Does the wife have any input for this decision? I can't imagine having several cars sitting around and my wife being ok with me buying another. You must have a very understanding better half, I can't get away with anything.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
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.

Financially. It’s better to get the Lexus. If I just do the timing belt (absolute must) and suspension I drive away with about $15k cash. If I decide to go the supercharger route I still have around $10k in my pocket.

I am constantly on 2 lane windy twisty roads so I’ll get to enjoy it. Full potential not as much but much more than what I get to enjoy with the Tundra currently.

This purchase has about zero effect on the Mustang as I have almost everything I need for that but time. Considering I have been collecting parts for 15 years now.

quote:

Originally posted by sigspecops:
Does the wife have any input for this decision? I can't imagine having several cars sitting around and my wife being ok with me buying another. You must have a very understanding better half, I can't get away with anything.

She’s good with it and actually may kind of welcome it. While she does not hate driving my truck she does not enjoy it. I think she’ll far prefer the Lexus when her Suburban is broken as it frequently is.

Only way she would really squawk is if it cost her a spot in the garage, I go into debt for it (which I won’t be doing), or I have to park one visible from the street, she has her spot in half the upstairs garage, the boys get the other half for bikes, scooters, skateboards, balls, etc.

I get the basement garage where the Mustang and GTO reside along with the back pad/drive way, where the company car and Tundra reside. Still have space for 2 on the pad if need be.
Though I’ll be getting rid of the Tundra if I go through with it.

I was just going to buy one outright a couple years back for like $4k which would not have been Supercharger worth due to mileage.
I got the eye roll on that one.

When I retire which is not far off I likely won’t have a company car anymore and I’ll certainly be doing something other than the Tundra for a daily.

Now you've got me poking around at potentially bad ideas....

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
Now you've got me poking around at potentially bad ideas....

Do let me know how I can keep adding fuel to the fire!!!

I am been looking at them for a couple years now. I ways back I was really really really wanting a BMW 740iL Sport. But parts and constant maintenance costs kept me away.
That lead me to the LS430 world and we’ll just keep getting more intrigued as time goes by.

The Speed Acadmey’s $6k challenge series on YouTube has really drive my interest up.
Also would not be surprised if it is part of the reason for the prices on these things creeping up.

For me it's Minis. Always wanted one, but hesitant with the BMW aspect of them from a longevity & DIY maintenance aspect.

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
For me it's Minis. Always wanted one, but hesitant with the BMW aspect of them from a longevity & DIY maintenance aspect.

These LS430s are so easy to work on and rarely need work along with being comfortable and big with some pep.
Checks a lot of boxes for me

Watching this thread to see how things will go. Interesting idea.

quote:

Though I’ll be getting rid of the Tundra if I go through with it.

You'll regret not having a truck. Even if it's not a daily driver they're handy to have around. When you need one, you need one. Mine sits for weeks at a time, especially in the winter, but it's costing me nothing, and super handy when I need to do any real work.

Maybe add a Harrop SC kit to the Tundra and keep it? That is what I did a couple years ago. The blower they use is the TVS 2650 and it comes setup to make 6 lbs of boost. I went with a slightly smaller 80mm pulley and it makes 8 psi. Took the output from a little over 300 rwhp stock to 512.

The Harrop kit was really easy to install. Took me a little more than a day. The hardest thing was working up a way to lift the blower assembly onto the motor by myself.

Just a thought....

What you oughta do is get two superchargers and supercharge the supercharger. Let's get serious here.

Then your brand new 100,000 mile auto-mo-bile might actually get up and go.

^ Carrol Shelby did it [twin superchargers], why not!
Don't think his Cobra had 100k on it though.

Skins if you are still reading. I have been reading every thing I possibly can for the 20th time. I found that one is limited to 6lbs of boost because the factory MAF system is still used and anything more is not within the parameters of the factory MAF.
If you want to go above that you are looking at a whole new can of worms and running a standalone ECU adding likely another $4k in the ECU, wiring, and dyno tuning.

With a better tune they are safely able to get 80 wheel horsepower out of the M112 Mustang blower. So the Elate/Harrop kit should bump that up to maybe 100 wheel hp.

I am going to look at it tomorrow.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:

quote:

Though I’ll be getting rid of the Tundra if I go through with it.

You'll regret not having a truck. Even if it's not a daily driver they're handy to have around. When you need one, you need one. Mine sits for weeks at a time, especially in the winter, but it's costing me nothing, and super handy when I need to do any real work.

I still have this.

quote:

Originally posted by Bluecobra:
Maybe add a Harrop SC kit to the Tundra and keep it? That is what I did a couple years ago. The blower they use is the TVS 2650 and it comes setup to make 6 lbs of boost. I went with a slightly smaller 80mm pulley and it makes 8 psi. Took the output from a little over 300 rwhp stock to 512.

The Harrop kit was really easy to install. Took me a little more than a day. The hardest thing was working up a way to lift the blower assembly onto the motor by myself.

Just a thought....

So this has been a thought. However that is around $7k out of my pocket and I really don’t need anymore power from my Tundra to justify spending $7k.
The Lexus will be putting a minimum of $10k in my pocket even if I fully commit to the blower.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
What you oughta do is get two superchargers and supercharge the supercharger. Let's get serious here.

