Feature Car: Louis Borbon's LS400

Louis Borbon, the owner of a 2nd gen (98-00) LS400, has just a long a history as the car itself. For him, like for me and many others, the car was medicine. Beautiful, Japanese medicine.

You see, this man was afflicted with depression and anxiety - two debilitating mental illnesses that almost made my new friend a shut in. These days he makes YouTube videos and says it helps to bring out his confidence and his true character.

And you can tell in the videos. This is a clean, well spoken guy that had issues when he was younger. I've noticed this trend with some car enthusiasts. I've heard of people beating addiction by focusing on cars. It's therapy. A true car lover knows this. Fixing something gives you a similar satisfaction to completing a good workout or accomplishing something at work. It's your brain's reward system. You get a hit of dopamine.

The man himself, Louis Borbon. Looking as classy as his car. His Instagram is @1classy_ls4.

Matter of fact, that's what Louis says. Wrenching on the car takes his mind off things. Accomplishing his goals with the car, he says, helps him to push himself in other areas of his life. He knows that you just have to push on - it's hard at times but you can do it. Many people can learn from that. It's the only way to become stronger. You have to challenge yourself.

I regress. Let's get to this man's car which is as unique as he is. When he explained to me that he doesn't want to do the same thing everyone else is doing, that rang true to me aswell.

That was my idea!

He says he's going for 17 inch rims - a throwback to the Yakuza. They weren't using 19s on their VIP vehicles. Louis's car also sits on air bags that he had for another car when he bought his Lexus. Side note; 17s is what I want to keep with the car lowered.

It sports a diffuser that Louis was able to fit from a Lexus IS250. I saw the video he did on that back when he first posted it. I had no idea we would one day collaborate. That was one of the very first videos I saw on these cars. I distinctly remember wanting to work on mine after seeing it - a mark of a good YouTube channel.

His channel is going to reach 1,000 subscribers soon so we have to help him. It may seem small to some, but 1,000 subscribers actually takes a lot of effort to get. Congrats Louis.

RS Creations - Louis's YouTube channel

Where did Louis get his inspiration? He tells me that when he was a kid, he would make videos for his friends and family using Hotwheels cars. I played with those too but I never filmed them. You can tell it's in Louis's blood and I hope his YouTube channel takes off.

His reason for doing it is twofold; to help and teach people, and as a therapy for himself.

Can you tell he keeps changing it?

He says he has gained a lot of confidence back in two years and I wish him the best of luck. Many of us deal with mental issues that go largely ignored and many fail to deal with them.

"It helps me become more of myself and shows who I really am. I'm still learning and still opening up but I get inspired to do my best when filming because it helps me to open up and that helps me as a person and to grow and to just gain more confidence." Strong words with real meaning behind it.

Back to his car. Like I said, it's original. With the bags, diffuser, and normal rims, the car stands out to me. It's not your typical VIP car, not that I don't love those anyway. I personally want mine lowered just a bit but the goal is to keep the car's functionality. Louis has done that pretty well, with the bags instead of permanently lowering his car. And no, bags aren't for trash... (I saw that on a bumper sticker.)

I don't want to have to be careful going over speedbumps. Although I know someone that seems to love scraping his car but maybe that's another article. That man, Hachi, has a very nice, very low VIP car.

Louis has hefty plans for the future. I was a little surprised at his list and I can't wait to see it even halfway done. I should say halfway through the list - the man says his car will constantly evolve to please his desire to be original.

He already has some new wheels he is waiting to put on along with a new bumper. He wants his windows tinted and a spoiler, the latter of which I've considered myself. A quieter exhaust is then going on the car but it will have a cut-out for when Louis wants it loud. I think that's a great idea and I'm sure some of you had a lightbulb turn on above your head, too.

The big future plans are a possible turbo which is possibly the nectar of life or at least one of the sweetest things in car history. A turbo LS400 just makes me all tingly. He says he will probably swap out the motor soon as it's building up a lot of miles, somewhere in the range of 220k. That's not very high for a stock LS400 but if he wants a turbo, good idea. With a six-speed swap to top it off, this is going to be an amazing car. Of all people, I trust Louis to put it together in a pretty package.

Louis says he hasn't done much to the interior. It has a wrapped aftermarket steering wheel and not much else. The car is a very clean example though.

Although his focus has been on the outside, the man is planning on changing the interior but we will all have to wait to see that.

Sort of like my car, his is ever-evolving except he's not broke so you don't have to wait months for an update! I urge everybody to have a look at his YouTube channel. It really does have some good tips, especially when it comes to bodywork which is what Louis Borbon seems to be best at.

