The most recent picture. Lexi II now sports a decal of this website.
Guys, this is going to be a long one. I'm going to go through most of the things that happened along the way. I'm going to show you how my car is right now. I got it to the point I wanted to get it to - to where it runs right and I can start making it my own. Today it hit me - why haven't I written this article yet? The reason is, I haven't had many good things in life (not that material things matter) but I have something to be proud of now and I'm astounded. I reached a big goal of mine. The goal was to just get a beater daily driver. I ended up with this Lexus.
In all her glory minus a wash.
The second car turned out to be amazing for me. It had just been serviced for an oil leak and I paid pennies for it, again. I suppose I was lucky in the fact that it drove pretty bad and sounded like crap. That's probably why no one was buying it and this lady needed money for her medicine so that's why I got it so cheap. Anyway, my intuition was telling me there was a misfire and the scraping noise was coming from the brakes. Two easy things. I was lucky that was it.
Whoever did the brake job last didn't replace the rotors so there was a groove worn into them that would make a scraping noise every time the car's nose lifted a little. It still does but I'm not doing the brakes for another couple months. They're okay.
The first thing I did was change the coil pack and spark plugs and right away, the car was behaving much better. You see, within the 40 to 60 mph range (and higher, I'm sure), the car would buck on you if you were giving it a little too much gas.
There was certain throttle positions where the car would misfire and others where it wouldn't so I learned to daily drive it like that until I got it fixed. If it started misfiring, I would either give it a little more or a little less throttle.
Another problem was that the car needed spark plug wires but also a new fuel pump and filter. You see, I was getting a random misfire and it wasn't evident if the cause was lack of fuel pressure from a bad pump or just the wires. Since this car had just passed 200k miles, they were both due to be replaced. Despite the problems it had, it felt so much different from Lexi, my first LS400. It felt much more sturdy and rigid. That's the best way to describe it.
So what I did was all of it. I did the fuel pump and filter first to see and it helped but the problem was still there until I changed all of the spark plug wires. It was at this point I also noticed that a distributor cap had some corrosion on the wires that connect to the two coil packs. No wonder it was so bad!
I have a set of new rotor caps sitting in the room I'm in. It will take 20 minutes to change out. Thing is, just cleaning up the corrosion a little and changing out all those old wires fixed everything except the code. The code is p0300 - a random misfire. The car drives amazing. I'm gonna get off my butt and go ahead and change the cap but like I said, there isn't an effect besides the CEL so it's not a priority. Just next time I'm under the hood.
I'm joking here but apparently a car wash isn't a priority either. I haven't washed this car since I got it and shame on me! I just figured that the paint was shite anyway and it was going to be painted soon (I plan on it). But it's getting bad and I'm going to give it a nice, loving wash. Hehe.
In order for the first car's spirit to live on, so to speak, I took one small part and changed it out on Lexi II. So the first car is actually a part of the second one.
I should have mentioned that I had my timing belt and water pump done sometime between all of this. I believe part of the first car's death began when the timing belt slipped (I don't know for sure). Anyway, I had the parts already so when I had the money, I went ahead and got that job done. I'm super glad I did it. Lexi II surprises me every day with how well she runs.
A friend of mine has a 2000 Lexus LS400 with 130k miles and he told me that my car runs better than that one! That truly surprised me.
I feel so thankful for the car. I thank God for it to be honest! It has been my dream sedan for a long time - 10 years plus - so to have one sitting there in good condition feels unreal.
Needs wide tires.
I want all of you to know that you can get yourself the same thing. You just have to focus on it and not give up. Trust me, there were times where the car (the black one, mainly) was having so many problems at once that it was extremely stressful, considering it was me and my wife's only car and we didn't live by a bus stop.
That goes to show you that the car deserves its reputation for reliability. It might crap itself but it will usually get you home.
What was my motivation and reasoning from the beginning?
Between the two cars, I know I've paid out probably about $3,500. I bought both cars for $350 each, actually. So why do that when $2,000 alone could get me a nice example?
