Vincent123; LS400 build

[vincent123]

So Ive had a gs300 and a 2jzgte / v160 swapped sc300. Both the gs / sc are sold now and now I've picked up a 1999 ls400. Ive had the car for approximately 4-5 months so far, havent really done too much but I wanted a place to dump all my photos and keep track of everything. So why not make a "build" thread.

I dont have any pics of when I first bought the car. But the factory rims were bugging me and I came across a set of 370z rims for pretty cheap and picked them up. There is about like a 1 or 2mm clearance for my brakes with these rims, got lucky. Picked up some megan lp sport coilovers and tinted the car and hit up my homie for a photoshoot

http://i56.tinypic.com/1g4zec.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/14wwp75.jpg


Also picked up a set of front + rear youzealand ss kit. It lowered the car 20mm more all around to get rid of that wheel gap

http://i54.tinypic.com/z7adt.jpg



Then went over to mikes muffler and got a 2.25" piping all the way back and removed the resonator and first two mufflers. The two rear mufflers are still in place, will be replaced soon. Still too quiet

http://i53.tinypic.com/ji19ap.jpg


So my factory stereo screen display stopped working and wasnt showing any numbers. So I decided to replace it with aftermarket double din.
Pioneer Avic Z120bt
Infinity 860w
Infinity Kappa Five
Polk Audio db651
Metra dash kit

Still not installed yet, waiting on the wire harness before I send it to the shop to get installed

http://i54.tinypic.com/mv3x90.jpg


Ended up fatmatting my entire trunk, trunk lid, rear seat, and rear deck
Only have pics of the trunk though, forgot to take pics of the other locations
Sorry, i'm not baller enough to afford dynamat haha


http://i51.tinypic.com/2cegtau.jpg


Then I traded my weds kranze shoki's for a set of fabulous profounds 19"

http://i51.tinypic.com/2ptpa2s.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/sfdvlk.jpg



Did a quick test fit, going to need a spacer up front to clear my brakes. The rears I havent taken a pic of but will need atleast a 25mm spacer. Dropped the rims off to get refinished and will post more pics of it on the car when I get it back

http://i53.tinypic.com/nltugp.jpg


Picked up these headlights from joe 2 days ago.
LS460 low beam w/ sti clear lens
FX35 bi-xenon w/ color mod
Clear turn signals

Right now its 4300k but i'm still debating if I should do a 6000k or not


http://i54.tinypic.com/aacdnb.jpg




Recently just got a oil change, transmission flush, diff oil change, spark plug change, brakes bled, and coolant temp sensor. Maintenance should be ok for now, until it hits 90k

Thats it for now, i'll post more in this thread as I get more done to my car.

[vincent123]

Put on new mufflers today and had them tuck up the exhaust even more coz I kept scraping it

FullBoar 14" straight through muffler

http://i53.tinypic.com/29gk0gj.jpg


Out with the old, in with the new

http://i52.tinypic.com/t6v8xs.jpg

2.25 all the way back
magnaflow x pipe
resonator delete
first two muffler delete
fullboar muffler 14"

http://i56.tinypic.com/987nz6.jpg

[vincent123]

Heres some pics of my previous cars. vip GS300, white turbo miata NA, and the black 2jzgte / v160 6 speed SC300

http://i52.tinypic.com/2yljv5t.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/332savp.jpg
http://i55.tinypic.com/2ahfpqb.jpg

[vincent123]

Got a chance to install my system today. Snapped some pics, please dont comment on the quality, it was all taken with my camera phone.

Tear down begins
http://i55.tinypic.com/20jlovn.jpg

Drill hole and install backup camera
http://i56.tinypic.com/22fbmc.jpg

Infinity kappa five amp, hidden in the trunk
http://i56.tinypic.com/23hvwnc.jpg

mockup off the car
http://i52.tinypic.com/v7b2wk.jpg

Pioneer avic z120bt installed
http://i55.tinypic.com/9tz8d1.jpg


I didnt get a chance to take a pic of the subwoofer installed on the rear deck. But this little 8" hits hard. Now i'm kicking myself for being too lazy to put sound deadening on the top of the rear deck. Only did the bottom of the rear deck. Got some rattles, hopefully more sound deadening will help

[vincent123]

