Electricity: Modifying An LED to Install in Place of Stock Bulbs Part 1

Some people know by now that I'm an LED addict. Just today I got this really nice Type S (that's the company) shifter that has blue LEDs and different modes that it works in; going back and forth one by one, strobe, or all five lights on. Anyway, for a long time now I've been trying to figure out a good way to change the stock turn signals and fog lights in particular.

I loved the idea of using simple tinted "off-road use only" LED strips typically seen on trucks in place of the stock turn signals. I also want to hook up my fog lights to the OEM fog light wiring so I can turn all of these things on and off without needing extra buttons.

This is part 1. I made the test light and I'm going to plug it in the Ford Focus (don't want to damage Lexi2 just in case) tomorrow. It is night time right now. I'm making this a two part article because I want you to see how I think and also to see if I am correct that you can do this.

Here's the finished product.

I took the LED from one of those things you wear on your head for light when you're working at night. Originally it runs off of three double-A batteries. I opened it all up, I cut the main wire coming from the LED assembly and also disconnected it from its holder via screw.

Now I had an LED light with just the positive and negative wires remaining. I took those, stripped some rubber off carefully to reveal the actual wire, added copper wire because they were extremely thin, stuck that in an electrical connector, and clamped down hard using pliers.

I also wrapped it with some electrical tape. I did that to both wires, leaving me with an LED that I can connect to anything.

So the theory is that instead of inserting a bulb in the wiring connector for said bulb, I should be able to connect this instead. There's already a fuse for those lights so I don't need to use one. And especially if this works with turn signals, this will be great. If the way those work is intermittently turning the light on and off, it should work.

I also got an on/off (as opposed to one that pops out) button for future projects.

I will be posting the results soon. My plan has been to change the stock lights in some way all along. Part 2 will be coming soon. Maybe I'll have some design ideas in physical form by then.

I've been thinking about the engine as well. What about it? Well, I know I want to supercharge it (maybe turbo) way later on. Before that happens, I'll have the block re-built and I'll be lucky (but it's possible) if I can start on this sometime in 2019.

The whole point is still and always will be reliability. Fun fact; the 1uzfe motor was once tested to see what kind of load it could take on stock internals. Well the engine, which was set up on a stand, ended up taking 50 psi from a turbo with no other modifications before the motor blew. At that point, it was pushing 1,500hp if my memory serves me right. And it's not like they rushed it. They let it run for certain periods of time every time they upped the boost.

So what's my point? Look - in this $1,500 car, I can at least somewhat keep up with some of today's best sports cars including the BR-Z. And my engine needs a tune, not to mention probably a new Coolant Temp Sensor. I think it's 30-40hp short. If I was to run a setup where I was boosting 8 psi, that would immediately crank the horsepower and torque to around 400.

By the way, I can always use help. Although I will say that this year is going to be a thrill. Not only am I moving somewhere I can work on cars but my business is starting to do okay. I was handicapped for some time and forced into it but it worked out. I sell auto parts online now. I always said I'm not going to use this as a platform to advertise that but if you read my 2019 New Year's plan, I hope to get others involved in this build. You see, I hope to take their hard earned parts and time and use their skills to learn, indeed. No but really - again - if you live in Central Florida and don't mind helping me work on the car or something like that, please contact me.

Back in the day we used to call it a spaceship... That Lex sedan.

- Rokas K.

Going Into 2019: The Rundown (Big Plans)

Though it was pretty apparent from the beginning, this LS400 is really reliable as far as I can tell, I have been documenting it since I got it, and if it wasn't before - it is now Driving for Broke's flagship car. In 2019, we will be working on more than one car. I was really waiting to see if this is a good base to build the car of my dreams.

I really wanted to kind of prove to all of you that I have rarely been so serious about something. In a minute, I will reveal a few plans. I also want this to become a community effort if any of my readers are from Central Florida. No, I don't want free work. I don't want you to buy me anything or send me money. Please don't! That's why I don't have a Patreon account.

However, if you want to help of your own accord - I will not only feature whatever you want (your shop, your car, heck we can do a Cribs type article) but order a sticker to put on the car (unless you have one, like a shop sticker) that will forever leave your mark on this car. Again, I'm not asking for money. If you have a spare part I could use or if you want to promote your shop by doing something simple to my car, that's for you guys. If you want, again - it's only if you have that desire to help - you can help me fix something or whatever. There are so many things I could use help with. Welding .. a lift... Many things.

