Near-current pic of what the engine bay looks like now. Exhaust welded by my friend, all stainless 45 degree bends, 3 inch piping. 2 inch piping going into the Turbosmart WG50. Exhaust manifold is a Rev9. The extra temp sensor on the upper rad hose is only for the gauge cluster. It goes to the OEM ecu along with the OEM oil temp/level switch and the OEM oil pressure switch on the block. The OEM ECU is really just used for this A/C and lock/unlock. ECU mounted behind radio (I have a thin Atoto radio installed that allows room. Just needed to trim the back of the under-radio switch bezel as well as the back of the shift boot trim)

List of mods on the car:
Engine block: Original IS block but with 9:1 CR Manley Pistons/Rods, King main/rod/thrust bearings. Machined per Manley specs
Engine head: Aristo GTE VVTi with BC272 cams and BC springs/retainers. Shimless buckets
driftmotion oil filter relocation send/receive. New mount location under starter at the bottom of the firewall

Intake/Turbo:
old school Greddy, powdercoated crinkle black
82mm Bosch drive-by-wire throttle body
Speedfactory intercooler
Precision 6266 Turbo
HKS SSQV BOV
K&N 4 inch white filter

Ignition:
R35 Ignition coils
Custom wiring into Haltech
Custom aluminum brackets
NGK BKR8EIX spark plugs

Fuel:
dual walbro 450s in an autosport engineering hanger (don't buy this, I had to modify it to fit the IS300 even though it was made for the IS300)
8an send
6an return
Radium auto fuel rail
ID1050x injectors
Radium fuel pressure regulator
Radium fuel pulse damper
Radium fuel filter
Radium fuel pressure gauge

Electronics:
Haltech elite 2500 with homemade parallel wire harness
Haltech WB1 wideband
haltech I/O expander box for extra inputs (and cruise control in the future)
Haltech gaugeart can gauge
Sequoia alternator mod
Dual 3-port MAC valve setup on 7 psi spring
Haltech 12 position rotary trim knob
Haltech OBD2 port (can connect to headunit with Torque app)

Sensors:
Haltech fuel pressure sensor
Unk oil pressure sensor, it may have been with a prosport gauge kit
no name coolant pressure sensor
no name oil temp sensor
Littelfuse hall effect cam and crank sensors (autosport engineering kit)
4 bar Bosch MAP sensor (yes, Haltech has its own built-in, but it's a 3 bar)
extra OEM coolant temp sensor in the bottom of the radiator to replace the OEM on/off switch, connected to the Haltech (for monitoring coolant temp in the radiator, useful incase my thermostat sticks)
Infinity G35 APPS and pedal
OEM ABS sensors connected to Haltech for traction control (right two only)

Exhaust:
Greddy RS3 3 inch exhaust
custom downpipe with all 45 degree bends for excellent flow
Turbosmart WG50 wastegate
Rev9 exhaust manifold

Cooling sys:
Koyorad
OEM fans (sealed with rubber hose spacers between shroud and rad)
drilled/tapped/plugged two ports on upper coolant neck to 1/4 npt since they bumped the intake to the turbo
drilled/tapped coolant nipple on the back water pump housing to 3/8 npt to install 4an fitting

Transmission:
6 speed T56 from a Camaro
Grannas Racing Bellhousing and transmission mount
Brass shift isolator cup upgraded from OE plastic
Hurst shifter, with Firebird red stitched shift knob
Custom aluminum driveshaft
Reverse Lockout Solenoid controlled by Haltech
Chasebays 3/4 bore master cylinder
Tilton 60-6105 clutch slave
McCleod RXT Twin disk clutch

Other:
Driftmotion medium poly engine mounts
Chasebays dual piston brake master cylinder with rear proportioning valve
Chase bays windshield sprayer (relocated to behind passenger headlight)
RHD European IS300/IS200/Altezza fusebox (mirror opposite of USDM)
Radium Air Oil Separator, with all AN fittings to the Radium press fit crankcase vents
maybe more? idk
Dash removed and resprayed
Atoto S6 premium head unit

 

Reshimmed the T56 transmission, and added a brass shift isolator cup bushing to replace the worn out OE plastic one. Grannas cast bell housing adapter for 2jz to t56 is on the floor in the picture

Engine and transmission are on the floor, dial indicated the bellhousing and it was within tolerance, so no need for offset dowels! Installed McCleod RXT twin disk clutch, and tilton slave cylinder.

