Lexus IS620 - LS3, T56 - from Australia

[bahaimus]

Ok, since I'm so far into this project, I just ordered a new factory GM reservoir and feed hose to the pump. I just need to measure my pulley diameter and I will order a remanufactured Ford CB pump converted to suit a GM like this which supposedly is a more robust unit than the GM one.

At least if it still ends up being the rack, it'll all be sorted and new and capable of whatever I want to throw at it.



Undoing billet and Speedflow goodness makes me feel a little ill though.........

[bahaimus]

Hopefully this helps to resolve some issues. In combination with some other bits.




Included this magnetic filter as well:

[bahaimus]

So, Nick and I changed the pump, reservoir and the feed hose to the pump. Also changed the low pressure line and the high pressure connection to the rack.
The good news is, power assistance has returned to expected levels. Then this happened:



However, as the video indicates, the new pump is noisy as ****! It is ever so slightly bigger than the old one and just touches the Lexus ECU box which is probably contributing to the volume of noise. But, can drive with a bit more confidence now at least!

[bahaimus]

Took this out today with the family. Did about 150km cruising around Brisbane visiting people and places. No leaks, no fires, no problems of any note at all.

Got a mate to give it a blat while stood and watched (and listened) from the outside. Smiled some.



Pretty much only needs three gears. 2nd, 4th and 6th. Will happily pootle around at 900rpm in 6th at 60km/h. Just magic. Has ****loads of grip. Nail the throttle in 2nd and it just squats and goes with maybe the slightest of squirms. Very impressed. My mate with the ISF was pretty surprised at how fast and violent it is when you are hustling through the gears.

Needs a/c sorted quick smart and probably some wrapping of the exhaust. Gets a bit toasty down in the foot wells. Think I'd call it a success so far.

[bahaimus]

I drove this to work in the rain today to check what the wet weather manners were like.

Slick roads. 595-RSR tyres. 6.2L of manual engine. Sounds like the perfect recipe for shenanigans. I didn't spin the tyres once. Not even accidentally. Start in 2nd everywhere, even on hills. Just not a problem. Perfect road manners. Though driving with the windows mostly up really indicates the need to maybe add a couple of resonators to the exhaust, but that was always a possibility anyway and the pipes were made with allowance for that.

[bahaimus]

Just about to hit the dyno for a baseline run.

And then:



Video:



Sorry for the ****ty phone vid, but you'll get the idea

[bahaimus]

Been driving this to work pretty much every day. Still great to drive in traffic.

Sorted out the steering wheel to rack alignment issue. Was simple, I'd way over thought it. Had a proper wheel alignment done yesterday. Put all of the interior back together.

Power steering pump is still noisy. Tried a treatment in it but that made no difference, nor was a I really expecting it too. I reckon for some reason I am getting air in the fluid still or some cavitation in the pump.

Would like to get it up on a hoist shortly and just do a bit of a spanner check on all of the driveline etc before I go nuts at driving events.

Loving it.

[bahaimus]

My wife drove this to her school today. Her year 12 students thought it was seriously awesome. And then she started it up...........

This happy tale was dampened by the fact some **** bumped into the back of me at a set of lights on the way home on Monday after an already ****ing **** day at work. Bumper popped back out, but there's some scuffs and the paint is all cracked on the corner where he got me.

__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ _______________

And that is the story complete up to today :D

[amoosenamedhank]

Wow really cool build. I really enjoy some of these 'not so typical' threads on here.

[Clutch93]

Very cool build! Lot's of detail in your thread. Sorry to hear about the back bumper, hopefully most of it will buff out. Good luck with the noisy ps pump, let us know how the first track day goes!

[bahaimus]

Thanks for the comments guys, I like to do things a bit different

Sometimes you go back and forth about whether to make a change. Like changing the wheels back to silver and the brake calipers to black. And then sometimes, on the first day she drives it, your wife helps make the decision for you.....