I've come a long way. I am going to be posting a page called "About the Author" so all of you can see where I'm coming from. I come from bad circumstances and decisions but my life has been on track for 7 years now. Today, I reserved the lot for me and my wife's first home!

Because of DFB, I started an auto parts company when I got sick and was let go from my old job. This is why I am not asking for money. Me and my wife are going to make it. But if you guys want to contribute to the build, it will surely speed it up. Donate an old tool, help me with something.

I'm going to have a guest book where you can sign your name if you helped in any way - even washing the car.

So what's different in 2019 as opposed to 2018? I'm very glad you asked!

This will be a planned build from now on. Everything I (or we) do is going to be drafted first. Any modifications and dates will be noted. What this helps most is coming up with unique ideas. Lexi2 will be a one-of-a-kind car.

So what do I mean? This is just one of many pages on headlights from the red notebook you see in the pocket of the binder above.

Because some of my ideas are really radical (or crazy some might say), it's pretty much essential to draw it out. I've had the car long enough now that I know it inside and out and I'm constantly getting ideas for modifications.

Notice, please, that I don't actually have many mods despite how much I think about it. I do not lie to myself. If I spent 20 hours making a piece for the car and I don't like it, I'll take it out.

What else did I get?

Oh, it's another binder. Except this one, while meant to hold photos, will hold finished drafts, especially the projects that end up going in the car, with pictures and any other information. Also, every service record will be found in this big black book.

Some time from now, that album will contain pictures of parts that went on the car, the people that helped... It will be great. Different locations as well - at some point I may be able to travel, at least in Florida for now.

I want anyone thinking of helping to know I am dead-serious. Now that you guys have a good idea of how the build is gonna proceed - and will be moving a lot faster because I will be making more money - I want to post one last batch of 2018 pictures of basically the problem areas of the car but I also want to show what I've done. Here they are. Showing the flaws makes it so I have to fix them now. (That's a good tip by the way.)

The main thing the car needs is a paintjob. After I move, I should have no problem doing it. I should be able to do it in 2-3 days. I will be posting a tutorial as always. I haven't seen one where anybody will tell you what product to use and how to get almost pro results. Better than a cheap Maaco job.

I'm going to be painting the whole car the same gloss white. I'm not going to leave it two-tone. In full white, I think these cars look great. Besides that, I need to fix my rims and paint them. The fenders will be touched up when I paint the car.

And it has a couple dents I need to pop. Really, the exterior is the worst as far as looks because of the mismatched paint. I got the interior into respectable shape for the time being.

I still haven't cleaned my engine bay but I will - and I will post a guide.

Overall, there are so many things. I can't write them all down or you guys would get bored. I can promise you, though, that if you follow me - by the end of next year, this LS400 will be one of the meanest out. I want a very unique car; reliable, still fast (maybe small boost in the future, people), and it has to look good but you question what it is. "Is that an LS400?" "Man I don't know, I can't tell." "Looks kinda like a Q45." "Ohh it is an LS400 cause look at the hood! Damn."

My grandpa Kestas Reklys built a car from scratch in Soviet era Russia. I'm building this in his and YOUR honor! Hop on the train with me.

- Rokas K.

I Tried Trading My Car

I browse Craigslist for cheap cars sometimes just to get ideas or look at what's out there but the other day I got an idea - let me see if anyone is willing to trade a car in good condition that I desired for mine. Mind you, even though my LS400 has 220k miles, it drives like it's at 120k. All the maintenance has been done - it just has an oil leak.

I want to state that initially, I though if the deal was good enough, maybe I would let the car go. So what happened? More than I expected. I went for really nice cars in KIND OF the same price range but we all know that even though LS400s are great cars, they're extra cheap.

The first hit I got was a 1998 Mustang GT - dark green. No major problems. None of these cars had major problems - at least listed. This generation Mustang is the car I was going to buy before God blessed me with an LS400... I know I'm constantly talking about how good the car is but it is.

You know, I had to block it out of my mind when the guy said yes. Because if I drove it and felt the 350hp, I probably would be driving a Ford. I didn't even go see it.

I left it alone for a week when I started thinking about my old turbo Saab. I've come to the conclusion that the LS400, while having a great and comfortable cockpit, isn't as good as the same year Saab 900.