Finally got my wheels back from the refinishing shop. Mounted tires on the rear pair today, gonna do my front's tomorrow

http://i55.tinypic.com/2dme06v.jpg

So I threw on the front rims, but they needed a spacer to clear. I slapped on my 5mm but it still wouldnt clear and I didnt want to go past a 5mm for lack of spins on the lugnut. So I decided to call some buddies over and we grinded down my calipers on the area's that it was hitting so the wheel would clear.
Overall grinded about 3mm and it barely clears the wheel now, the most I can slide between the caliper and the spokes is a sheet of paper

http://i53.tinypic.com/zv7m1y.jpg

I didnt want to have my caliper expose bare metal, looked incomplete. So I decided to paint my calipers.
Went to autozone and picked up a few things
Duplicolor metal specks (silver)
Plastikote Flexible spot filler and primer (grey)
Rustoleum Engine Enamel 500 degree high temp clear coat

http://i54.tinypic.com/255lxzs.jpg

Didnt take pics of each step, just pics of each spray
Heres the primer on

http://i52.tinypic.com/11ccih0.jpg

Heres a layer of the metal specks silver on

http://i54.tinypic.com/k53fk3.jpg

Finished, put the wheel back on

http://i54.tinypic.com/2aamzvq.jpg

Upclose shot. When the flash hits the paint all the flakes show up

http://i54.tinypic.com/14ka7hy.jpg

And this is where my baby sleeps at night

http://i54.tinypic.com/296j0b8.jpg

[vincent123]

My homie snapped a quick pic today for me, thought i'd share it with you guys
Check out his flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/julian_morales/


http://i51.tinypic.com/9qxxg1.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/10s98pu.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/mkk5sx.jpg
http://i53.tinypic.com/2qu801t.jpg

[vincent123]

So after I put on the fabulous profounds, it lowered my car about 1.5" just due to sidewall height. Went from a 225/50/18 to a 225/35/19
And because of that, I would scrape my exhaust on every driveway. And I already had it tucked up, apparently not enough. So I went to my local muffler shop and got it taken care of

My car on their rack

http://i51.tinypic.com/e878kn.jpg

The main problem area, hung about 1 inch or so below the frame

http://i52.tinypic.com/2iarb6q.jpg

Cutting off the x-pipe and rear portion

http://i56.tinypic.com/2qtiz2c.jpg

Removed the main heatshield right above the x-pipe. It prevented me from going any higher so it was removed. I may or may not put on some exhaust wrap tubing depending on if i feel any excess heat coming into the cabin

http://i53.tinypic.com/2hpimoh.jpg

2x4 laid flat against the frame. Now my piping clears the frame by about 2 inches or so. So if I scrape anything now, i'll be scraping frame

http://i55.tinypic.com/25f4myb.jpg

All completed

http://i51.tinypic.com/293hd6q.jpg

Oh and one of my friends dropped by to adjust his mufflers on his full exhaust system
Porsche Panamera Turbo

http://i54.tinypic.com/2ujjghk.jpg

Upskirt

http://i54.tinypic.com/2ugdrvk.jpg

[SubieStance]

pimp.

[vincent123]

My fusa came in yesterday. Thanks to sean @ jdmpalace!

http://i54.tinypic.com/28aqb85.jpg



Got my car fully detailed this morning
I have my 370z wheels up front coz I sent one of the front wheels back for minor touch up. There was still a bit of curb rash, but I should have it back by tomorrow or this weekend hopefully

http://i51.tinypic.com/xgek1z.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/10yqmo4.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/1z236fp.jpg

[2000EK4]

Looks sick bro

[Apex84]

Dope bro.