Engine assembled and ready to go into the car

Oil filter relocation kit installed underneath the starter on the bottom of the block, homemade bracket. This is a driftmotion send/receive kit, custom 10AN lines about 14 and 15 inches long I think. Oil pressure sensor for the haltech sits in this housing.

Sequoia alternator installed for higher amp output. I'm running dual walbro 450s, and those have a higher amp draw. The second pump will only kick in at higher RPM, but I'd rather have the higher amp output alternator just for peace of mind. After shaving off this sliver I only had to repin the alt plug to swap my 3 wire 2jz alternator to the 4 wire sequoia style.

Fitted intercooler. This is a speedfactory IC and is rated for 800hp, but we'll see i see those numbers with the PT6266, maybe close, but unsure. I damaged my A/C condensor trying to get everything to fit together, apparently the hard lines don't bend well lol. I may have a friend notch out and weld my I/C so the condensor and a/c line sit next to each other

I installed a RHD IS300/IS200/Altezza fusebox, this one is from a European version of the car. The fuse blocks unsnap from the old fusebox and snap easily into the RHD one. The whiteish-tan fuse block and black fuse block just need to switch sides. Fuse locations are all the same on the black fuseblock. the white/tan fuseblock is a mirror opposite, so it needs depinning/repinning unless you want to leave it as it is.

Engine is in, Air-oil-seprator is in. I redid the wiring while I had the engine out and pulled all of my ABS wiring out of the car. ABS isn't needed since the Haltech is now reading signals from the wheel speed sensors (1 front and 1 rear needed, other two are ready to be wired in just in case one fails). The extra coolant temp sensor in the upper radiator hose is connected only to the OEM ECU so it shows a secondary engine temp, OEM oil switch and oil level/temp switches are also connected to the OEM ECU for the same reason.

I moved the rheostat over to the 3 switch panel on the left of the driver kick panel, I had to make it fit in a switch blank. I prefer this Gaugeart CAN gauge in this location. It's very subtle in the interior, I like the OEM look of an interior without having gauge pods everywhere.

Infinity G35 DBW pedal with the IS300 pedal pad swapped onto it. I used this because of the vast availability of used G35 parts on ebay (possibly due to teenagers modding them and killing them), as well as the sheer number of them that were produced, replacement sensors are easy to find. This won't work on the OEM ECU obviously, you'll need an enginemanagement that supports DBW.

I can't add more pictures to this post, but my friend welded the exhaust downpipe to meet up with the Greddy RS3 3 inch piping. All 45 degree bends for best flow, and mandrel bends on top of that.

 

I prefer this Gaugeart CAN gauge in this location. It's very subtle in the interior, I like the OEM look of an interior without having gauge pods everywhere.
View attachment 148578

Can you speak to the visibility/convenience of this location for the CAN gage? Having not tried it myself, I'd guess the steering wheel spoke would obscure the gage a lot of the time and you'd have to make an effort to actually see it.

So, how is it?

I have a CAN gage I've not yet installed because I can't decide where I want it. I've seen a vent-pod that replaces the AC vent to the left of the cluster - but it requires the dash to come out to install...I don't really feel like going through that. I was thinking about doing a 3D scan, modeling and printing a pod to fit between the right side of the cluster and the center stack...but that's a lot of work and I'm lazy.