You will hear many Saab owners say that it's hard to get used to any other interior if you've had a Saab and I have to say it's true. It feels so ergonomic that it's amazing. Really, both for driving and just riding it, it was glorious. As the driver, you have access to any control you would need exactly where it should be by feel. It's something you need to experience. After this, I decided my next project car is going to be a 1996-ish Saab 900 Turbo.

Which is one of the cars that was offered to me. This one had a very tiny 126k miles on it and it was a 1996. I had the same car, year and everything, in the past that lasted me to 297k. With minimal maintenance. On top of that, what the problem was is that the alternator died. Those cars are ridiculously reliable.

By this logic, the car would have ran forever. There are a lot of pros to this car if you know how to work on cars. Besides being reliable as heck, it gets gas mileage, it's fast, and to me it looks extremely cool. Although in the looks department, I prefer the boxier generation before it.

I couldn't do it. Once he told me the miles, I kind of had to block it out. Me and my wife are moving, we're strapped for cash, and I would've had to register it and all that. For whoever buys it, that's gonna be a hell of a car.

I was also offered a 2000 Saab 9-5 with pretty low miles. In the end though, my car has had so much love put in it that even though I got over selling my old '89 325iX, I would always regret this. I've put a lot of money into making sure it's in the best condition I can get it to.

2000 Saab 9-5.

And the cars I was talking about? I can always buy one. So Lexi2 is staying and always will. I suppose my whole point is that a quality car will not only last you but make you not even want anything else.

But for my sports car, sorry SC400... It's the Saab 900SE. Earliest is next summer but once I move, I'll have space to put a project car. Happy holidays, people, and I hope you have a good New Year's.

DFB in 2019; Our Goals and Lexi2 Now

Driving for Broke was started in late 2017 and along the way, we reached some goals, learned a lot, and although we have very few readers, there are no signs of stopping. DFB has a much clearer vision now. We want to bring you all the information you can't find online now. And why am I referring to the website as more than myself?

Work in progress. Will be revealed in 2019 what the deal is. It's gonna be more than learning. Hint? You won't have to learn to make something you see here to have it. And by that I mean own it.

Because welcome my new teammate, my beautiful wife, who will be helping to produce videos for YouTube to go along with the articles! This is a major step for the website, I think. My own opinion is that people shouldn't stop reading about how to fix things just because they can watch a video. The reason for this is because there are typically more details in an article. Questions as to why a certain paint acts like this in that condition - to use as an example. A video format also has its own positives. 

We're going to be bringing you a lot more tutorials in general. And not just for the LS400 but other cars. The idea was always to have my readers learn with me.

This is how she sits as of December 25, 2018.

As for other content, 2019 is the year I will really be going at Lexi2, getting the car right in every way. I'm doing the paint myself and you guys will be able to see how to do a quality paint job with spray paint. I will be fixing up any loose ends under the hood and just making the engine run better in general. I can tell it has lost probably 20-30 hp which I aim to get back (a new Coolant Temp Sensor brings back about that much horsepower if yours is very old; just a tip - the part is maybe $25). 

Next year is the year I will really get into upholstery. I have a lot of plans that I won't list here but, again, you will be able to watch me learn and I'll explain it to you. The goal for that is re-doing Lexi2's seats completely. 

Really, the whole car is going to be re-done. If only cleaned, I mean I will be attending to every part of the vehicle. 

Also, a 4-cylinder is joining the DFB car club. A 4-cylinder?! Yes and it's JDM as heck. It's a 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer ES. It has a jammed starter, valve cover gasket leak, needs new everything when it comes to maintenance, and it is super dirty. 

That's my wife's car and it needs to be brought back to life. It's only at around 110,000 miles so to sell it for $1000 would be stupid (but a good buy for you - another tip). I'm gonna do all of the work on this car myself. I will probably be starting in a few months. My goal is to bring that back to showroom condition. It's a great car, one owner (my wife), and really, we just neglected it too much. 

I'm thinking of possibly messing around and trying to get some horsepower out of the normal non-Evo non-Ralliart Lancer for s$&$s and giggles. Only if I can do it cheap - like set up a turbo from a junkyard for $300. 

Oh and she said when she gets her car back, I can paint mine purple. She just doesn't want people to assume I'm a pimp and her... Yeah...

Here you can see the temporary seat covers and the permanent curtains. Also I'm really liking beige and black as a combo.

I'm joking but in the back of my mind, maybe I will one day. Not pimp her out but paint the car purple.

Let's go over the whole car real quick so we can see where it ends up at the end of next year. What I have done to it:

- Got it running good.

