Hurricane Irma + VIP talk (pros/cons)

Hello readers, all two of you. My car was left untouched by Hurricane Irma by God's grace! I mentioned how the fact that it got stuck saved it from having a fence fall on it but it was also saved from something a LOT worse.

This car has a divine blessing, I really believe! Call me nuts!

I was talking to my neighbor who said I should have parked on her driveway instead and I would have gladly accepted only if I was able to... Well, it would have been a setback.

You see... Around 2 AM when the eye was on us, she pulled her car out of the garage because the roof was leaking (why not just let it drip on the car? I didn't ask) and parked it on her driveway. Well at some point after, based on the evidence we could find, a metal pipe lifted off the ground, smashed into her hood going 80 mph, ricocheted to shatter a round spot on her windshield and cause it to crack, before ricocheting off of THAT to give the car one final blow fucking up her roof right there in the front. By fucking it up, I mean it left a dent but it's in a bad spot - where the windshield meets.

I promise I will reward you of actual stuff about MY car for reading all of this.

Long story short, if my car didn't get stuck in the muddy grass, it would have at the least sustained hood damage or, more likely, had the windshield smashed because it's already cracked!

The struggle is real, folks. I managed to pay my insurance. I haven't been able to buy cigarettes. Yes I work.

In all seriousness, I'm happy that the LS400 that I'm calling The Chariot was left undamaged. I have a couple things I want to talk about, too. A lot of you are here for ideas so I'm gonna make this short and sweet.

I have a full idea of how I want the car to be at this point minus fifteen percent or something like that. In one of my first posts, I said I was going to make a VIP car which happened because I didn't understand what a VIP car actually IS.

I thought a VIP "style" Lexus (or whatever luxury brand) car was essentially modified to be more luxurious and more beautiful or classy. What I found out was that a VIP style car needs to meet certain conditions. Yes, the interior is always altered, but literally what makes the car is how low it sits and that it has bigger wheels. Typically a bodykit or something too. It is literally a style from Japan. Great looking, low cars. "Low and slow" they say.

There's a reason for that. There are SO many drawbacks to having an LS400 like this that, to me, that's not what I want to do.

First of all, the wheel wells on the car are essentially designed to fit the stock size tire/rim. It has very little extra space. To give you an idea of how little space there is, if the covering above the tire of your wheel well (I forget what it's called) sags a little, your tire will scrape it if you turn the wheel all the way. Mine does this and a LOT of LS400s have those parts actually missing from the wheel actually ripping it off after it started sagging.

Now imagine putting wheels on there that are even an inch or two bigger (which is as big as they go, pretty much).

Being very low to the ground, you can't go certain places. My stock car scrapes on a steep driveway - you can't go over certain speedbumps if you have it low enough and especially if it has a bodykit or lipkit on it.

I absolutely agree that these true VIP cars are gorgeous and the top best things to come of modding in general to me.

What my car is gonna be is essentially the "wrong" definition I gave. It has to have exceptional luxury - above that of the stock version and it has to look classy. Stylish. Timeless.

But it also has to be reliable. Not only because I want it to last forever but because part of the beauty of an old car like this is that it's running better than it did from the factory 25 years later.

Will my car have leather seats? Yes, after the AC is fixed (I suspect it only needs a recharge even though the condenser is bent - I have a feeling it holds pressure).

Will it have the type of interior that, when you get inside, you are WOWed and inspired? Yes. By the way, is that a different kind of sleeper?

And most importantly, will it be as good if not better mechanically? Ofcourse my friends.

The mods are going to stay to an aftermarket exhaust. I'm not sure what I could do to the car to get more power out of it but near 300 HP is enough for me. It stays reliable this way.

I spin my wheels every time it's wet turning onto one particular road every time as it is. The car has enough power for me. When that time comes, you best believe I'm gonna get an SC300 or SC400.

The hurricane set me back financially because not only did my job cut my hours but the two days I worked that week were the two days the business was closed because of the hurricane. I'm not gonna have money to do much for at least a couple weeks. And as a side note, I'm starting an auto parts business. It's now or never.

The two things I am most concerned with right now is the slow PS fluid leak and fixing the hood hinge. I have a new hood on the car but it sits lopsided because one of the hinges got bent when the hood opened up on me while I was driving. It was a stupid, costly (in time) mistake. You would think a hood hinge is easy to replace but not on this baby. I have the part but the problem is that you have to take the fender off to get to the bolts that hold the hinge on.

