In another realm ,my grandmother's 2005 Mercedes S430 was one of my favorite to drive, of the 7 she had between 89-2015.
The 2015 was a rocket sled with the TTV8, but the facelift W220 was a very nice driving car.

Always liked the Lexus LS, didn't realize they could be had for reasonable prices. I had looked briefly at GX470 models and they definitely hold their value well.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
You don't need to justify your automobile fetish, but there are far, far better ways to use that money.

Are you a wealthy man?

You want to talk about good ways to waste money I'm about to spend $50k on a Toyota Corolla

The GR is an exception

quote:

Originally posted by TomV:
Actually test drove a 2007 SC430 today. It has been sitting on a used car lot that I drive past for at least 2 months.

It drove just OK. It was Silver, not my first choice. The clear coat on the right fender was peeling and the hood appeared to have been repainted.

120,000 miles, it had a sticker that indicated the timing belt had been done at 112,000. 3 run flats and one mismatched.

Also had a tire pressure warning light, probably a dead sensor battery. But it also had a "VSC OFF" and Traction Light, maybe an ABS issue.

The guy was pretty up front about the car, he was asking $12,800. Didn't even discuss a price, but with some of the issues, I would have offered 9 or 10 tops.

IIRC, Top Gear UK voted the SC430 as the worst car ever made.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
I wasn't sure what specific car was an LS430 so I looked it up. What makes you think they are going up in value? My google search found half a dozen within driving distance under 100k miles and under 10 grand. Nice looking one in Gainesville, 84k miles and 9k on the price.

This seems like a fun project but won't adding a supercharger make it much more likely to have mechanical issues? If only because it is one more thing (and not Lexus bulletproof) to go wrong.

Sounds like an impractical project but I hope you provide pictures because it could be fun to watch vicariously.

I have been watching the market on them for a couple years now. When I first started looking pre-facelift cars 01-03 with under 200k miles were sub $5k and post-facelift cars 04-06 under 200k were around the $6 mark. With 100k not being much more of a mark up. Now you are seeing those cars with 250-300k miles in that price range.
Now a good post-facelift car at or around 100k is right around $10k.
Prices are trending up over the last two years. However EVERYTHING is trending up across the board.

As far as the Supercharger adding more problems. These motors are absolute beasts and overbuilt as mentioned before they are racing and aeronautical engines.

The kit I have linked is a top shelf kit with all the supporting components. The 3UZ is designed to handle 600+ hp with its fully forged rotating assemble.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

IIRC, Top Gear UK voted the SC430 as the worst car ever made.

I guess Vega and Pinto weren't exported to the UK ??

The SC430 could have been so much better. Not sure how they lost their way on the design of that thing.

Is the Supercharger a complete bolton to the Lexus or do you need to do modifications and fabrications ??? God Bless

I've heard a lot of good thinks about the LS430. Bolting on a supercharger onto an engine that has 99K on it and wasn't designed for supercharging would give me a bit of pause. I don't have a clue what supercharging a normally aspirated engine does for reliability. Good luck whatever route you take.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
The SC430 could have been so much better. Not sure how they lost their way on the design of that thing.

Compared to the SC300/400, mush less of a sporty car & more of a tourer, but supposedly bad at that too.

quote:

Originally posted by TomV:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

IIRC, Top Gear UK voted the SC430 as the worst car ever made.

I guess Vega and Pinto weren't exported to the UK ??

Don't forget the Yugo!

quote:

Originally posted by TomV:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

IIRC, Top Gear UK voted the SC430 as the worst car ever made.

I guess Vega and Pinto weren't exported to the UK ??

I think it was current production cars as of that filming.
Been a while since I've seen it.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
You don't need to justify your automobile fetish, but there are far, far better ways to use that money.

Are you a wealthy man?

You want to talk about good ways to waste money I'm about to spend $50k on a Toyota Corolla

The GR is an exception

I found a circuit edition 2024 for $1,000 over MSRP, I haven't pulled the trigger yet. It's an amazing vehicle, and not weighted down with anything frivolous. At the same time, it's a freaking Corolla.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
You don't need to justify your automobile fetish, but there are far, far better ways to use that money.

Are you a wealthy man?

You want to talk about good ways to waste money I'm about to spend $50k on a Toyota Corolla

The GR is an exception

I found a circuit edition 2024 for $1,000 over MSRP, I haven't pulled the trigger yet. It's an amazing vehicle, and not weighted down with anything frivolous. At the same time, it's a freaking Corolla.

One of the members here has one, don't think he's posted much about it though.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:

One of the members here has one, don't think he's posted much about it though.

