Soon to be LS430 Owner!

Chops

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Soon to be mine. In fact, the seller already calls it mine!

It's a long story, but I thought I was going to be getting a 2nd Gen GS400, but once I was given the VIN to do some history investigation on it, and when I went to see it today, it ended up being a very clean 2001 LS430! My friend (she's the current owner) is letting me drive it around all day today and check it out as well as review ALL of the records on this car since early 2004 when it had less than 10k miles on it. It currently has 197k miles on it. The timing belt, valve cover gaskets, trans pan gasket have been replaced as well as new tires, all within the past 1 to 3 years. The timing belt was done at 165k miles 3 years ago, so I should be good for a little while.

Needless to say, I am beyond thrilled to get this car. I just need to get that 370Z of mine sold.

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Gecko

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Great pickup! Nothing like an LS 430. I miss mine!

Congrats!!
 

Chops

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Thanks!

I love my 370Z, but I really do enjoy driving this LS430. I was sad to drop it back off at my friend's house tonight, but it'll be mine soon enough. Got a guy coming to town next Wed to look at the Z. I'm really hoping he bites. The sooner the Z sells, the sooner I get the LS430 and the sooner I can start work on it.
 

Chops

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BTW, I really love the way Lexus thought of everything when it came to the interior lighting. They even have LED's on the seat belt latches!

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Chops

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I was able to take the LS430 out today for a little road trip with my family. On the way back home from Tampa, the ole' girl quietly and gracefully rolled over 198k miles. Still running strong and silky smooth. Man I absolutely love this car and can't wait to finally have it in my possession!

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Chops

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Today's update...

First, the good news... I now have the LS430!
The bad news... I still have the 370Z.

I hope someone will buy the Z soon. I don't feel like making payments on it if I'm not driving it, nor do I feel like paying insurance on 3 vehicles.

Hopefully if the weather holds out this weekend, I want to start going through the LS and detailing it inside and out. It's not horrible by any means, but it could use a little TLC.

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Chops

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Everything will be conservatively done as it could have come from the factory. There will be only one "over the top" modification.

After a very healthy wash and detail inside and out, I'll go about some paint correction, then ceramic coating. Clean up and polish the headlight lenses with more ceramic coating, and finish it off with ceramic window tint including very light ceramic tint over the windshield.

Some nice understated 18" wheels, staggered arrangement with 245 front and 275 rear, stock spec "Sport" suspension.

A very quiet custom exhaust that flows better with some nice custom stainless turn-down tips. And a pair of electronic cut-outs for that "over the top" touch.

Surprisingly, the stock stereo sound pretty good, even the old original sub. But at some point, I'll go with an aftermarket head unit, beefed up speakers front and rear, retaining the stock tweeters, either my Helix DSP.2 and an 8-ch amp, or an 8-ch amp with DSP built-in, and either a very beefy 8" sub or a custom baffle to fit a nice 10" sub.
 

Chops

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After tending to the lawn this morning, I pulled the LS out of the garage and gave it it's first proper wash with my foam cannon and some Chemical Guys cherry scented "Maxi Suds II". After drying it, I wiped down all of the door jams as well as the trunk lid, hood and engine compartment. Also did some minor detailing on the inside and used some Chemical Guys Mangocello air freshener.

Even though there are some little chips in the paint here and there, it still has an amazing shine and that pearl looks great! No dents anywhere either except one tiny one up on the roof near the sunroof. Strange. Other than that, this LS looks great inside and out, and it no longer smells like a little old lady car on the inside. LOL

Oh, and as I was tidying up the interior, I grabbed a bunch of CD's and loaded them all into the changer. It works just perfectly not to mention that it sounds a whole heck of a lot better than the tuner. However, even the tuner sounds darn good. This is definitely one of the better stock systems that I've heard that sounds really good. Makes me wonder just how much better the Mark Levinson system sounded in this car. Even the sub sounds good. This system will definitely hold me over for a while until I decide on what to do for upgrades.

Anyway, a few new pics...

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And a nice little interior video...

 

Chops

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It looks really good!

Those front air vents, are they moving?

Thank you, and yes they most certainly are moving.

The only issue with this car is the driver's side mirror. It's a bit loose and "click, click, click's" for about 10 seconds every time I start the car. Probably a broken gear or something. Gotta figure that one out.
 

Chops

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Not a whole heck of a lot of interest around here, but an update none the less.

Went up this morning and got the windows tinted, 20% all the way around. Going back in a couple of days to have a 20% strip across the windshield as well as 70% tint all the way down the windshield to reduce any UV into the interior by 99.9% all the way around as well as reduce heat by a ton. It's the most I have spent yet on a tint job... A LOT more than I've ever paid for a tint job. But for the plans I have for this car, and wanting to provide maximum protection for the interior, it's worth it.

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I was able to take the LS430 out today for a little road trip with my family. On the way back home from Tampa, the ole' girl quietly and gracefully rolled over 198k miles. Still running strong and silky smooth. Man I absolutely love this car and can't wait to finally have it in my possession!

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Hoping someone will see this post...I have found way to lock running LS430 from outside car....roll down driver window, exit car while running, reach in window and lock car then engage passenger window up....you will have to unlock car with mechanical key
 

Ian Schmidt

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Indeed. It's also about 15 years too late to report LS430 firmware anomalies (although to be honest the sequence here sounds like something nobody would ever do unless they were trying to break the car).
 

Chops

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So today, I decided to do a little tweak on the "sound system"... 😋

2.25" from the stock resonators back, then 2.5" for the last foot of pipe to the turn downs.

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And to finish it off...
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Will1991

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Do you have any picture from the original exhaust system? From the look of it (looking to this open space from the stock mufflers) it should be whisper quiet

Also, these thread now has a lot to get from a small video :p
 

krew

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LS 430 is my all-time favorite Lexus -- if I can find a good example when it's time to return the IS, it's the car at the top of my list. Really appreciate all these updates, and look forward to hearing more as you continue working on your car.