 

Edit:

my vvti solenoid settings reverted to a previous change, so there's a rattle in the beginning that I think is from a duty cycle that's too high, I may have loaded an older map with settings that weren't fully set up. My idle settings also were from the older map, I had set idle to 1000 for the first start due to the 272 cams. I'll lower the idle to a comfortable level later, after it's more dialed in. On first start I had set my "max throttle" percentage to 80%, but the "pedal to throttle" table showed 90%, that should be what caused the CELs in the first part of the video. p2109, p2166, p2167 if anyone searches the forum for a similar issue later. p0228, p02113, p2122, p2132 showed up later. It took multiple recalibrations while changing percentages to figure it out. Hasn't errored out since I changed everything to 80%.

1) Reverse Lockout solenoid for the T56 isn't engaging (need to check voltage coming out of the relay, relay clicks on)
1edit: due to no voltage at the RLO, but voltage out of the relay, so I need to track that down
2) wheel speed sensors aren't picking up
2edit: another problem from the old map. sensors were incorrectly set as hall effect. switched to VR
3) wideband o2 disabled itself between second and first start, older map issue from above possibly?
4) oil leak from oil filter relocator kit
5) exhaust leak coming from custom downpipe somewhere
6) etc etc other small things

 

Reserved for first start video, can we post videos here or link them from youtube?

You can embed or link videos here, this site will not host.

Love the purple. Hawaii? Shipping parts must suck there...

 

Not sure about videos, but yes you can post YouTube links.

 

Looking great! Lots of thoughtful solutions here. Always interesting to see how somebody else skins the cat.

Sequoia alternator... After shaving off this sliver I only had to repin the alt plug to swap my 3 wire 2jz alternator to the 4 wire sequoia style.

A little more info on this? Might like to upgrade mine at some point.

Infinity G35 DBW pedal with the IS300 pedal pad swapped onto it.

That looks simpler than my solution. I used a generic GM pedal assembly, splced on the IS300 arm and pad; then made an adapter plate to fit it to the firewall. Came out just fine but I like your approach.

ABS isn't needed since the Haltech is now reading signals from the wheel speed sensors

Water over the dam now, but you can buy a circuit that essentially taps into a variable reluctance sinusoid signal, allows it to pass thru unchanged, but additionally creates a new 5V square wave (hall style). Thus, OEM ABS stays happy, but you can additionally route the 5V SW wheel speed signal to the programmable ECU for calibrating other features. Just FYI.

 

A little more info on this? Might like to upgrade mine at some point.

I found a pinout a drew up of the wire conversion, complete with IS 02+ wire colors. Sorry it's small and grainy, it's a small part of a very large wire diagram for my setup.

 

A little more info on this? Might like to upgrade mine at some point.

I shaved about this much. It was slightly less than I thought I'd need, but this is all I needed for it to physically fit. I bolted the bottom bolt semi securely, then pivoted it up to mark it. Then shaved it down this much. Took off the alt, shaved a tiny bit more. Until it slid up perfectly onto the top bolt location. The wires are named the same thing when you look at the pinouts of each alternator plug, so it's easy to match L to L, Ign to Ign..etc. It was a very quick job

Water over the dam now, but you can buy a circuit that essentially taps into a variable reluctance sinusoid signal, allows it to pass thru unchanged, but additionally creates a new 5V square wave (hall style). Thus, OEM ABS stays happy, but you can additionally route the 5V SW wheel speed signal to the programmable ECU for calibrating other features. Just FYI.

Ah, this sounds very interesting. I still prefer the simplicity of it going straight to the ECU. I like getting the ABS out of the way since I don't have room for it in my engine bay anymore, plus I had to redo my brake lines when I deleted the brake master.

 

Love the color! Looks good man.

 

I approved the second post in case anyone missed it. Thanks for sharing the build on here, I don't think the previous owner did. Nice work!

 

Oooh! That's what happened. I posted the reply last night since I had more than 10 pictures to add, but it disappeared so I thought it was a glitch. I typed the same post again, just to see that they both appeared this morning. Then one disappeared again. So you have to approve everyone's posts on here? Or is that just for new members?

