Sheepers buys a modern car.

[sheepers]

With the ride height sorted it was time to get the bump stops in the front exactly right so the upper control arm won't hit the body.

@cletus told me what the requirements are for minimum wheel travel before contacting the bump stop (40mm) so I set about making this all happen.

I had to make some spaces to limit shock travel,  then I made some more bump stops they have a conical end so they're progressive.

I wasn't able to make it all work and still have 40mm before the Bump stop but it does have 35mm so fucking deal with it. 

Also @cletusdon't read that last bit. 

I was a dick and didn't take a photo of the actual spacers and bumps I made but they look a bunch like this, 

[sheepers]

Also the factory struts fit in the yellow speed box so now I have created the box of unliftability. 

 

[yetchh]

Fuck, I've got so many of those.. 

[sheepers]

I had to go up to whangarei today. 

6 hours there and back. 

I gotta hand it to the jokers at yellow speed, the spring rates are 20kg front and 8kg rear and I thought the 20 kg springs were a bit much but it's actually perfect.  The coilovers came with recommended settings for the shock rebound which was also right on the money.  

The car drives so nicely,  it's not stiff or bouncy it actually feels like slightly firmer stock suspension.

Anyone who's after coilovers for a 400, get the yellow speed ones. 

Also this thing is pretty good on gas for a two ton V8.

 

[Tele29]

That's impressive economy. My 2.4l CL9 accord averages 10.9! Probably because work is only 9km away so it never gets a chance to warm up properly. Looks great with the wheels and lower!

[GARDRB]

My cousin’s 3uz Hyundai h1 gets similar to that, I didn’t believe it till I saw it, must be modern engine things

[thegreatestben]

That is decent, only ever managed 10L/100km in my crown and celsior.

this makes me want another one 

[sheepers]

New stereo. 

Factory system was OK but no Bluetooth no hands free etc.

So I replaced everything. 

Had to re route some of the factory loom and patch in a couple of wires but it was pretty easy. Running the power feeds under the car was the hardest bit,  fuck I can't wait until I get a shed with a hoist. 

So anyway head unit is a kenwood one.  It's got buttons and shit. There's a 100x4 amp under the drivers seat and a 600w amp running the sub.

Front doors for a pair of boston 6.5LF pros that I've had for a while. Had to cut the hole or a bit to get them in but the rest was easy. 

Rear doors got some 5" alpine things that work great. 

Sub is a zero flex 10" which absolutely cranks.

I'm still fucking with the steering wheel controls to see if I can get some basic functions working off the steering wheel, time will tell in that one. 

 

 

 

[BlownCorona]

if the steering controller are the type that pull different resistances for each button press. there are both stereos that can handle that out of the box, and adapter boxes for the stereos that want a standard input. 

there are also all manner of adapter boxes, many from axxess, that can handle specific steering wheel controls. super lush having them work so well worth a little bit of money imo

[sheepers]

Reversing camera. 

And also side view camera. 

The new head unit has twin camera inputs.

The reverse camera works as per normal I.e when the cars in reverse but the other one is selectable with just a button on the bottom of the head unit so you can turn it on whenever you want. 

I thought it would be a good idea to put a camera in the left side wing mirror so I can see the kurb when parking. 

Because I can't drive that would be a good thing to stop me driving my rim into the kurb.. 

So anyway mounting the cameras was easy. 

Running the wires was not. Got there in the end and it all works sure super awesomeo.

 

[sheepers]

Steering wheel stereo controls. 

The module that is in the 400 steering wheel is set up to work with the external telephone module and does not have any thing that the stereo can recognise. 

So,  remove all the chips etc and make my own set of differing resistances for the stereo to sense.

Connected via the factory loom which goes all the way to the boot and back and it works. 

Fucking stoked.

Also,  the kenwood head unit won't allow access to a whole bunch of functions (like steering wheel control setup) unless it thinks the park brake is on,  so I have to ground that wire to access the extra functionality. 

[RXFORD]

Thats quite nerdy. I'm impressed. I considered taking the aftermarket touchscreen out of my 430 so I could have all the stock steering wheel controls work as per factory. I have having things there that don't work.

Good job, I may try bribe you to build another one day. 

[sheepers]

Let's polish this car,  that will be fun. 

 

It wasn't fun.  Lexus paint is hard,  like fucking flint hard,  so polishing scratches out is quite difficult. And this car was scratched to fuck, I doubt its ever been polished in 24 years. 

I had to go right from the heaviest cutting compound I could get through 4 different stages to get the paint looking reasonable. 

There are still scratches in it but nothing like it was. 

All up this took me 22 hours. 

Looks fucking ace now though. 

 

[VitesseEFI]

Came up nice. Rewarding colour.

[BlownCorona]

details on compounds used plz? i have a similar job to do on my XF

[fuel]

15 hours ago, BlownCorona said:

details on compounds used plz? i have a similar job to do on my XF

I've had good success with Meguiars, depending on availability/cost I would use the heavier cut M100, M101 or M105 for the first few passes then finished off with the Ultimate Compound and then a good wax/ceramic coat on top. I just can't believe the cost for some of these compounds in the NZ though - the Ultimate Compound is like $45-50 at SCA/Repco but it's literally $15 in US/Canada. 3M commercial stuff is good too but can't speak of pricing/availability in NZ.

[sheepers]

18 hours ago, BlownCorona said:

details on compounds used plz? i have a similar job to do on my XF

i used pacer products from RA Johnstone.

easily the best cutting/polishing compounds I've used. the cutting compounds worked well and were easy to buff off after running the DA.

stage one - Pacer super cut.

stage two - pacer ultra cut.

stage three - presta ultra 2 step polish.

stage four - meguires hybrid wax/ceramic coat.

this combo worked out really well and ill deff use this going forward. 

for a lightly scratched/oxidised car id start with the ultra cut and work down the list. 

[BlownCorona]

yeah i think i could get away with stage 2 onwards on mine. ive used the mequairs products before to great result on the crown but might give sheepers combo a go for the heck of it. cheers both

[sheepers]

Last cosmetic thing to do was fix the damage on the front bumper. 

I got some paint mixed and away I went. 

Simple job really.