Headache.

I went to the junkyard and messed around with an LS400 there before I broke my own, however, and realized that I might not have to take it all off. Rather, when you disconnect it at the top, you can pull the fender back gently allowing you access to remove the hood hinge assembly. It bolts to the frame with four bolts. That should be a weekend job.

As for the slow power steering leak, I'm not concerned because I don't think it's leaking onto the alternator but it sure is annoying when you turn the car on to go to work only to hear that sound telling you it's time to add more!

I think the problem is the STUPID ACV. Why is it stupid? Because it inevitably leaks after 100k miles, costs a hundred bucks, and will just break again. But what does it do, you say? Something stupid. You see, part of the air from your intake is sent to the ACV and this is how it knows when you're going fast. When it feels this, it tightens the steering wheel. The idea is that you want it tighter at high speeds but in practice it's useless.

It screws, I believe, into the pump itself and if not then right next to it. It has two plastic nozzles and a valve. One nozzle is for the incoming air and the other is for the escaping air. The valve opens to do what I described above. How? I have no idea. But I do know of a genius fix.

Well one is to buy the right size bolt and screw that sucker in its place and reroute or cap the vacuum lines. Most people plug the parts where these hoses originally connect but I saw a great idea where someone kept one and simple ran it from the nozzle coming out directly in front of the throttle body and Lexus 'L'. It makes perfect sense to just send that air back into the intake unless I'm extremely dumb and missing something.

When it comes to these vacuum hoses I'm talking about, I'll explain more when I do the job on my car but if you need the info now simply type "Lexus LS400 Power Steering Bible" into Google and you will find it.

The second fix which I am opting for involves modifying the original ACV. You see, although you can use a bolt (you would have to Google the size), you will essentially be 'tapping' the hole and you won't be able to put an ACV back in if you ever want to. I would rather not damage that part.

However, my ACV is already broken and the procedure is as follows. You simply cut off the plastic, remove the valve, and plug the part where the nozzles were. You plug it ALSO by screwing in a bolt but in this case, you're doing it to an already broken part. You create a good seal using a washer and the modified ACV goes back in the car. No more leak.

From there at least.

LS humor.

Also because if you're like me, you read better when there's pictures. Here is a shot of my car from the side. I will be discussing the problems. I've basically told you so if you can't identify what's wrong, do what I do. Say the sun was in your eyes (it works inside too).

See anything?

2 Hours Before Hurricane Irma

Ofcourse it gets stuck under a tree and it has a cracked windshield. This is my luck in one picture, friends. 

Ah Florida. Hurricane Irma, why you gotta mess with my car?

I was trying to put my baby in between two houses and it got stuck. Well I believe everything happens for a reason. My car is all well... Thank God. It's my baby! Some of you know what I mean.

Where I meant to park it before it got stuck? The fence there fell which would've damaged it for real.

This post is to compare the car I showed in my introduction post to where it's at now.

It has purple dice now. Excuse the Mobil 1 bottle (best oil). That's why I did purple stitching and I will be slowly, tastefully adding little bits of purple. The only thing I can think of right now is that the brake calipers are definitely getting painted.

This is a picture from when I did a quick, ghetto reupgolstery of the armrest because it was torn up. Why cloth? I have cloth seat covers. Much cooler in Florida and unique. Every LS has leather everywhere which is fine. Mine is just a LIL different.

The car needed an alignment since I got it. The difference between before and after was ridiculous and the alignment wasn't too bad. These cars are very sensitive. Not a bad thing.

Project money? How about a mint Lexus first aid kit WITH EVERYTHING THAT IT ORIGINALLY CAME WITH THAT I'm sure is long expired. But it has Tylenol, ammonia to wake someone up, bandages, iodine to freshen water...

One of the things I'm gonna do one of these days is clean the engine. The top isn't bad but the underside is caked with power steering fluid and probably small amounts of oil and God knows what.

Notice the triangular plastic cover about in the middle of the picture. That one I cleaned to see what the difference would be and I'm sure most would agree that it's a huge different.

I'm sure someone is wondering what is the format of this blog?

Let me tell you about myself. Me and my wife both work but we barely get by right now. It won't be forever but I realized that there are a LOT of people out there with not much more than $400 to spend on a car and I used to think it's impossible to get a good one. NOT if you know a LITTLE about working on cars. $400 Honda Accord that overheats? Install a junkyard radiator ($50 or less) and you have a running car. And some of us want it to look good too so I will be posting tutorials on all of those things.