- Installed VIP curtains.

- LED floor lights with remote control.
- Fog lights in the bumper with a button inside.

- Amber/yellow headlights. Also the small clear white part on the rear lights is tinted as well and has LED bulbs.

- Carbon fiber wing - not real carbon fiber. 

- Changed out ugly front floor matts back to the stock ones.

- Created a dashboard cover.

- Created a center armrest cover.

- Added wide view rear-view mirror.

- Covers for the seats. I really don't like covers so re-upholstering the seats is a priority. However the covers are actually pretty good, especially the one for the back seat that fits tight and doesn't slide too much. Still, those are temporary.

- I changed out the interior bulbs for LEDs.

- Started painting the car to see if I could do a good job. The answer is a definite yes.

- Changed out the shifter that was falling apart.

- Added a steering wheel cover. Next year, I will potentially be restoring the steering wheel.

Honestly, all of this cost very little money. Fixing the car did, of course, but I took my time and looked for deals or did things myself to do everything else on a budget. I was allowing myself a maximum of $20 for every $100 I earn to put in the car. I used a lot less.

The car is close to looking very nice. I get people looking at it already, probably Lexus enthusiasts, but just wait for this gloss white paint job. I think the car will look amazing in all white with possibly gold rims. That is undecided.

Skills are growing; here I'm making a different center armrest cover. Actually the one I use now can be used for the rear center armrest too.

I wanted to show you guys around the car completely here so here's some pictures of different things I've done to it. I hope everybody has a Happy New Year's and a great 2019. That's what we all need to strive for. Thanks!

Yep, you can see the curtains through 80% tint. 

- Rokas Kirvelis

Tutorial and Review: eBay VIP Curtains

I wanted a pair of VIP curtains since I found out they existed. At the same time, I told myself I would only reward myself if I make it far with this car. Well, I can honestly say I did. Here are the glorious curtains.

For $15 curtains (you get two, same length), these are very nice. I can see how a Function Junction curtain is better but not $200 better. They fit so well with the color scheme that it's perfect. I didn't want black originally but it crept its way in and it actually looks good matched with beige.

And I really have been putting some tender loving care into this vehicle. Not long ago, it started misfiring again but only rarely at idle. I knew what it was; I had noticed a small amount of corrosion on the driver's side distributor cap. It was only located where the smaller coil pack connects. Today when I unplugged the wire, I was astounded at how much corrosion there was.

There is a trick to clean corrosion in tight spaces like that and it works to clean up battery terminals too. You need about 600 grit sandpaper - something pretty abrasive. In this case, let's use one of the connecting holes of a distributor cap as an example. You roll up a piece of sandpaper, small enough to fit in the hole, and you stick it in and twist. Every time you do this, some corrosion will come off. Close your eyes and blow it out of the hole - it will become loose.

The idea is that one or more of the metal parts at the bottom of these caps can corrode and impede the flow of electricity. You can see the metal at the bottom of these and there are no signs of corrosion in the picture above. I will put this in a separate tutorial article. Look for it next to this one. I want to get back to this product review.

Brain damage... Sucks...

So the curtains are actually pretty awesome but being $15.00 with free shipping on eBay, they have very minor flaws. They work like a curtain in your house would work. For each curtain, there's two tracks. One on top and one on the bottom. There are these balls attached to the curtains that you essentially install onto the railing by putting the balls in one by one through a special hole which can later be sealed. It's a very simple idea. It's harder to describe than to figure out just by looking at it.

Anyway, the curtains slide nicely along the rails. The balls are bigger than the hole going all the way through these rails, allowing the curtains to slide because they're attached with something that is small enough to travel along the small hole that is the rail but the ball is bigger, keeping it from falling out.

I hope I didn't lose you. Once you insert your balls into the holes, then you can plug them so your curtains don't come out of the rail. You can plug your holes, I mean. While the curtain is railing you. I'm sorry, what I mean is this will allow you to close (and open) your curtains for some privacy dude... Come on...

(If I confused you, sorry - that was a very bad joke and I had to make it.)

The only problem I had with the curtains is that they don't bend right so to get enough length onto a car door that didn't have a nearly long-enough straight line where I could adhere the railing, I had to cut a part of the two top rails off because the bend was too much for the adhesive to hold. What I left still had about a third of a foot that had to bend around the top of the window. Well, the double sided 3M tape that comes with the rails works okay but you really will need some super glue. Actually, go ahead and just use the double sided tape first so you get a feeling for the install and when it inevitably pops off, fix it by adding super glue. (You can scrape it off later.)