Then your brand new 100,000 mile auto-mo-bile might actually get up and go.

NOW YOU’RE TALKING!!!!!

Black, that makes sense, all cars have a limiting factor where you can get X HP for reasonable price/effort or you can get X + 20hp for some ungodly amount of money.

Para, I like what you're thinking, but how about we do supercharger for the low end tq and turbo(s) for the higher end that way we get a giant power band.

quote:

I still have this.

Nice. Looks like mine, except mine is bigger, RWD, and more beat up. They're great trucks. I stand corrected...you don't need the Tundra.

Went and drove this masterpiece today it’s crazy that it is 18 years old!! It runs and drives so smooth and nice. Even in 18 year old stock form it moves, transmission shifts smooth as silk. The only thing I could find that did not work properly on it was the drivers mirror it only moved left and right but not up and down. Power fold was smooth as silk.
Interior was in excellent shape no tears, just a tiny amount of wear on the back bolster of the drivers seat.
I stopped by unannounced this morning and the vehicle was not there it had been at the paint shop for a few days getting the wheels refinished. But would be back about 1:30. No thing went and had lunch with my Dad and Brother. The sport 5 spokes are notorious for peeling.
This car was silver with silver wheels. The silver wheels just don’t pop on the silver body so I have always said I would have them done in some sort of gunmetal or anthracite. I get back to the dealer at 1:30 and the LS430 pulls in and hot damn if they did not paint them exactly as I would have!


Very happy with the car but figure I need to sleep on it. If I did not have kids or could swing just buying it as a fun car it would have been on a U-Haul trailer behind the Tundra in a heartbeat.

But I am a Dad of three boys so I have to make sure this is a solid thing to do. So drive home 2 hours in the rain and go pick up the boys from the in-laws.
Quickly smacked the smile off my face that this just won’t work as my main vehicle. The in-laws live in the sticks off a long fairly gnarly lane.
The truck is covered in mud the boys are covered in mud the Lexus would not do well in this scenario and many others with these boys. No real place for the fishing poles.

Disappointed but it’s just not the right vehicle.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:

quote:

I still have this.

Nice. Looks like mine, except mine is bigger, RWD, and more beat up. They're great trucks. I stand corrected...you don't need the Tundra.

The Tundra is 14 years younger and has more miles!!

That's a handsome LS
Just lift it & put some all terrains on it & you'll be fine

Mine might be a bust too. Bit of emailing with a dealer & they came back pretty far off from what I expected my Explorer to be worth.

quote:

But I am a Dad of three boys so I have to make sure this is a solid thing to do.

Do you?

Teaching three boys a hobby. Teaching them tinker and innovate, even with yesterday's tech. Giving them something to remember doing with dad.

I know you already do the above, but I just want to see you do it.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
For me it's Minis. Always wanted one, but hesitant with the BMW aspect of them from a longevity & DIY maintenance aspect.

These LS430s are so easy to work on and rarely need work along with being comfortable and big with some pep.
Checks a lot of boxes for me

Is the starter still under the intake manifold? The air suspension models are problematic and costly to repair. I think otherwise they are reliable and solid cars. Of course, adding hp always lowers reliability.

quote:

Originally posted by mrvmax:

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
For me it's Minis. Always wanted one, but hesitant with the BMW aspect of them from a longevity & DIY maintenance aspect.

These LS430s are so easy to work on and rarely need work along with being comfortable and big with some pep.
Checks a lot of boxes for me

Is the starter still under the intake manifold? The air suspension models are problematic and costly to repair. I think otherwise they are reliable and solid cars. Of course, adding hp always lowers reliability.

Correct, the starter is under the manifold. Being that the manifold comes out to do the supercharger I would have tossed a new one in during that.

The air ride can be costly to repair if you want to keep air ride. I would buy one without air ride but even if I found a gem that had air ride, the suspension would be swapped to standard Coilovers which is a simple conversion.

No matter as much as I would really like to have one it’s just not the right vehicle for the family as a whole.

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

quote:

Originally posted by mrvmax:

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:

quote:

Originally posted by P250UA5:
For me it's Minis. Always wanted one, but hesitant with the BMW aspect of them from a longevity & DIY maintenance aspect.

These LS430s are so easy to work on and rarely need work along with being comfortable and big with some pep.
Checks a lot of boxes for me

Is the starter still under the intake manifold? The air suspension models are problematic and costly to repair. I think otherwise they are reliable and solid cars. Of course, adding hp always lowers reliability.

Correct, the starter is under the manifold. Being that the manifold comes out to do the supercharger I would have tossed a new one in during that.

The air ride can be costly to repair if you want to keep air ride. I would buy one without air ride but even if I found a gem that had air ride, the suspension would be swapped to standard Coilovers which is a simple conversion.

No matter as much as I would really like to have one it’s just not the right vehicle for the family as a whole.

I’ll be following this, I’ve wanted a Lexus LS since I saw a new 400 model in blue. An old mechanic acquaintance of mine drives one (I think the 420), he bought it with over 200k on it and loves it. If I ever find one at a reasonable price I’m going to get one.