You can follow me as I keep my dream car running while being broke as a joke. Not only that but I will be upgrading it.

I knew when I bought it that problems would come up. So far there hasn't been anything I couldn't take care of and in five months of owning it, I've apent under 2k to buy it and fix it up. Now remember, if I had all that money at once, I could've bought one running. But it would still break down. So I got this $300 car (I got lucky - friend was in a small accident) and now most of the common parts that wear out have been replaced and everything is up to date. I'm sure if I just bought one, it wouldn't have gone this way.

Not to mention I think this car has a 98 motor. It was replaced some time ago. I have to check but I may have the VVTI 290 HP one instead of 270 HP.

Thanks for reading. If you have questions about cars in general or want me to do a tutorial on something, just leave a comment.

-Rokas K.

Reupholster Your Shifter for a Unique Look

This is the first of many tutorials I will do on the LS400. You will see anything from doing your own upholstery to replacing parts - body, mechanical. As well as tips.

I just took the pictures for this tutorial because I re-did my shifter. The original shifter's leather had hardened into... basically plastic. I didn't want to take the old stuff off just yet but I will when I re-do this.

I made a couple mistakes I will point out.

You can always just buy a shifter that you like (I believe the 2nd gen, atleast, the shifter just screws off... Correct me) but wrapping your own can not only look good but no one else will have it. And they might want to pay you to do theirs... Maybe...

Materials:
-Pleather, leather, an old T-shirt, or whatever you want to use. It doesn't matter - they all stitch the same.
-A 'U' needle you can make from a normal needle. Look below.
-Some tape.
-Thread (I used purple to match my purple dice).
-Patience.

1. First, cut your leather with extra space. A good amount. You can always cut some off but you can't add more. Use tape to hold it in place while you wrap it with your hands to see if everything matches up.

2. Get a long string. Whatever thickness and color you prefer along with a bent needle. What's a bent needle? It's a U-shaped needle that I couldn't do this job without. I took a normal needle and bent it in three spots.

Now, pull out twice as much string as you're gonna need. First I used too little and ran out midway. You put one end through the needle, pull it through, and make sure the two ends of the string meet at equal ends. Tie the end (after it's in the needle) by looping BOTH strings around and making 2-3 knots. That's what's actually going to hold that string in whatever spot you inserted it into. If anything, use a dab of clear glue but no need.

3. See where I marked the curved line? You have to cut the leather so when you wrap it, at most there should be about 3-4cm left. If you don't leave any, you won't have to tuck that in which is how I would do it. Remember: you can always cut more off!!

4. After you're confident your lines will match (side note: the curved lines in this are on purpose. Wanted to try something unique.), start sewing from the bottom. WATCH where you put your needle. Look at my stitches. I'm gonna re-do it but see how they don't look professional? Follow the angles.

TIP: Stitch the side up and you can take a break... Or not.

5. Notice the stitches on the right. The leather ends show because the part that's on the shifter was simply tucked in and not cut. Learn from me. Cut the lines as close as possible. You will see the difference on the left.

6. You want to start all of your stitches from the same angle. I stitched the middle one all the way to the outside leather and put one stitch to hold it together. In this picture I'm showing the angle I start sewing.

TIP: If you see that there's gonna be extra loose leather on the shifter and you can cut it off, do it. Make it tight but don't ruin it. I guarantee you if you do this once, you will learn enough to make a perfect shifter cover the second time.

7. You see how the stitching on the left hides the ugly edges of the leather? It's because I learned from the first. On the right, as I mentioned, I said screw it and tucked in a piece of leather instead of cutting it so it's just perfect. 

TIP: If this happens, just undo the stitching on the bad part and fix it once you're done. That's why I sew in sections. On this there's three: the stitches down the middle, to the right of the middle at the top, and to the left at the top. For the right, I can take out that stitching and fix it in five minutes.

8. Done. To me, it's ALRIGHT. I'm gonna re-do it at some point but wanna know something? It looked like sh*t before. 

Questions:

How much did I pay for materials? $0.00. I 'borrowed' the needle and thread and I cut the pleather from a couch someone was throwing away.

TIP. That's how you get free materials. Leather? Usually comes in black, white, brown, and... green (I swear). When I see people throwing them out and they're all wet, you can get a LOT of leather from furniture. Good quality.

I will explain where to get other materials like alcantra in a different post.