Friday, November 23, 2018

I Need to Finish This Build!

I've always been a bit of a procrastinator. Couple that with the fact that, for now, my build is almost done except a couple things, and I felt like I needed a break. Especially since, thankfully, I fixed the mechanical issues. Just not the oil leak... But that's fine for now.


I know I have something special here. I've been having a lot of haters coming out of the woodwork and if I know anything, it's that haters are really lovers in denial. They just don't understand! No but really, this is a drama-free website, but I have to say; in the LS400 community, there's these purists that will take a dump on you for doing something different.

Which motivates me to finish the car. To me especially, the car looks like s&#$ on the exterior because of the paint so that's the first thing I'm going to finish of what's left.

The rims are gonna be painted as well. I also need to clean up the interior. There are places, like on the doors especially, where there's permanent stains. I plan to remedy this by either reupholstery or, more likely, vinyl paint.

The carpet is perma-stained too so I don't know what I'm going to end up doing with that but it will be fixed. Trust.

The way I see it, actually, these haters actually have ammo right now. So I plan on taking it away. I can understand the dislike of a bad build, but if it's built good and is just different, you have no leg to stand on except your opinion.

This whole project is actually going to be pretty extensive now that I think about it. Everybody knows it's all about the details so give me some time. I'm also feeling a bit mentally exhausted so for maybe the next week, you might see less articles. I'll be fine.

I finally figured out where I can run wire through the firewall so that will fix the ugly wiring issue for my fog lights. Not just that but all of the lighting in the car will be installed properly. The first was a test, really, and for me to learn.

Secondary interior light - with this on, you can see inside the car through almost-illegal tint.

I plan on getting a unit with multiple buttons that will allow me to have switches for multiple accessories. One of those might be an electric fan, actually. Seems like Lexus left enough space for one more fan in front of the AC condenser. Isn't it a little weird how there's just one on the left? Anyway, it gets hot here in Florida so it won't hurt.

A lot of what I have to do is actually cleaning. Under the engine bay, in crevices, those areas where the doors close that have paint but you never wash because they're inside the car. I need to get rid of a bunch of junk in my trunk.

I truly believe these simple things will completely bring out the beauty of the car. There's literally four (4) different shades of white on the car. That's no good!

I painted the bumper area to see if I can do a good job and sure enough, it's a huge difference. Look at the hood that I didn't touch.

And then there's the exhaust. Listen people, I might do a muffler delete myself. You don't need to weld anything. What you need is a quality clamp with an actual gasket to hook two pipes of the same size together. I've been researching this and this seems like a pretty good way to go especially because the mufflers on an LS400 are bolted on.

Yes, you take a bolt or two off and you can take the mufflers off. If I proceed with this, and I probably will because I need some more sound, I'll clamp on some pipe and you can buy tips that bolt on as well.

I don't want a very loud rumble right now but there is currently almost zero so instead of waiting months until it makes sense for me to spend a few hundred on an exhaust, I can do this now for $40.

Might change front emblem in the future.

These clamps, as I mentioned, have a special gasket so when you attach two pipes together, it doesn't leave a small leak. It's really not a bad idea and I don't see why more people don't do this. I am NOT getting paid but if I was you, I would like to know where to buy it, and that is Harbor Freight. They also have a tool that can expand a pipe but only about 1/16th according to a video I watched. However, it may help you if you want to slip it on instead. I believe both of these items are under $20 each and you can buy a basic grinder (a saw to cut metal - I'm sure somebody isn't sure of what that is) for $15. You don't need it unless you're cutting your exhaust.

There's a third way to do it and that involves cutting the mufflers off instead of unbolting them. There's pros and cons as there is to everything. The pro is that if you cut the pipe right behind the muffler, you will have retained two feet or so of pipe that would have come off if you were to unbolt it.

In this case you need to consider one thing. It's not of great importance but I felt I should mention it. If you unbolt the mufflers, the pipe in that place actually points downward just a little bit. This means if you left it like that, the gasses will escape facing down into the road.

I mean yes, they would immediately be gone anyway because you're driving but in some cases, exhaust gasses can damage components like rubber boots. Don't worry about the heat. I did speak to someone who said he drove his LS400 like that for a year with no problems.

Longer pipes add sound, if you didn't know. Personally, I don't want exhaust gasses under my car either. I'd rather they shoot out the back or sides. That's why it's a good idea to add some pipe if you remove the muffler. And if you don't cut it, it will be harder to clamp on pipe because the connector bends down like I mentioned.

If you can weld, then no problem. You probably skipped that anyway. But really consider if you want to do the clamp exhaust. If you're planning on ever getting a professional one but not for a while, I don't see why not. They'll cut it off and throw it away anyway.

I didn't mean to make half of this article about the exhaust but I was surprised that almost nobody does this. I got the idea from a professional shop that mainly works on exhaust systems. I would say that's a legit source.

LED unit for secondary interior lighting. It will be installed somewhere else, obviously.

Thanks for reading. I will inevitably post a tutorial on some of this stuff. If you have questions, suggestions, or even constructive criticism then go ahead and leave a comment. Hope everybody had a good Thanksgiving for those of us in the US.


- Rokas Kirvelis

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