G'day Scotty,
G'day All,
love the channel. I have bought (in transit from interstate)a lexus 1997 SC400 , 124,000miles, owned by a recently retired mechanic, he owned it for the last 20years. He Has said it is in perfect order as always serviced/maintained and changed a lot of parts in recent year or so. My question is, is there any safe mods I can perform on this car to boost hp and torque without compromising the engine and all other parts. I don't want to ruin a beautiful car in such good shape. I don't know much about the lexus/Toyota V8. But I do know I hope to keep this car for a long time, it has been a goal for sometime to find a good one, and now I have it.
Greg
Australia
Thanks again @InThrustWeTrust for the tag.
Those are nice cars and if it has been well kept that long and with all OEM parts I'd hate to mess with it. The first thing you have to accept, and this is true for any car, is that any modifications you make will affect the engine in some way. It could be minimal but there is no changing parts without some sort of additional wear as you are putting more power through the motor, which means more power through the transmission, and so on.
If you are dead set on doing easy modifications that will have minimum impact on the car, you can look into getting a cold air intake, full catback exhaust, and a tune. It's up to you if you think it is worth it. You would probably get 30HP or so out of that combo with minimal trade off on longevity. I would not get into headers, etc. with that car because the cost/benefit is just too high and when you get past intake and exhaust you start inviting a lot of problems that affect reliability.
As just a side note, and it's my opinion so feel free to take it or leave it, I would keep it stock and enjoy it. They are well built and with that mileage, proper maintenance will get you a LOT of life out of it. Plus it is a quick car already. If you wanted to do a hot rod or a street racer I would not recommend that platform as you can go faster for a lot cheaper by starting with a bigger motor that's made for that kind of thing, like an American V8. Your car, your money, your choice. But left stock you could definitely sell it down the road as they do hold their value well as long as you don't chop them up.
Put a sticker on the steering wheel. That should add a good 10-15 extra lb ft torque. Also it shouldn't harm anything, just will make you cool {black}:laughingoutloud:
The SC400 a pretty car, it's a reasonably fast car, it could increase in value if you don't mess with it.
If you want to hotrod a car, get a beat up ute and Mad Max it with a supercharger sticking out of the hood, etc.
Leave it alone....