The two reasons, both just as important to my decision, was 1. I only had $500 or so to spend in the first place and 2. I honestly wanted to learn to work on cars. I wanted to teach myself.
See, the first car that I bought was involved in a low speed crash. The radiator was damaged along with the hood and some other stuff. Well long story short, that car basically taught me how all of the systems in a car work together because I had to work on all of them! The original idea was to restore it but it came to a point where fixing one thing would make three other things break.
Lexi the First!
I changed out so many parts and sensors and vacuum and fuel lines that it was crazy. I was working on the interior too so I got to break a couple things before I learned in that car and not my current one.
Truly, it was worth the price. I had a lot of headaches with that first car but at the same time, it reminded me that I wanted an LS400, taught me so much about working on cars, and actually led to me starting a business which I've been running for only a few months now.
I'm not talking about this website but this website also isn't the place to advertise it.
Long story short - and it's a very long story - I reached "Phase 1" which was getting the car running good. I told myself I had to fix it before I would work on the aesthetics.
At this point, I have the car looking how I want it. There's not a lot more that I want on it. Just an exhaust, a bit of a drop (not a big one), and better wheels. It needs a paint job, too, but overall I'm really satisfied with how it looks.
I put some fender flares on it to make it wider, got a carbon fiber wing (a small one), tinted my headlights yellow, and installed blue fog lights. I'm also starting to put stickers on the back windshield but I want them lined up aesthetically. You guys know the look.
By the way, that's an invitation to send me sticker(s) if you want to promote your shop or anything car related. Contact me on my Instagram which is @rokask1.
That's what you guys don't see! The paint is bad. Luckily, I really just need some time to do it but I'm going to paint it myself like almost everything else on this car.
By the way, I've even doodled with upholstery and I can do it but lately I've been giving it a break of sorts.
These are the types of skills you learn when you're restoring a car. Ofcourse you're going to learn the mechanical aspects but if you do it yourself you can learn to do bodywork, interior work, how to paint a car, how to install tint, and all of these different things that can be applied to actually make money if you get good enough! It's not just about creating an amazing car.
I will obviously be posting a tutorial but when I'm ready, I'm going to rattle-can the car. This means spray painting it. But have no worries. I remember almost ten years ago, there was almost no way to do a good spray job.
There is now. There are new products out specifically for cars. Of course you have Plastidip and also wraps but you have things such as Duplicolor 2x Primer and Paint. It's a thicker spray paint so it covers more area and also tends to drip less (even though if you're creating drips, you need to slow down). Then you use Duplicolor Clearcoat - the exact name of which I will mention in the article - goes on top and you have yourself a pro paint job. Better than Maaco.
Guys, is there anything you would like to ask? Want to send me a supercharger kit? Just want to talk to me about cars? Want your car featured if you live in Central Florida? All you have to do is contact me, again, on Instagram which is @rokask1 or you can email me at norgin@gmail.com. Thank you so much for reading and following along.
What's next? Now the fun stuff comes! I wasn't joking about the supercharger... Well kinda. I need to patch up any weak spots and there are actually some things I may be able to do NA for power but that remains to be decided. I don't want to sacrifice reliability. You best believe, however, it will have the best parts I can manage to throw on it being BROKE! Man, I need that exhaust. Take it easy people and drive safe.
Like I mentioned, expect that paint job that I literally just changed my mind on for the last time. Just above, I think I mentioned I want it all white. Sometimes it be like that. But then a neuron managed to fire and I mustered a thought. Don't rip me off now but I'm going to do a paintjob no one has quite done yet.
Most cars with fender flares are one color. I wanted the same thing. However it just hit me - no one has used the second tone to paint those fender flares, creating a clean look where the undertone goes all around the car!
Get this. Light gold bottom with gloss white top. Fender flares, yes, same light gold. And as for the wheels, those are going to be bronze. Actually it was those two factors that changed my mind. And you know what? I might do it again! Just not for a while. Brain getting tired. Must sleep. Thank you my friends. Thank you especially to those who have left comments of support or helped in any way (which a couple people did). Until next time.
- Rokas Kirvelis
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