 

aw sweet i'm going to steal the g35 pedal idea. how well did it fit up to the is300 floor?

 

YouTube video I posted a couple months ago of the install

It fits well. There's plenty of room above the pedal for the APPS sensor and the metal bracket around it. The arm is easy to bend also, I think I had to bend it about 45 degrees up, I just used two wrenches around it while prying them away from each other. The thing that took the longest was getting the IS300 pedal pad off of that arm and modifying it to fit the G35 arm.

 

I had to move some wires around that were going to my Haltech and I decided on a whim to relocate my fusebox. The wires I ORIGINALLY had to move were due to one wire needing a pullup resistor and being on an input that didn't provide the option for a pullup resistor in the ECU. I need to swap it to another input with an internal pullup, either that or wire in the resistors that I can't find. (details on my fusebox are below), it's an entire custom wiring job for the entire engine harness.

Cut the wires from the original location I put my Haltech fusebox under the dash. Laying out the wires to the right length for the fusebox new location beneath the seat.

My fusebox used to be on the bracket I've circled below in yellow, but that's not a good location if I ever have a blown fuse..plus I would need to unbolt all of the stuff under the dash to get to the power wires for the haltech and accessories.

Got it in place

It's in place, wires bundled up and sheathed. All beneath the carpet now.

Of course, I always forget to do the most obvious thing, this happens probably half of the time I put the seat back

Now tomorrow I'll have the fusebox out of the way and I can get back to what I originally planned to do!

Fusebox info:
Fusebox purchased on Amazon
Relay holders purchased on amazon
bought high quality pins for the power wires on the relay (pins 87 and 30)
used the cheap quality pins for the connections on the coil part of the relay (pins 85 and 86)
wires are mostly from old Toyota/Lexus wire harnesses so I can color match everything

 

I did some messing around with my clutch switch wiring today into the Haltech. I'm adding a different MAP sensor and I needed to use the input that the clutch switch was using on the Haltech. I moved the clutch switch over from the AVI (analog voltage input) wire over to a DPI (digital pulsed input). The DPI input that I used has a rising or a falling configuration (negative or positive), but I can't use rising on the DPI because there is always at least .5 volts on the wire, and it will always trigger "rising" so I routed the positive wire that comes off of the clutch pedal switch into a bosch relay (pin 86) with pin 85 being ground for the relay coil. Pin 30 is a ground input instead of the usual way of wiring a relay that calls for positive into pin 30, this allows me to use the relay as a ground switch and convert the clutch positive signal into a clutch ground signal. Since the clutch pedal switch is positive when not pressed I wired the relay output wire pin 87a DPI. Now I have a ground switch, the only downside is there will be a "click" every time I press the clutch pedal. I didn't want to route a ground through the clutch switch since that positive may also be used by something else that I'm not aware of. My brake pedal switch is wired through a relay into the Haltech in the same exact way.

I do want to trace out this clutch switch circuit to see if it was only used for the OEM cruise control, so I may end up removing the relay and routing the clutch wire directly into the Haltech for a ground signal.

A basic wire diagram I drew up for the change. (note: this is for the upper clutch pedal switch that's tied into the cruise control)

I also removed the clutch start switch from the pedal to put a stopped so I don't overthrow the clutch master cylinder.