Start at one end and press it down from one side to the curved side. Keep it curved and pressed against the surface. The problem is, when you get to that 3-5 inch curved part of the window, the rail will initially adhere properly but then it will come off a little at the bend.

This is after cutting off about six inches but not cutting Vs into the rail and adhering it with the double sided tape it originally comes with. Do it right the first time...

The solution is to cut Vs into the sides of the rails. My rails came off the very next day because of the opposite force of the bent plastic railing pushing back against the bent surface. What you need to do is modify them.

You will have to cut off a part of the top railing, like I mentioned, but you also need to get some wire cutters and cut Vs into the railing where it bends. This way, it somewhat follows the curvature of the top window frame. Not perfectly but well enough that with some super glue - yes, you need better adhesive - you can get it to look right.

My finished modified rail looks like crap but it's okay because the tops of the curtains actually hide it. Don't be a dummy like me, though. Find that spot where the most pressure would be at that bend and cut the Vs into both sides of the rail. For the back windows of an LS400, a good spot to cut is about 6 inches from the edge closest to the bend.

This is what will happen otherwise, as I mentioned...

And this is how you need to cut the Vs:

Just by doing that simple modification, you won't need to cut off so much and it will actually look nice. And unless your car has an abnormally long straight window at the top of any of your doors, you need to do this. So that's the drawback of cheap curtains. I imagine the "good" $200 ones bend easily but I'll probably never find out because these work fine after you add super glue and cut it.

Other than that, they were great, they work great, hold up to wind even without the plugs installed yet, and add a lot of flair to my car. Plus they're $15... Come on now.

THANK you for reading. I hope it wasn't too long; didn't read. This is a great product and I recommend it to anyone wanting VIP curtains.

One last thing that I wondered myself is if they would be visible from the outside through illegal-level tint and surprisingly, you can. It adds a super nice effect. It probably wouldn't show up as much if it was black.

Here you can see I added the loop that would hold the curtain in place if you retracted it.

- Rokas K.

norgin@gmail.com

A New Style

If you read my articles from day 1, my tastes have changed dramatically when it comes to cars. When I got my first Lexus, before I even had it running right I was looking into VIP style. I had never seen anything like that before and it amazed me how nice the interiors are.

My initial inspiration was the picture above. Mind you, I haven't looked at this interior for a good year now. I had to find it again for this article. And it hit me. A lot of the things in that interior are actually things I came up with myself. Let's see the resemblance...

You know my dash and center armrest covers are recent. Well, I knew that specific VIP car had a dashboard cover but not a center armrest cover. It kind of blew my mind that someone had the same idea before and pulled it off very well.

My VIP curtains are in the mail. They have been for over a month... Coming from China. Anyway, I had just posted a picture I took of a sketch I did of something I want to do to my car. That was on my Instagram yesterday. I was saying that I am getting ready to reupholster the seats. Boom - check that off.

Actually, that car in the picture above that I am comparing this to just has very nice quality stock seats. Since mine are ripped up and I'm using a cover, I can mess around with it all I want in the sense that if I mess up... Oh well! But I am definitely doing it. I'm not dead set on what I'm going to do but I am seriously thinking of using a durable cloth. Why? Leather seats get very cold in the winter and very hot in the summer. That's also unique. And honestly, I actually like cloth. It's soft and just a preference I've had for a long time.

I want to keep a lot of the original parts of the seats. I'm going to be doing the fronts and bottoms because those are the bad parts. For your hating pleasure, here is my idea of a cloth plus leather combo.

Here, the darker parts would be the red leather while the lighter part in the middle bottom is cloth and the armrest left original. That will have a matching cover too. Foam will be added for extra comfort. 

I probably will not use the leather for stated reasons but I can't help but think it would look awesome. The idea was to use the red leather but I don't think that's going to happen. Like I said before, balance is key. I have just the right amount of red leather in the form of covers. Any more and it wouldn't fit in.

I'm turning into an interior designer... Sheesh.

The amount of ideas that have gone through my head for the back is insane. I even thought about turning the back seat into an 'L' shape like a living room set. However, blocking one door isn't a good idea. And it's a little much.

The dream is to turn the LS400 into a wagon and I'm not kidding at all. But don't expect it for years. As a wagon, I think it would have enough space to literally have two back seats facing each other.