[vincent123]

Got an alignment today finally. Good thing I did it before I mess up my brand new tires lol
Pretty difficult getting up the rack, scraped frame the whole way up even with 2x4's. And my rear tires would spin and shoot the 2x4's out from under the car so many times. Had to sit in the trunk and have ppl push the car up onto the rack

Specs are now -2.5 camber front and -4.5 camber rear. All factory adjustments
Ppl are telling me to get toe as close to 0.00 as possible but the alignment guy said that he put it under oem specs

http://i53.tinypic.com/dw6fch.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/2i7l9mv.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/167p2kj.jpg

[XCLSIOR]

Looks good, needs curtains =P

[vincent123]

I'm still debating that, kinda pointless to have curtains on the rear seat when my tint is limo in the back. And it looks just awkward only have the front pair of curtains lol. If my sc300 sells I'll have extra funds to play with, then I can go all out

[vincent123]

Got my car shot last night by my homie Jordan Mo
Check his flickr, up and coming photographer.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jdm_shots/

If anyone in 626 needs a photoshoot, I can arrange shoots for you. Shoot me a PM


http://i51.tinypic.com/smr1ah.jpg

[bigjoush]

You have good taste.

[DRedman45]

those wheels look like they were made for this car...looks real good man

[hyperJDM]

Wow! nice man! I love the caliper paint!

[vincent123]

So I didnt like how the rear end of my car looked so empty with no tips visible. So I decided to do something about it. Ordered some quad tips, I actually ordered 2 set of quads coz I didnt know which one to go with. But I decided on these, the other set will be for sale in a little bit along with my mufflers. Gonna go straight pipe with these tips.

Gonna cut my rear bumper this weekend and get the tips tucked up flush against the rear bumper cutout opening. I'll probably have them extended about 2-3" from the rear bumper, no more than that or I cant fit in my garage


Here they are laying on the ground

http://i52.tinypic.com/at3pt.jpg
http://i51.tinypic.com/rm6xcl.jpg

[XCLSIOR]

I like this exhaust a lot. What are they? what are the other exhausts you didn't go with? I am looking to change my set up.

[vincent123]

My other exhausts was a dual 3.5" 12" long tip with a 2.25" inlet pencil rolled straight cut. If youre interested pm me, and i'll send some pics your way


Decided to take a exhaust vid before I went straight pipe and put on new tips

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZK_YOkvGBXw&feature=channel_video_title

[flodubba]

it's hard to tell what exhaust sounds like when it's a cell phone taken video. they normally don't capture sounds very well.

if anything, if made your LS sound like canned civic's balls dropped. lol

[vincent123]

Got the tips installed this morning. It was scary cutting up my rear bumper, I made a scratch on my rear bumper while cutting it coz the disk was too large, so I'll probably cover it up with some touch up paint later on.

Driving back home was scary, afraid of getting pulled over. Way louder than I expected it to be. Theres a resonator in each tip so thats a total of 4 resonators and its still pretty damn loud. Anything past 2,000 rpm drones like hell. I'll probably have to add another resonator to quiet it down some more



Taping up the rear bumper and drawing where to cut

http://i51.tinypic.com/2mmv7m9.jpg

Cut the rear bumper

http://i55.tinypic.com/2eevspd.jpg

Test fit

http://i52.tinypic.com/2j1o6de.jpg

Finished

http://i52.tinypic.com/1zbcx1y.jpg

Up close

http://i54.tinypic.com/2ur6rfs.jpg

Looking down

http://i54.tinypic.com/dfyses.jpg

[vincent123]

Quality is not the greatest, taken with my phone. The staticy sound is coz we were revving in the building and the sounds were echoing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvBfRLzsOE0

[XCLSIOR]

Yea... maybe you should of left the mid mufflers on... looks dope as hell though. BTW, I PMd you about the exhaust, no reply yet.

[vincent123]

So my homie sells leds and he told me he had a led puddle light kit. Supposedly its exactly the same as the monarch kit without their logo on the box. I compared the two kits, and they look identical. It was a pain in the ass to install, took us about 7 hours to do everything. The cutting and measuring took the longest. And the lights still aren't 100% straight, due to how my side skirt curves downwards. If it was flat like most aftermarket side skirts itd be wayyyyyy easier

Anyways, onto the pics. I will have installed pics later on, didnt have a chance to take any yet

http://i51.tinypic.com/11kjk40.jpg
http://i54.tinypic.com/3097vgj.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/6z0enp.jpg
http://i52.tinypic.com/dpir87.jpg
http://i56.tinypic.com/31273vc.jpg

[xxxKezSC3xxx]

damn nice progresss

[jsu1012]

i love this car, sounds real good too!

[P-a-r-t-why!!!]

Bro sick LS, i really like where your taking it, always a fan of your old NA as well!!