I've routed the clutch start wires into this "clutch start cancel" button that now needs to be pressed in order to start the car. (it takes the place of the clutch switch)

and here are the wires

 

So, four things I completed today. 1) I found a leak in my ChaseBays brake booster delete (at the reservoir) and put a zip tie in place to secure it. 2) I found my O-Rings for my cheap HD clamp, so I was able to assemble that and connect the hot side of the intercooler piping, plus test the fitment of it since it's cheap 3) installed the 1/2 inch fitting in my intake pipe pre-turbo, this will lead to my Air-oil-separator 4) I decided that since I have my intake manifold taken off, I'll dress up the cannister vent and the evap service port piping since it was all a mess beneath the mani

1 Chase Bays! ugh. your brake booster delete doesn't hold the reservoir very well, so it has a slow leak that runs down on my paint!

now it's secure with a zip tie until I figure out how to seal it better

2) Evil energy HD clamp installed (I found the o-rings yesterday)

Attached the lower intercooler pipe and coupler

3) installed the 1/2 inch fitting into the coupler on my intake piping, this will lead to my air-oil-separator that's sitting where my battery used to sit

4) I pulled my intake manifold off yesterday since I had a leak from one of my oil sensors, I noticed this after I cranked the car. So the easiest way to reseal it is to pull the manifold off. While that is off, I decided to address the line-routing of the evap service port. I'll run the line for the canister vent valve later. All of the original emissions systems controlled by the car's computer are still connected to the OEM ecu, just in case anyone decided to ask about that while I'm getting a safety inspection.

cutting the old part of the hose so it's straight

For the canister vent solenoid that's in the above picture, I'll be running the aluminum line to that next. As far as the aluminum line that I used, I had started to use this line on my build as the fuel line, but I switched to steel braided. So I had it lying around and decided to use it on the car for this. I'll need to secure them so I don't get weird rattle noises though

 

Opinion needed lol. Is this better with or without the nylon sleeve? This sleeve was around a rubber hose for the canister vent hose, so I slipped it off and slid it on this

Without

With

 

well, it LOOKS better with the nylon sleeve, IMO, because it matches everything else. But that's all I know lol.

 

Looks nice with the nylon braid......for now.....but that stuff does a fabulous job collecting dust/dirt and without steadfast cleaning/maintenance, will look perpetually dingy.

 

Yeah I agree I like this better, I plan to keep the engine clean. Also, this should still be the OEM original nylon braid that came on the hose originally in 2002. The hose itself was dry and cracking on the tips.

 

Clean engines (less clutter) look better.

 

I agree, but some of the clutter is necessary. The lines in this picture above are for the boost control solenoids and the air-oil-separator.

 

I emailed Chase Bays regarding this last night, they responded this morning and are sending me a new reservoir (which they mailed out this morning). It is leaking from where the reservoir meets the seal. They said the reservoir is prone to cracking due to the material that it's made out of. This is new and has only have fluid in it for a month, so it shouldn't be leaking. (Also, I bought this a year ago, but I've just gotten around to installing it, it's basically sat dry until fluid was added to it recently)

This is the dual piston brake master cylinder ABS delete kit (bought without brake lines since I made my own). I put a zip tie on it to make it seal better, but it still leaks

It's leaking from the rear seal where the reservoir meets the seal

 

I installed the exhaust a few months back (Greddy Revolution RS3), pictures are below. I had my friend weld up a downpipe trying to use only 45 degree bends instead of 90 degree bends, that way I have better flow. The finishing touch is the last bit of the exhaust. I didn't like that the exhaust tip stuck out so far with the Altezza bumper, so I shortened the exhaust tip by cutting off of the inside portion of the tip.

another 45

All 45s. Vibrant resonator

I swapped out to 2020 corolla rubber hangers (used off ebay, and not that old) maybe a year ago since they are considerably thicker and this exhaust is heavier. It was a bear to get them into the bracket, but they're in and held by a nut and bolt instead of the normal sleeve that holds them to the bracket.

Old hanger on top of new thicker hanger

Exhaust tip too long, and this is the shortest you can buy for the Greddy exhaust

I ordered the carbon fiber shield since I'll have to shave a bit off of the bumper around the exhaust tip. It's too close to the bumper as it is and I've tried shifting the rubber bushings.

 

Looks great!

My HKS Hi-Power fart can sticks out much farther than I'd like...but it does help keep uncatalyzed exhaust soot off the rear bumper!