Thank you Louis for sharing your car, life, and passion with us. I am not the only one that is motivated by your story. Like I said my friend, a lot of us have moved onto cars after a bad phase in our life. May everything go well for you and your car!

We can all learn from this. Everybody makes mistakes but that's not the problem. The problems come in when you don't learn from your mistakes. Have a great day, people. Go watch Louis's YouTube videos and then get to wrenching. You know you want to! Don't do that if you're reading this from work, please. I am not liable for you getting fired.

Cheap Turbo: Dodge Neon SRT-4

I met a man who was stopped at the gas station because his air intake flies off if he goes above 20psi boost. I started talking to him about it and mentioned my website after which he stated that these Neon SRT-4s are actually selling for under $3,000. I had gone up to him originally just to check out his build. It looked nice.

The guy owns a graphic design shop with his friend so I guess here's a plug. Hey buddy, maybe you can hook me up with free s***?

I want a decal that says "P***y Monster" (not party...) on top of my windshield. Well, maybe not. That's not VIP. It should say "Clout Nation" or something.

Let's get to this Neon SRT-4. I'm calling it The SRT-4 from now on. I know they have a reputation for blowing head gaskets (is that what it is?) and that would have mattered if the car cost me $15k. Couple thousand... I don't care!

Actually people, this is the best turbo deal I could find. Yeah the Saab is way more comfortable, ergonomic, and unique but for those who just want a car to haul ass, this is perfect.

I did my Craigslist test. Put in a car and set the maximum price at $3,000. Oh, here we go. The first ad is for a clean, running, up to date but modified (I will talk about this later) SRT-4. Clean, no real problems that I can tell.

That one has 109,xxx miles and is being sold for $2,000 leaving you some money to fix any loose ends.

Even the mods look well done at a quick glance. These cars have a similar problem to NSXs - good luck finding an unmodified one. If you do, it will also cost you more. Now buying a modded car is a good thing if everything is done right. You get a bunch of expensive aftermarket parts and the car comes with more power. Great.

Avoid ricers like they have the plague, however. Look at the engines above - they're well done. If it looks like a 16-year-old kid put it together in his parents' garage and made a manual boost controller from Home Depot parts, just leave it. You're going to have problems popping up over and over.

If you find a car like that for really cheap and think you can handle it, at least drive it for like 10 miles. If the owner has deleted Check Engine codes, they should come back up. This is an unsavory practice that might take a couple hundred off the price but just remember that a cheap car that can't be brought back to how it was, ever, is only worth it if you want to have fun until the car dies.

That is clean and well done. The air intake gives it away a lot of times. The real tuners will get a custom one that fits like this one while the aforementioned teen is going to stuff in parts from AutoZone.

In stock form, the car comes with 230 horsepower and gets 22-30 mpg. This is just me but I would do some simple mods to get the car and extra 50 horsepower and enjoy the reliability and gas mileage.

I will admit I never really liked these cars but after learning more, they're definitely a steal especially if you want a turbo front wheel drive car.

VIP Style Cars - Origin and Definition

From the moment I got my first LS400, I learned about the VIP style. I had seen it on these cars but I had no idea there was a name for this style. VIP stands for Very Important Person but on cars, it has just become the designated term for this type of car.

It is really a style of modification and is called bippu in Japan. The style has its origins in the Yakuza and the LS400 (surprise!). When this car came out, it was perfect for them. It was big and had a powerful engine with rear-wheel-drive. It was just missing some things.

First of all, it's illegal to get dark tints on your car in Japan (maybe they changed it by now) so the Yakuza started putting curtains in their Lexuses for some privacy. You know, so they can do taxes, business, maybe some blow in the back with a... Let me stop. This is family friendly. Yes, those VIP curtains came directly from the desires of the Yakuza.

What else did they like?

Well they liked champagne and the aforementioned blow so they needed tables and cupholders. They come in small and large sizes and can be installed in the passenger seat or in the back. They fold down like in an airplane.

I think you get it by now. Imagine a VIP car as one that transports a Very Important Yakuza Person. It's luxurious to the point where you have all the comforts of home with the legroom to go with it in this car. The LS400 wasn't the only car though and not the first either. It is probably the one that made this style take off like it did, though.

Another common characteristic of these vehicles is stanced wheels. It's also a MUST that they are lowered. The bare minimum to qualify is a nice interior, exterior, and a lowered car. The lower the better in this case but I'm keeping mine high enough to not worry about speedbumps... Sorry Yakuza.

