'04 IS300 - Project (Not Really) Nice Daily

[Goodspeed]

I'll just leave this here.

https://savannah.craigslist.org/cto/d/20...06937.html

Boof.  It looks shoddy, but the concept is so perfect.  It's going to be hard to resist doing something similar in the future - a nice budget L92/LS3 hybrid motor, a slick new T56 Magnum, and some off the shelf swap parts have been on the brain since before I even purchased the old IS.  It's no more complicated or expensive than doing a GTE/manual swap (and possibly cheaper now that used Getrag V160/161 Supra transmissions are a damn sight near 2x the cost of new T56 Magnums).  It would be cheaper still to send the car to these guys in Texas for a built & turbo'd factory GE motor and A650E auto trans but that's still a decent chunk of a LS swap which would be the holiest of grails.

This car is just so serene and smooth to daily stock, but...time will tell if I can resist down the line.  It would be so neat to have a sleeper, M5-crushing daily in an old 1st gen IS300 that could.

Side note, why is every LSx swapped anything always sold before they're ever really sorted out?

Taylor nailed it, but I tell you what - it just makes it more special seeing the swaps that are done with a microscope.  The first LS IS300 is just such a car - built by the guy who makes the swap kit parts with a LS1 in 2010, then upgraded to a L92/LS3 a year later and built to look factory.  This car has since been a huge inspiration to me:

https://get.google.com/albumarchive/110001416800430195408/album/AF1QipPFzsT1KHNLoKQOfHr10-WCiV7ZerJQEvbEyavR