Lexus IS200

De-lexus'd lexus lights always improve the look

Long time no update. Some things have occurred.

Got an import rear plate, didn't fit. Got a smaller import rear plate, fits lovely:



Got some Heko wind deflectors, really like them. Didn't take long to fit once I worked out how, thanks Youtube!




Then it went and passed MOT with just one advisory for rear tyre. Massive result! Very happy.

Got a Japspeed decat downpipe and fitted it. What a total bitch of a job that was.



Didn't have a new manifold or midpipe so had to keep the flanges undamaged. Took ages and some very careful grinder work with a couple of mates. 150,000 mile old bolts are not fun to remove. Got it done eventually. Was scared it was going to blow even with new gaskets, so I may have gone overboard with the amount of exhaust paste used all in and around the flanges haha:







Doesn't seem to be blowing at all, and I ragged the hell out of it this afternoon, so that's good

So the exhaust system is now:

Standard manifold with precats
Decat downpipe
Standard midpipe with resonator
Straightpipe backbox section.

Now I thought still having precats and resonator in there would mean it wasn't too mental. Not the case. It's absolutely ASBO, might need to put some kind of backbox on to dull the rasp just a little bit. Low down in revs it's really meaty, but 3 - 4.5k it gets proper raspy, which I'm not a huge fan of. Video doesn't do it justice but here's the sound:





Note how slow it is. Please feel free to leave your slow mocking comments below.


Also the oil leak has got real bad now so I need to get my act together and get that sorted! Other than that it's running lovely still, and slowly getting there. Hopefully coilovers and wheels soon.

Yeah man actually fits perfectly as well. Heard mixed things about Japspeed but it's quite a nice part, welds look decent as well.

It is mental loud haha, need to get a proper backbox on there.

Long time no post. Progress has been slow, but got some bits sorted recently.

The straight pipe backbox was brutal with the decat, so I fitted a universal Ebay can on the back and it's so much nicer now.

Finally decided to get some coilovers as well, and luckily a set of unused HSD DualTechs came up on Ebay at a great price, so went and picked those up on the weekend:




Got cracking:



All done. Took a few hours and still letting them settle, but happy with the height for now:




Pleased with the handling, alignment badly needed, but way less body roll than the KYB shocks and lowering springs it came on. Got a pair of Buddy Club P1s with some fat R888s arriving soon, so that will be interesting trying to squeeze those under the front.

Guess I need to get a welded diff in there next!

Went to Japfest this weekend. Was great, but very cold! Cars were frosted over at the campsite when we woke up. A far cry from last year's heatwave!




I didn't get many photos of the car, but did get papped enjoying my makeshift car chair as I forgot to bring one:




A mate got some rolling shots on the way home:




After a KFC stop, conveniently took photos as I was munching on a corn on the cob




Potentially putting in a welded diff this weekend with a few mates, and have a set of P1s to go on soon, and maybe a pair of R33 GTR wheels from a mate once I get paid.

Yeah it was a cool car to be fair, and was a lovely winter daily for sure! I've been in one that was properly set up for drifting, and with a mental enough driver (he was lol) they still skid really well to be honest.

It just didn't have enough of a fun factor for me to keep it, compared to the 5 that's just so much fun to be in all the time. I wouldn't mind another 4 door, but I'd only have one alongside my 5 if I could afford it, not to replace it, and I'd go for something older and way more boxy I reckon, like a Bluebird or a really old Accord haha.