For the front, it's important that everything is ergonomic for the driver and that every little detail is addressed (that part goes for everything). As for the back, because this was originally a car people were chauffered in, I want it to be a place where - if you wanted - you could have complete privacy, even from the driver with a curtain separating the front and back. If you're riding in the back, you also have a place to charge your phone as well as the remote control to change the LED lighting. That's in right now. Same thing with the music - you can put your playlist on.

Up to the LEDs, this was sounding like a VIP build still, right? My other issue with VIP cars is functionality. I don't want to get stuck at a speedbump that's too tall. I don't want to scrape all day long. The car performs great already so I feel like dropping it a couple inches in the front will be about it. Strangely, it's dropped a little bit in the back. That's how I got it.

The idea is to be able to go off road if the situation really requires it. Also, the idea is to have the car looking nice outside but be completely crazy inside. This way, there's a 'wow' factor that I've talked about before.

And the other thing is money. There's a reason well built VIP LS400s sell for $10,000 or more as opposed to $1,000. People put a whole lot of money into making them. You know the theme of this website so you could probably guess the idea behind this new style I accidentally created.

I've never seen a similar LS400 that wasn't VIP. I put very little money into it but by being smart and doing 90% of the work myself, it's working. The car is getting better, not worse. And right now I'm going through a really harsh financial situation yet I am able to continue working on Lexi2 because a lot of stuff is actually free.

I've written an article about this. Where do I get my leather and upholstery grade fabric? From sofas people throw out! If it's a big set, you can get enough leather to reupholster your seats completely from one junked living room set. Just clean it really well to make sure mold doesn't get a foothold (I have NEVER had a problem, even with leather that originally had mold on it - I simply used alcohol wipes to clean and kill it after letting it dry completely).

Vinyl adhesive costs mere dollars as well as various other paints. For stitching, you can bend a normal needle to get a curved one. This whole style is about innovation. Finding a way to produce a quality product from scratch actually makes you so much more aware of what you can really do with your hands and essentially garbage.

I've found turn signals and headlights before. Want custom headlights? With cheap tools, you can modify a completely different headlight assembly to replace the stock one and make it look professional.

You just can not allow yourself to do something that you KNOW is TOO cheap. TOO low quality. Don't lie to yourself. Same thing with picking fabrics and stuff. Wait to get one you really want instead of using what you have because it's there. Ultimately, you're not gonna like the finished product because it's not what you wanted in the first place.

This style of building a car involves a lot of learning. Ofcourse, many people have more than the necessary skills to do all of this immediately but I think if you're going down this route, you're probably passionate about cars and relatively poor. Let's just be honest. And if you're poor, you're probably young and haven't gotten a trade yet. I learned how to work on cars mainly from the two LS400s I've owned. And not only fixing mechanical issues but I am starting to learn simple upholstery which can only go on to grow. The dream is to have a shop one day but the road is paved with a lot of learning and practice. You will grow as your car grows.

Although we try to save money, we never buy cheap parts. If something breaks, you need to get a proper replacement part. Don't ghetto-rig things and maintain the car. Being reliable saves you money in the long run because a car like the LS400 or something like a Volvo 850R or Saab 900 Turbo will reach 500,000 miles if you take care of it properly. Cars like these were built to last. (Especially the LS400 *cough*.)

This $460 Cardone A-1 Mass Airflow Sensor was found at a junkyard for $25. Sadly, it's for 1990-95 and mine is a 1996. And yes, the MAF sensors are different from year 1994 to 1995 but this still works for both. 

Really, pay attention to the fluids you put in it and everything. The car will reward you.

Anyway, I want to talk about the plans I have for stage 1. I have this build set up in stages that I can chip away at. Like the paint that's chipping. Stage 0 - and I mentioned this in previous articles - was getting the car in reliable driving condition which it is. Thank God; I really lucked out with this one. There was a chance the car had a lot more problems which doesn't seem to be the case.

Fig 1.

So here are the major things I want to do at this point. What stage 2 brings will be based on what I actually end up deciding to do in this one. I will likely be at this point for a long time. The list is long and includes;

1. Finishing the interior. In figure 1 you can see I'm experimenting with the rear seat. This seat cover is the best I've had but it's not perfect. I will be reupholstering all of the seats. That will be a style all in itself or maybe I should say that that process will truly embody the spirit of this new budget style.