A lot of VIP cars have air suspension allowing them to drop down low and go back up higher to get over speedbumps and such. While a normal LS400 is extremely cheap these days, one that has gotten the VIP treatment sells for $10,000. There is a lot of time and money that goes into these vehicles.

This picture from Super Street is what initially inspired me when I got the black LS400. That interior is beautiful to me. There's some things I would change but man... Imagine your friend hopping in your new whip and this is what it looks like inside. Actually forget your friends, imagine a bunch of hookers doing blow in it.

That's one hot thing about these cars. Although some have thousands spent on the suspension and everything, you can't REALLY tell that the car is decked out until you step inside. This is when you're blown away. It's something you didn't expect. That's the 'Wow' factor of VIP cars. I take the first statement back a little bit. All of them look great from the outside. Nice big rims, paintjob... But some are low profile while some are obvious. Dropped to the ground, stanced... You probably expect a custom interior there.

The main brands people use are Infinity, Lexus, Toyota... Mainly Japanese luxury cars and some economy cars. This style IS Japanese. I don't even think a Lincoln (for example) can be VIP even if it has the same modifications... It's just not JDM. No, this doesn't make much sense but go with it, man.

On the flip side, there is always someone that will not like your car so do what you like. I'm sure a "VIP" Cadillac would be sick. I'm also sure they exist without the moniker of a VIP car.

I should mention that these are cruising cars. Some might have 400+ horsepower for when they need to catch a rival gang member or get the groceries super quick but these cars make you want to drive slow. They're for cruising around town. They have a strong presence. These are automobiles people notice. They're special because they're not Ferraris. They're even more special because to build one, you have to have passion. It almost becomes a lifestyle.

What attracted me to this is the fact that you can get into the hobby for pretty cheap. It will eventually cost you a lot of money to get your car where you want it but you can always take your time. And when it's finally in a state you want it to be, it will be that much more rewarding.

Buy a 90s luxury car for a couple grand and gradually add on to it. This is how it becomes a lifestyle. Obsessive people like me get addicted to this. Then we turn our Instagram into our car's Instagram and want to hurry and leave work to work on the car! Exercise caution. Especially going over speedbumps.

Review: Infinity Q45 - JDM Luxury Sedan

The Infinity Q45 caught my eye relatively recently, after I had already bought my first Lexus LS400. Of course I had seen it before but I saw a second-gen VIP Q45 on the road and let me say... It was very nice. I kinda wanted to be in it actually. It had a loud dual exhaust, nice rims, suspension work, a nice paint job. I was a little jealous.

This car is somewhat rare as far as I can tell. I don't see them on the road very often and there are none on Craigslist in Orlando right now although Kelly Blue Book says a first-generation Q45 (1990-97) is valued at $1,500. A good price indeed but this isn't a reliable LS400 with parts easily available.

Although yes, it is a reliable car, I would think that parts are harder to get (forget the junkyard) and maintenance costs in general would be higher. It will be more expensive to run.

When it comes to performance and gas mileage, it's very similar. The Q45 gets about 20mpg city which is the same as the LS400 and has a 4.5 liter motor - 0.5 liters bigger but producing similar horsepower and torque numbers. It, too, has a 4-speed gearbox. 

It also does 0-60 in 6.7 seconds which blew me away when I read it. This is a big, rear wheel drive, luxury sedan and beats the LS400, 5-series BMW, and Jaguar and Meecedes' competition too! I guess that 0.5 extra liters counts for a lot.

The vehicle sounds great with a nice exhaust. One of the nicest engine sounds I have ever heard. It has a presence. 

The interior is nice too. The car has the typical options you saw in luxury sedans in the 90s. Traction control, heated seats, power everything. Just look at this interior. I think it's one of the best looking interiors out there, truly.

How nice is that? Checking Craigslist yet?

Beautiful is a word I can use to describe almost everything on this car. The inside is gorgeous, the exterior is amazing (made me consider if I would like one of these instead but no), and if you turn one of these into a VIP car, well, you will be king of the road, sir. 

I hate to admit it but I like the way the Q45 looks more than the LS400, at least in stock form. I have to be truthful or these reviews aren't worth a monkey crap.

Enjoy some carporn.

Man, oh, man does that look badass.

Luxury On a Budget: The 5-series BMW

I've always thought older BMWs are just beautiful and they do live up to the "Ultimate Driving Experience" thing - kinda. I'm sure I could find a better driving experience but then it would just be my opinion. They're all good cara. And for $3,000 or less, it's hard to beat a 5-series (525, 525i, 530, etc) if you want a luxury sedan.

While a 3-series BMW is more of a sporty, smaller ''get-around-town" car, this one is a big luxury sedan.

