the graffiti wall

6-30-2016

Take a ride with me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YowUuHelSog

10-29-2016

awhile ago i had started to hear this real subtle noise. when my windows were up it almost sounded like there was a Jet flying high above.

I could only hear it once i got up to about 35mph and it got louder when i turned left and quieter when i turn right.

My initial thought was wheel bearing onthe front right.

So i jacked it up to get the front wheels off the ground and grabbed the wheel at 12 and 6 and did the wiggle test. but it felt fine. then i tried the same on the drivers side wheel and it had a little bit of movement.

Using good ol' rock auto online, i ordered 2 new new full hub assemblies. they didnt cost much more than the bearings themselves so i figured it wouldnt hurt.

My Dad helped me with it and the first wheel took like 3 hours (due to misleading youtube videos i watched) and the second only took anout a half hour to remove.

If i recall it was only like 2 14mm holding the caliper on and then an 11mm to remove the ABS sensor. Then a ton of pounding and banging and pulling to get the old ones off.

found out our bearings had to actually be pressed at a machine shop. Met a great guy named "RC" at the local Yuma NAPA and i can't even explain what an amazing job they did. I believe they charged $40 for each, but when you see how well they did it and painted and cleaned the heck out of the old ones i couldnt believe it. They looked like new!

They went on very easy now that i knew the right way i had to remove them. Had them both back on within an hour or so.

Thats it for now. She's still running strong as ever. I STILL say hands down best all around bulletproof car i have ever owned.

Leave you with a few new sunset pics...

11-28-2016

Current stage... Before/After

3-23-2017

I'm still here. and i still got her. she still runs great and hasnt really needed ANY maintenance since i did the hubs. Pics!

3-26-2017

thanks man. it's actually the same color teal as my other car

7-26-2017

Hope you all been well. i'm still here and she is still running strong!
i actually had a check engine light and had to replace the #8 ignition coil which was pretty easy. Pull the strut bar, pull the cover, 2 screws in and out. Done

Here's why i been busy.
New project: '03 Denali

Before:

Current stage:

8-26-2017

Sorry guys. Hate to inform you, but i Sold my baby today. I just simply didn't have a need for 3 vehicles anymore, but she went to a good home.
Who know's, maybe she will pop back up in this forum again one day.
She was such a wonderful platform, i may even get another one in the future down the road.

Thanks for all the comments, tips and comradery at ClubLexus!

Godspeed,
Sevenevez