 

So, I decided to text the previous owner the other day and ask him his screenname on here so I could look up old pictures of the car. Akira57808. I found some posts from back in 2011 that I was looking through where he was talking about blue tint altezza headlights, and then I vaguely remembered him telling me this as I was buying it 3 years ago. The headlights have always been fogged over yellow since I've owned it, so I forgot completely that they were blue tint. I knew they were JDM, but I forgot they were the famed blue tint headlights!! So I did what anyone else would do..I broke out the 400, 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500, 2000 sandpapers and polishing compound and I started sanding. I removed the yellow, but I still need to do some more work with the right polishing compound. I may use some Spraymax 2k clear to get them looking immaculate.

before sanding

this was probably 1000 grit, not sure exactly

This is after I used some polish with my buffer

not done yet, but I'm done for today. No matter how much I polish I can't get the headlights clear. Headlights turn yellow faster here (hawaii) compared to other states, so I've polished and recleared my fare share of headlights, but I can't get these to go full clear. So I'll work at it tomorrow some more. From what I can tell from the old posts, the previous owner separated the lenses from the housing, I'm not sure if he did this in an oven or what the long term effects would be of him doing this. Maybe that's why they're still foggy after 400 up to 2000 grit sandpaper with wet sanding, and then polish. IDK

 

have you tried using PlasticX compound? maybe it has micro fractures from the sun, or some kind of haze on the inside. take the high beam bulb out and stick a long stick cotton swab inside see if the haze can be wiped

 

I have most of meguiars products, but I don't have that actually. I have a turtle wax 3 part headlight restorer that I've used on other headlights, I wasn't planning on using it on this because I'll be using a 2k clear, but I didn't think about using the compound from that kit. I'll break that out tomorrow. And that's a good point regarding the haze, I'll try swabbing the inside

 

You can get some new headlights cheap on Ebay, and then swap the lenses over.

 

I was trying to find blue tint headlight lenses earlier but I couldn't find anything. I want to bring these back to the blue tint original look, otherwise I would probably be buying cheap headlights as you say.

 

I recently polished the headlammps on my LS400. They came out great.

I think the magic came from the quality of the abrasives I used.

I started with ~400 grit, working up to 2k - but then moved on to a 3000 grit 3M Trizact pad, followed by 5000, followed by Trizact machine glaze. Results were good as new. These were 25 year old OEM lamps.

 

I'm using some Malco stuff right now, it has worked really well in the past, but yeah, maybe I'll switch abrasives also.

 

I'm trying to figure out whether to keep my 3.9 OEM diff with my T56 gear ratios (2.66, 1.78, 1.3, 1, .74, .5) top speed will be 292 mph at 7500 rpm hahahaha. Or I could do the lame thing and switch to a 4.3 fr-s diff. Realistically I'll probably drive my car around with the OEM diff until I see someone selling a 4.3. I'd consider the 4.1 if it didn't have a weird cruising RPM on the freeway.

7500 RPM with my OEM diff. (Salt flats top speed run! haha)

2000 RPM with my OEM diff (cruising down the freeway would be weird)

7500 RPM with the FR-S diff (seems ok, except I'd be stuck with a measly 262mph top speed)

2000 RPM with the FR-S diff (good freeway cruising RPM with this diff)

 

If your main focus is cruising speed then go with the BRZ diff. The cars that T56 comes out of cruise below 2000 rpms all day long on the freeway @70mph without problems. Then again they are making more torque in that area than a 2JZ would be.

6-speed gear boxes are always just weird to me. I like them and then I don’t. I find 6th gear to almost be silly sometimes to even consider using. Not that it’s impossible to use but almost unnecessary in most cases. I know it is a gear to achieve good MPG numbers for the Camaros and corvettes and such.

I used to daily a 540i 6-speed E39 for a few years. I would only ever use 6th gear if I was doing over 80mph in that car. At that speed my rpms were ~2,200. But the moment I need to pass or go up a slight incline. Guess what? I’m going back to 5th.