It's hard to find a problem with the way these cars look. They're big sedans that just look mean. In my opinion, the looks of BMWs went downhill after this car above, sadly. They got too round... Too bland, boring even. A good amount of people seem to share my sentiment. I'm not saying new BMWs are ugly but they're surely a lot more bland.

Let's get to the good stuff. It was about time for me to find another nice car that you guys can get on a budget when the 5-series popped in my head. I didn't think I would be able to find a nice one for under three grand but not only did I find a few but I found an '05 for $2,800 with a minor problem. The ad says it overheats. It's probably just the radiator. If I was in the market, I would look for sure.

So what do you get for this type of money? A nice package to say the least.

The interior is just beautiful and the car drives smooth and has some decent power. It actually has an inline-6 engine - not a V8 like I thought they had. I owned an E30 and I know that BMW makes great inline-6 engines. The exhaust sound is amazing too.

A 2000 5-series does 0-62mph in 8.1 seconds which is almost exactly like the LS400 that I love. Only difference is that THIS engine makes 189 horsepower and 180 ft. lbs. of torque. I was expecting 250 at least! It's a big feat they accomplished - getting a car 0-62 in about the same time as one with 80 more horsepower (the LS400). Just proves my point how BMW makes great inline engines.

It has a 5-speed transmission and is rear-wheel-drive. This is one of the last generations of BMWs that are easy to work on yourself. Unfortunately, car manufacturers now make cars that require special tools so you can't work on them period. BMW decided to get in on this earlier than most for some reason. Eventually all new cars will be serviced at the dealer and dealer alone. That's sad to me and just one more reason I don't like most cars made after 2000 or so.

Back to the beemer. If you want one on a budget, look for a '90s 5-series. I saw one as low as $1,500 with no problems and a clean title. Another for $2,000 or so that just had the belt changed. Like I always say, don't rush - wait until you find that car that will last you. You don't want a clunker, trust me!

I have an article that will give you some tips on what to look for when buying a car but basically you should get under the hood and look for any potential problems. Sometimes it's obvious that somebody with limited knowledge tried to fix something and in cases like that, run far away. I had a car like that that would NOT stop giving me problems because of the previous owner messing with it. When you turn the car on, pay attention to the sound and idle. The idle should be smooth and the car shouldn't shake. The idle goes down a little as the engine warms up so don't worry about that. Throttle response has to be smooth and even.

Check the suspension and brakes. Make sure everything looks right. When you test drive it, pay attention to how the engine sounds (again) and how the suspension feels. Try to feel how the transmission is shifting. It should smoothly shift without much, if any, hesitation. If it throws you back in your seat a little bit when it shifts as you accelerate then either overdrive is on (in automatic cars) or there might be a problem with the transmission.

If there is a check engine light, ask what it is. If it seems like the person is lying and you can check the code, do it. Anything you find will allow you to haggle the price down. Decide what you are willing to buy as far as problems go and if there is too many red flags, be patient and wait for another car. It will be worth it.

Tutorial: Fixing a Random Misfire Code (p0300)

The new LS400 I got was maintained very well and came with a bunch of goodies like brand new tires and fluids. However it had a misfire, probably preventing others from buying it, which I promptly figured out. Dear readers, although I am basing the details in this article on the Lexus LS400, this code is universal and has the same causes in all cars as far as I know.

You can tell from the name, I'm sure, but this code indicates that either random cylinders are misfiring or multiple ones are. Luckily this isn't very hard to diagnose.

You're gonna have to have a look at your spark plug system. A lot of times, the problem comes from just bad spark plugs. Mine was created by a few factors and here they are.

For one, the negative battery terminal had screws shoved inside it to hold it onto the battery. I took them out and fixed the terminal and this helped already. Especially in a Lexus, a bad battery or connection alone can cause a random misfire. With a new coil pack and that, the car went from bucking (loosing 2-3 cylinders and bucking back and forth) to simply shaking at stops. Why does a crappy connection matter if it doesn't seem to affect anything else? Because while you might not feel it, for milliseconds at a time your car misses some of the electricity it needs and that's critical.

Spark plug wires.

Then I went on to change the spark plugs and this is where I found the main problem. Changing the plugs made the car completely drivable with a slight misfire because of what I found. One of the spark plug wires is ripped. It's literally making some contact when I shove it into the plastic protector that connects to the spark plug. So with good spark plugs and everything, now the car still has the problem until I change that one wire.

New coil pack. Need to clean that engine bay...

Because the wire does have some contact, like I said, the car drives on all cylinders 90% of the time. I'm waiting for an LS400 to show up at the junkyard to change out the wire.