The upholstery has to look professional. Everything does. But I'm going off the beaten path and I will be playing with different techniques to achieve the same end result that are actually cheaper and much easier. Look for that in the future.

2. There is an oil leak so somewhere along the line, I think I may have to change out the cam and crankshaft gaskets. The car is reliable but it does like to spill its oil... Not good.

3. The exterior will be painted by me. Again - in an older article I posted pictures of what I was able to achieve with some very basic materials. I will be repainting the entire car. It will be completely gloss white. I have to sand it down. I'm using literally cans of spray paint but it's not any spray paint. Duplicolor 2x Primer and Paint is an extremely durable and thick coating spray paint that comes in cans with which you can achieve very good results. Duplicolor Clearcoat will finish the job. Here is that picture again.

Here, I only painted that one white part of the bumper. Although it's nighttime, you can tell the paint is very smooth and has a nice gloss. It has been a few months and it's going strong. There's a few bumps in the middle somewhere but the bumper was damaged in that area and with the sun going down, I sanded it quickly to have it good enough and actually you probably can't spot it.

4. Exhaust. Ever since I had the first one, I've needed a louder exhaust system. Fortunately and unfortunately, I want a quality one with a tune after so it doesn't run like s$&# and so it sounds good. This depends on how well I do financially in the coming year. However as I type that... A year... It will happen.

5. There's very tiny details I want to fix. I want to properly run the fog light wires. I will clean the engine bay as well as paint the cover gloss white. That should stay clean...

There's many small things like I said. Maybe there's a tiny rip forming on part of the light cloth by the doors or one trim piece is loose. Those are the things I'm gonna go through. Which leads me to...

6. Cleaning the car. If you go back and look at the picture of the seat cover, the carpet is stained badly. It's embarrassing. Instead of hiding it, though, I'm showing the whole world so I have to fix it.

The thing is, I want to do a full detail. As with everything, I will be doing this myself and learning by myself. There's going to be a lot of build articles starting in 2019. But when I say clean, I mean I'm getting rid of the little bit of rust everywhere, fixing the rims, all of that stuff. Poco a poco - it means "little by little" in Peruvian, I believe. That's how they say you should drink their psychedelic Ayahuasca (that I don't condone!) to trip your nuts off.

It's kinda metaphorical if you think about it. You're drinking this potion little by little and suddenly you're blasted into this hyperdimensional space and overwhelmed but filled with ideas. I heard that's how it works anyway... In this case, I started small and I promise my readers - this car will explode. To be totally honest - this may end up being a special type of show car.

7. Upgrading it technologically. LED headlights. New center console. Auxiliary cord to plug into your phone for music. Navigation system. Honestly, anything that is worthwhile that I can do to make the car functional on a budget - meaning it's worth what I'm paying - I will do. And guys, I have innovative ideas for 90s luxury vehicles, truly. Instead of replacing your console, you can modify it to accept an auxiliary cord like I mentioned earlier and you can have a stand for your tablet that connects right to the system.

There's an idea I've been playing with that I will show soon. I want to modify a different headlight to fit the Lexus. It amazes me how some people will do a full front swap and things like this. I want my car unique. Stay tuned.

- Rokas Kirvelis

Lexi2 the Chariot: Budget Build

It's obvious this website came about as a result of my first V8 Lexus which ended up being a lemon. There's a lot more to it, however. To be quite honest, it changed my direction in life.

Lexi2... the Chariot. What other title?!

I suppose I was really looking for something I enjoy doing to start some sort of career. When I got the original Lexi, a 1995 salvage rebuilt title LS400, it was not only coming from a small wreck but it had other problems too. As a matter of fact, that car had so many problems I fixed myself that from start to finish, I went from being able to change my brakes to knowing about every system in the car.

I'm still an amateur but my skills improved ten times over and that was actually part of the goal. Only I expected to keep that car for a long time once I was done working on it. What ended up happening was totally unexpected.

The whole idea is a high quality budget build. In two cases, the dashboard and center armrest, I'm going with a cover similar to what's on the seats. The seat covers will not be staying. 

It started with one or two minor problems that turned into a few others once I fixed them and those continued to create more and more problems. By the end of it all, that car would take a good 20 seconds to make it to 30 mph and top out. When I say this was a lemon, it was a LEMON.

I had one chance to get that logo right. The cover was complete besides that... Logical huh?