Yep, no need to yap about it all over town. Didn’t buy it to show off. 2023 HM CE, bought new, MSRP only. Bought it for my 50th. It rails. Didn’t buy it to drive to work or a store. Only take it out to corner hard. I liked the RS drivetrain better but the motor was abysmal in the Ford. The G16 is a really great MotorSports derived engine. It’s basically half a V6, lumpy, in the right way. It’s a better STi than the 2008 hatch I once owned. Sure is going to be costly to bring it up to 400 whp. Enjoying it stock for now. About to swap my summers back on and buy new aftermarket wheels and drop some unsprung mass. I’ve modded it for protection already with RA flaps, full PPF/Ceramic, new G2 V1. My first hard run in my twisties, well no PPF it’d already have rock chips. Track is even worse for that. Some photos from when I bought it from the stealer.

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:
I've heard a lot of good thinks about the LS430. Bolting on a supercharger onto an engine that has 99K on it and wasn't designed for supercharging would give me a bit of pause. I don't have a clue what supercharging a normally aspirated engine does for reliability. Good luck whatever route you take.

Complete weekend bolt on. A few upgrades to lines fittings and a larger fuel pump. A company out there has the tune dialed in nicely.
The 3UZ motor is so over engineered adding 6lbs of boost won’t bother it at all as long as you have a proper tune with safe air/fuel ratios.

The kit is unreal a work of art especially the intercooled intake which is unfortunately not seen after the blower is bolted on but that is a piece of art as well.

That's an awesome looking setup! Why is it only 6 lbs? I am not familiar with that engine, but I don't understand the concern with a little more air? If they run to 300k+ routinely I'm sure it would run to 200k if they are as robust as you say. The Corolla I'm looking at runs 25lbs and my current car is near 20lbs.

Looks like a nice/tidy little supercharging unit. You've also researched this pretty well so I'm thinking you won't lose reliability / longevity.

quote:

Complete weekend bolt on.

You do realize the curse you just put on your project with that quote

Seriously, looks like the car is going to be fun as hell if you decide to move forward.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
That's an awesome looking setup! Why is it only 6 lbs? I am not familiar with that engine, but I don't understand the concern with a little more air? If they run to 300k+ routinely I'm sure it would run to 200k if they are as robust as you say. The Corolla I'm looking at runs 25lbs and my current car is near 20lbs.

So we are starting to get out of my engineering understanding with this question. I have always noticed this as well.
Supercharged applications always seem to be on the lower single digit boost levels when turbos are almost always in the double digit boost levels.

More fuel and cooler air at the proper ratio allow for more safe boost.

Also compression of the motor goes into it. Hopefully someone will
Come along and explain it better because I have always wondered this as well. I presume that 6lbs of super charged boost is not equivalent to 6lbs of a turbos boost.

Also a supercharger is arguably less efficient because it relies on the motor to produce power so eventually you are going to be using more engine power to create more boost at some point the inefficiency equation will kick in where as a turbo is using the exhaust to power the turbine so less effect on the motor. Which is why you generally don’t see Superchargers on same displacement motors.

I am presuming they are doing 6lbs of boost because this is a simple bolt on kit and they want to make sure it is a very safe levels.
Also being that the intercooler is in the manifold and rather small vs many turbo setups use a front mount intercooler where air is constant just being fed to it. I know I plan to run about 20lbs of boost on my little Mustang.

I am sure if you decided to do a stand alone ECU and do dyno tunes you could certainly run more boost on the Lexus without much harm.

Interesting, I'm not too familiar with supercharged engines. Does the manufacturer claim any HP or tq gains? Or have you seen any YouTube videos showing results on your possible setup?

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Interesting, I'm not too familiar with supercharged engines. Does the manufacturer claim any HP or tq gains? Or have you seen any YouTube videos showing results on your possible setup?

The video I have seen uses the Eaton M112 Supercharger from a 03/04 Mustang Cobra with the bottom machined off to match the intake.
So using a 20 year old blower and a very mild tune they were up like 60hp to the wheels. The Harrop is probably good for at least 75 as the supercharger is so much more efficient.

75whp will make it a very lively grandpa car. Nice!

This seems like a very poor financial decision, but like others have said I'd enjoy watching it play out, since its not my money .

Personally, if I just absolutely couldn't resist buying the Lexus, I'd leave it stock. No matter how well built that motor is, it'll run more efficiently and reliably without added boost and extra bolt-ons. There aren't really many places left any more where you can leverage the advantages of such things on the public roads, anyway. And if you don't have time for four-wheeling, you probably don't have time for track days, either.

I'd put the time and money into the Mustang. That car is so much cooler than any Lexus will ever be. Have the boys help. They'll learn useful things and it'll make for good family time.