I could have sworn I saved the wires from the '95 I sold but I can't find them! Keep your extra parts, people.

As you know by now, this code comes up when one or more cylinders (spark plugs, really) stop firing randomly. Because this isn't something like a 'misfire in cylinder 4,' it tells you that there is a problem with electricity being delivered to the plugs. Or if it is, they aren't firing correctly.

It could be the distributor or distributor rotors (the latter on the LS400 but this problem is the same on all cars) as well.

In order, start by checking your battery and the connection. Make sure your battery is actually good by testing it. Next, replace your spark plugs and/or coil pack - at this point it could be either one or both. The coil pack will help anyway and you need to do them both. The order is up to you. If you still have a problem, you might need to replace your wires and finally, if that doesn't do it, your distributor or distributor rotor. You may want to start with just the distributor cap(s) first. There is a different cause of this problem that I will discuss below and that is a bad fuel filter. If you suspect that you have a bad fuel filter or pump, I would probably try changing that out after doing the spark plugs.

One stupid thing that can cause this problem too is simply tainted fuel. The LS400 ONLY likes 93 octane gas and it can't have more than 10% ethanol and I believe 5% methanol so be careful.

Wiring diagram thanks to the forum on Club Lexus. 

Two more parts that can cause this problem aswell is the ignition coil (looks like the coil pack on the LS400) or, just on the LS400, the Coolant Temp Sensor if you have tried everything.

There is one more potential cause but I would think it would be accompanied by other symptoms like the car taking a long time to start (crank). That would be a bad fuel filter. If it's partially clogged, it is possible that random cylinders don't get enough fuel at random times, of course causing the same problem. A bad fuel pump could also be the culprit but I would try changing the filter first if you suspect it's a fuel issue.

If I missed a potential cause, please let me know. If you have a misfire, I know it sucks, and I hope this helps you get your car running good. Good luck and share with your friends if you enjoy these articles.

Carporn: The Mazda AZ-1 and Lexus LS400

Carporn is a new feature I will be running on this website. Everybody loves pictures of amazing cars, proved to me by Instagram, so I thought I would share some along with some information. One of these cars is new to me. Meet the Mazda AZ-1.

It's something called a Kei car. This is a Japanese phenomena. A car fits this definition if it has the smallest possible power and displacement legally allowed in Japan. This makes these cars have amazing gas mileage but they tend to be slow. Not this one, though.

It has 63 horsepower stock and weighs 1587 lbs. It's extremely light so add a turbo, crank up the boost, and you have a pretty damn quick car. The damn car has gullwing doors and is mid-engined! It has a 44/56 weight distribution with 44% of the car's weight being in the front. It's rear-wheel-drive and has a five-speed manual. Not too shabby.

Next we have the Lexus LS400, the car that put Lexus on the map and literally invented VIP-style. It's also the reason this website exists. Being a fanboy, I'll try not to harp on how good this car is too much.

This is something called a luxury car. Oh sorry, that's obvious. I'm just going to throw out some facts.

The LS400 is smaller on the outside but roomier than its competition (BMW 5-seriew, Mercedes S-Class, and Jaguar's counterpart). It is also basically a Toyota in terms of reliability and comes with a healthy 265hp or so (depending on the year). This engine redlines at 9000rpm and has 8 cylinders. It's also an aluminum block - probably the first reliable one.

The Lexus is also the most affordable on this list. It has become an enthusiast car. Everyone wants the newest and 'best' but they associate new with best which is a mistake. I've mentioned this before but my '96 LS400 at 200k miles has less issues than my 2005 Ford Focus. It's tiny ones - both cars run good, both have a little misfire right now, but the Lexus is a night and day difference when you drive it.

It's the quality. Remember, the Ford Focus is a cheap economy car and it does that well. But it can't even get the cupholders right (anyone with a 2000-2010 or later should know what I'm talking about). The ones in the center are twice as big as a coffee cup and have holes in the sides specifically made so that your drink can fall through it during a turn. There IS a normal sized cupholder but it's in the door and you can't fit a cup there unless it's super small - the cup holder is there but, being situated in the 'pocket' of the door, won't fit most cups.

And things like this are throughout the car. The other day it was making a beeping noise every few minutes and flashing the oil light with the car being off...

Of course, a new Focus is $20k while a new LS400 in today's money is $90k. Remember that when you're considering if it's worth investing money into it.

Dear readers, I leave you with some bonus cars. I love this Jag.

The 1uz V8 in the Lexus LS400.

Lexus VIP style interior.