Knowing that I would spend way too much money on this if I was going to continue fixing it, I started looking for another LS400. This is when I found Lexi2. I feel like it was fate. Or, actually, I was just blessed. But to make a long story short, this was a car with a couple weird problems that was being sold by a lady with a medical condition. Recently diagnosed and told she could no longer drive, she needed medicine money and didn't need the car.

I had $350 and my own car. She was asking for $900, I believe, but I shot her a quick text offering a trade plus the $350 so she could at least junk the other car and make $500. What she did was tell me I could have it and keep my car. I was astounded.

I had to have that color in the car. That cherry red leather? Beautiful.

I drove it around the Publix parking lot before it was obvious to me that the car had very weird symptoms keeping customers away. I had been watching this car for almost a month. From my previous experience with the first car, though, I knew intuitively that it had a simple misfire with a simple fix.

It would buck on you, had a rough idle where the car would shake, and other similar symptoms. New spark plugs, plug wires, fuel pump plus filter, and a little clean of the distributor caps which some had a little corrosion later, I had a smooth running car.

To this day it has the same check engine code because of the corrosion. It's a random misfire code, p0130. Soon, when I stop being lazy, I'm gonna change out the caps and the code should go away. All of the symptoms are gone, at least.

Remember, I cleaned it and not even very well, but one of the distributor caps had corrosion at the contact points where the wires from the coil packs attach, actually. It makes perfect sense that it impedes the flow of electricity causing a misfire. In my case, it's minor enough to not do anything except very rarely misfire very slightly while idling cold. That's enough to set off the code. So really, I haven't messed with it because simply it isn't causing any problems but at the same time, I'm just gonna go ahead and fix that up soon. I have the caps.

At 220,000 miles, this car runs smoother than a friend's 130,000 mile 1999 LS400 - quite a feat in my eyes. I had the timing belt and water pump changed. Overall, I'm sure I'm going to get a lot of miles out of this car with very little mechanical problems.

It's sturdy. Work has been done to it, including new coil packs and shocks in the back, what looks like possibly new motor mounts, the A/C was fixed at 80,000 miles, and a few other minor things.

This is the one I'm gonna keep for as long as I can imagine. It would be stupid for me to sell it and the car is gonna be a classic one day. The price of it can only go up but truly, this is my dream car as far as a daily driver goes.

I tinted my headlights yellow and added blue fog lights in the bumper. The switch is encased in a Crown Royal bag. It's just classy.

In my humble opinion, this car was made at a time where the amount of technology in the car is perfect. Most vehicles these days have sensors upon sensors, everything is controlled by a computer, and you can't even work on some of these cars yourself. With all of these electronics, something small can go bad and your car won't run properly or at all.

This LS400 has OBDII which started in 1995 for this model and only has essential sensors. Even the 1998 to 2000 models are drive-by-wire, meaning there's a sensor connected to the gas pedal that tells the computer how much throttle you're giving it. The computer, then, opens the throttle body. I don't care how fast the computer can respond, it can never replicate the feeling of mechanically opening the throttle body by pushing the gas pedal.

With the OBDII you can read codes which makes it much easier to track down issues but like I said, the car was made when there wasn't all of these fancy electronics in cars so thankfully, it has the perfect mix.

That gave me 5 horsepower back.

I enjoy it very much. The horsepower is very nice to have. I drive pretty fast but I rarely hit the gas. To be honest, I've only done it a few times. I also did a little rally of my own at night on these dark winding streets and that was the most fun I have ever had in a car. I mean hey, I had to test it. I didn't want any weak links. At least that's my excuse. Really though, I just remember time slowing down, my side vision getting blurry, and the most euphoric rush of adrenaline.

Now I'm no stranger to things like this but I was a front wheel drive turbo junky, really. To do it in this V8 beast of a sedan was such a different experience and a total pleasure.

The car is so inspirational to me that I started a business selling used auto parts and I recently reached the same income I was getting at my previous job. It was health reasons that made me lose it but it was for the best in hindsight.

LEDs that I can change the color of, of course. I like green. It matches the gauges.

The car continues to inspire me. I have so many plans for it. Guys and gals, I really am broke hence the website. But this domino effect that started two years ago has almost brought me to a point where I can be independent simply from my own business. And all of this started with a car! An amazing car. I suppose reaching my goal of finally owning one was inspiring enough (despite how cheap these cars are) but it was more than that. It opened my mind to so many possibilities.

Total: ~$1500

- Rokas Kirvelis