And then when giving it a clean, the well known wheel cleaner you use stains your calipers and makes them more of an orange colour.

And just like that, the decisions become easy!

[bahaimus]

So a couple of things that are ****ting me. There is a lot of general gear noise from the box and the shift is a bit ****, especially 2nd > 3rd at high revs. I hadn't done an oil change before I put it in, so I did a bit of research and apparently this is meant to be the **** for a T56:



Not cheap by any stretch especially once you add in the flushing solution and the rare earth magnetic drain plug they recommend. So hopefully it does make a significant difference.

One of the side effects of doing a conversion on an IS200 is that the fuel gauge goes down in 1/4 tank increments rather than smoothly. This is because the ECU drives the fuel gauge and it takes the intank float as well as injector pulse width measurements as inputs to output a reading to the gauge. You can't really easily tap into the signal to bypass the ECU stuff either because that is part of the multiplex from the ECU to the dash. So I bought a cheapish Speedhut digital gauge to stick somewhere and just use the float as the input. Hopefully that works.



Finally, I was looking at a way to properly monitor the oil pressure and temperature. Decent gauges were starting to get spendy and then I'd have to find a good way to mount them. So I ended up going with of these:



It is a Defi Advance ZD and came in a Club Sport kit which included sensors for oil pressure, oil temp and water temp. Given the problems I had with fuel pressure, I added a fuel pressure sensor as well. Like all Defi gear, it is programmable with warning levels etc. This thing can also show speed, revs, shift light and has some built in lap timing and stuff. The display unit is actually pretty small. TO try and be a bit discreet, I'm mounting it on top of the steering column where it pretty much doesn't block any of the existing dash gauges but is still right in the line of sight.



I just need to install all of the sensors and then get Nick back around for some more wiring duties!

[amoosenamedhank]

Did you do the anti venom mod on the T-56 yet?

http://www.svtperformance.com/forums...t=anti%20venom

[Centerforce]

This is an awesome build, well deserving of being a "10-year car." Looks and sounds great! Did Australia get the SportCross wagon? I've always thought those looked good and could probably do nicely with a proper engine and gearbox.

[bonecrrusher]

Mighty Car Mods might approve of this!

Swap looks awesome!

[68vert]

Great job on the car and the write up. Your mates Nick and Pete really did you right especially on the headers and pan. My wife and I just got back from Aus and was amazed to see how many V8 Holden and Hilux's with snorkels there. Hats off to ya mate!

[badbu68]

Love this build! Keep at it and post up more when you can.

[maleigh78]

Love the car. Turned out great. Good job.

[Justin@EntropyRad]

Love the build!

[bahaimus]

Thanks for all the kind words guys, much appreciated.

Did you do the anti venom mod on the T-56 yet?

http://www.svtperformance.com/forums...t=anti%20venom

I have not done that. The action of going from 2nd>3rd is fine and I'm using an MGW shifter which is strongly spring biased to the 3rd/4th plane. It is more of a synchro issue.

This is an awesome build, well deserving of being a "10-year car." Looks and sounds great! Did Australia get the SportCross wagon? I've always thought those looked good and could probably do nicely with a proper engine and gearbox.

Unfortunately we never got the Sportcross, otherwise this would have been one for sure! I have a strange love for most things wagon.

Great job on the car and the write up. Your mates Nick and Pete really did you right especially on the headers and pan. My wife and I just got back from Aus and was amazed to see how many V8 Holden and Hilux's with snorkels there. Hats off to ya mate!

Yeah, Nick and Pete were awesome, though I did pay healthily for the privilege of having Pete fab the exhaust LOL!

I took this to the strip last week. I managed a best of 13.02 @ 111mph. I was taking off in second and it really gave my clutch a hard time. I really have so much grip in this car. Launching at about 4000rpm in 2nd and it just started to slip the clutch. On the street, the scenario would just torch the tyres. Anyway, it is what it is and I won't be back to the strip until I upgrade the clutch.