Do I Want an IS300?

Captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

I've always wondered if a 1UZ swap would fit in a first generation IS...

Rod Millen built an IS430 for SEMA back around '04. It was an IS300 with the 3UZ-FE and a Getrag 6-speed. Supposedly the engine fit right in there nicely, just getting all the electronics to play nice was the hard part.

I remember reading an article about that car, in SCC maybe? It was a big deal at the time.

fyi, I think Josh S. is talking about selling his e46 wagon (since they just bought another family-hauler vehicle). Something like that sounds like it would fit your purposes (other than your general dislike of BMWs, lol).  

Facebook link.  This is either the cheapest I'm going to find a manual swapped sportcross, or a nightmare project I don't want to touch.  Opinions please, thanks in advance!

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

I'd rather find an automatic and have the trouble of sourcing all the 5 speed stuff than sort out that car.. also if he sells it to you on stock control arms and it's remotely lower than stock it won't align close enough to not eat the tires. That thing looks like a whole mess. Last time I checked autotempest there were 2 sportcrosses for sale in the nation but for quite a bit more money, patience will probably pay off on this one..

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

NO!

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

No.  Just no.  Maybe for $Challenge money.  Maybe.  God knows what they did to the suspension and that's after you fix all of the bent parts up front, let alone what happened with the engine with the missing chain cover.

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

I just don't get IS300 prices. I drove one back when they were just hitting the used market & found the performance to be meh. I guess if you need a manual RWD sedan(or wagon, with some work), but don't want a BMW(and I can't blame you for that) it's about the only option. But I'd still try hard to find another option, even if it required 2 vehicles. 

Well if there's one thing GRM hates more than an IS300 it's a stanced IS300, this might be the least enabling I've ever seen out of this forum!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

Well if there's one thing GRM hates more than an IS300 it's a stanced IS300, this might be the least enabling I've ever seen out of this forum!

because we know how badly hacked up stanced cars tend to be.  Honestly, many of us don't care about the owners chosen "scene" except when it makes the cars noticeably dangerous to drive on the street or the track.

That said, if they lowered the price to something reasonable for the condition of the car?  Sure, why not?  Sell off and undo whatever you choose to pay for the body shop work to put it back to "right"

It isn't about "Stance" its about hackery and redneck engineering and that is never worth as much as the person selling it seems to think its worth.  Period.

Yes, do it!   Everything can be fixed.  I bet he will take a lot less for it and I bet there's nothing he messed up that you can't fix

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ said:

Well if there's one thing GRM hates more than an IS300 it's a stanced IS300, this might be the least enabling I've ever seen out of this forum!

You will have that IS300 fixed in two weeks no problem. Get it

jfryjfry said:

Yes, do it!   Everything can be fixed.  I bet he will take a lot less for it and I bet there's nothing he messed up that you can't fix

I tend to agree with this.

jfryjfry said:

Yes, do it!   Everything can be fixed.  I bet he will take a lot less for it and I bet there's nothing he messed up that you can't fix

If "a lot less" means knocking a zero off the price, then sure. Everything can be fixed but that car looks like EVERYTHING will need to be fixed (including pulling the trans back out to replace the flywheel). For the headache of having to find all the issues and then fix them all I'd much rather pay a bit more for one that's a lot less ruined.

I woke up and the first thing I saw was an email from the Sno*Drift organizers so right now I'm very much in a "spend the money on entry fees instead" frame of mind.  This thing still doesn't scare me but spending two rallies worth of money does.

Current owner of an is300 for 8 years and they're good cars outside of the people who have ruined them. Very reliable, comfortable, solid and quiet. As others stated MPG isn't the best and the aftermarket support (excluding eBay) is dwindling and getting expensive. 

For daily duty it'll do everything you ask it to without complaining ever. 

Some would say I ruined mine by shoving a v8 up front, but its pretty much a better CTS-V1. 

I bought a new one back in 03. Black/Black sport design Sedan, manual.  Stock was fun....but underwhelming, some mods really woke these cars up. 

 Slightly lowered, stiffer swaybars, intake, headers/exhaust it sounded great and was notably quicker than stock. AM flywheel made the engine much much more responsive.  The excellent visibility out of the car doesn't seem to be mentioned here. It's shocking, when you come from modern turret like car and sit in a IS300.   Never had such an easy car to drive with the back end hanging out. One of the cars I wish I didn't sell. 

Engine is stupid heavy and thirsty.  5 speed trans isn't up to the task of handling significant power, so if you're gonna turbo, expect to need to trans swap no matter what you buy. 

pointofdeparture said:

In reply to dannyp84 :

The EX is a G37 on stilts with a hatch, the FX is a luxed-up Nissan Murano (bigger, conventional crossover/SUV).

Incorrect, the FX and the EX are both on the same platform and share nothing with a Murano. Both have a longitudinal VQ (FX45 with the VK45 V8) and traditional automatics, not CVT.

It's more the difference between a G35 and an M35. FX is just a bigger EX.

jfryjfry said:

Yes, do it!   Everything can be fixed.  I bet he will take a lot less for it and I bet there's nothing he messed up that you can't fix

At some point in your life you start asking yourself what your time is worth, though. In my 20's I would have gone the "fix a rough one" route but as I get older it feels like I'd rather spend the money for a nice one than spend the time fixing a rough one.

In reply to Run_Away :

Whoa, TIL. Early on in the life of both someone must have told me the Murano and FX were platform mates; they are so similarly sized and share some styling vibes so I always assumed it to be true. 

On the topic of FX35s, LOJ Conversions came out with an LS-swap kit for the '03-'08 and '08-'17 FX35s.

In reply to ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ :

An fc RX7 recently caught my attention and I sent you a message.

In reply to dannyp84 :

I think PMs are broken, send me an email to cnonack at gmail.

I've wondered about BEAMS swapping one.  At least until recently, the drive trains were very cheap, and this was the chassis they came from.

By cheap I mean sell the 2JZ for a profit AFTER getting the BEAMS/6sp combo.

Shave a ton of weight from the nose, power goes down a bit but you get a revhappy 2l four instead of the logy six.  Kind of like a 0th gen FRS, or a 2nd gen AE86 (which is what the IS200 was billed as by enthusiasts when it came out)

In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :

I've ridden shotgun in a beams swapped AE86 and it was a euphoric experience. I still think the is300 is too heavy a chassis to really exploit the beams but it would still be fun