Project Manual Lexus GS300 skidder

Found one photo from the Donegal rally after all. Not even a photo of the GS.





Two days before I had to go back to Edinburgh I decided to make a splitter. I forgot to factor in time to pack...





I wanted the splitter to be functional, I'm thinking about doing to one of the time attack events at Crail at some point. I'm part of the Time Attack Builders facebook group, they recommended plywood, and I laid a couple of layers fiberglass resin over the top.

I attached it with two steel mounts at the rear that I welded up, and splitter support rods at the front. I intended on putting two mounts further out, but it would have to wait.

I didn't leave enough time, obviously, and I think the hardener I had for the resin was off, because it took ages to dry. Without sanding it flat I brushed a coat of black hammerite over the top with intentions of sanding and refinishing in Edinburgh.







I am also planning a vertical air dam to fill the gap between the splitter and the bumper, and ditching the flexible dip.

Well anyway, after finishing the splitter, packing the car and leaving late, one of the cheap splitter support rods failed at 60mph. Literally about five miles from my house. It's a pretty good indication the splitter is working, but better support rods would be needed.

I had to remove the splitter from the other mounts, throw it in a bush and drive on to make the ferry. I took a screenshot of my location on google maps and my parents drove down to retrieve it the next day haha.

At a drift day at Crail, I had the front of the car running a little softer than usual to fight understeer issues because of some grippy rear tyres. I also had some part worn tyres I got cheap that had big sidewalls. This resulted in the car rubbing badly under the arches, and it folded the archs several times that day. I just kept bending them back and doing more rund obviously.

I've always wanted to make the car wider, so it seemed like a good time. Got back from Edinburgh at Christmas and got to work on the fronts.















Knowing I wouldn't have enough time to paint before going back to Edinburgh in January, so I sprayed some primer on the wings to seal them after straightening and cutting.

 

As I got the new front arches fitted my mate came over from Edinburgh to visit. Before I started the rears I took him a run down to 'Paradise' for some skids.




After that it was time to get on the rears, I didn't take many photos of this as it was a mad rush before me, my mate and Rebecca had to head back to Edinburgh.






I didn't want to cut the rear arches for the rear door opening, so I fitted them tight at the front. It looks bit funny now, but I have a plan for them before they get painted. I'm sure I can get them sitting sick on the car with a bit of shaping. I also need bigger spacers for the rear.

I got the car in a drivable state hours before we had to leave for the ferry, so paint would have to wait. Off we went.




Got back to Edinburgh and got a proper look at the car for the first time.







I still had funky sized part worns on the rear at this point.





Even with mismatched colours, and a lot of things just not quite finished yet I love how the car came out. It looks mad aggressive, I really cant wait to it all painted with the splitter and other little bits I have planned.


Around this time we had some insane snow in Edinburgh, snow skids act as an amazing stress reliever it turns out. Almost every day we were leaving uni and hitting spots. It was a lot of fun!









Brought the GS to an SDC event at driftland, managed to park up beside an R32 I had seen online. One of the maddest drift cars in the country, I LOVE IT.






I didnt really get to do too much else with the car that semester. A little bit of streeto on Sunday nights was about the height of it, forth year of uni was too intense.

Anyway, got exams out of the way, partied hard and started making plans for coming home. It was time for a big rebuild, I had started a lot of jobs, and not had time to finish them to my standards. So thats where Im at now, its taking forever, but its going to be so so worth it.

Next update I write will be about the current rebuild and we will FINALLY be up to date on the threat. Yay




Teaser:

 

Yeah, I seen those two sale posts the other day cheers. Should be deleted now, let me know if you can still see shit I cant

 

Thanks man, a lot to come one it, the car is way ahead of the thread again.

Six years actually, and we split last summer, so let that be the end of that haha

 

Cheers man, going to throw up a few big updates now.

Best place for it haha, getting paid to read build threads.

 

Big update time again!

Got home from uni at the start of last summer planning a big rebuild. The chassis had started to get a bit of surface rust in the wheel wells and nastier rust behind the rear sills, also I hadn't properly rust proofed from putting the wider arches on the car. My head quickly escalated sorting them issues to stitch welding the chassis and completely re-sealing the underside. This was the start of the summer from hell haha.

Started stripping the car down the night I got home, after getting a wee picture with my little brothers Corolla.







Engine tapping still going and not getting any worse after a couple of years beating on the car, I decided it HAD to be valve shim clearance and I was being stupid when I measured them before. Cams out again...



I actually measured a clearance on the offending cylinder 5 as out of spec, SWEET. Finally found the source of the tapping....except I didn't. Replaced the shim, everything is measuring right in tolerance, and the tapping hasn't changed at all. Cool.

Before stripping the interior I made a blanking plate to better fit the new shifter setup. It turned out pretty good, it's a shame the interior never went back in.



Stripping it down and starting to tackle the sound deadening...









The sound deadening actually wasn't too bad to get off, cleaning the seams for paint ended up being way worse, I spent so much money on wire wheels for the grinder in this time.

Another terrible task was scraping the thick rubbery underseal off the arches and the underside of the car...with a chisel. Cleaned with a million more wire wheels.









My garage isn't massive, and if you have a chassis in there, and literally everything except the engine out of that chassis you have to move stuff from side to side on the car to work. It was pretty annoying!




The front of the chassis starting to get stitch welded...









Then I started on the inside









I love how it looks, and you can 100% feel the difference in the car even though I have got a fair few factory bushings still, BUT this literally took FOREVER. I was putting all my time into it and it was relentless. The end result is amazing though, as you'll see soon.

 

There was so many occasions where I would run out of welding wire, wire wheels or primer in this time, so I was constantly knocking off other tasks on the to do list simultaneously.

One of those jobs was properly mounting that splitter I made, ditched in a bush when it fell off on the way to Edinburgh, and then got my parents to collect out of said bush hahah. I got it mounded so solid I could stand on it, ended up welding brackets to the tow hooks.





As I was stitch welding I went around with primer to cover any bare metal areas. SO MANY CANS OF PRIMER.









In around where the subframe and fuel tank live was also stitch welded and primed.

I wasn't joking about space being at a premium!





Finally it couldn't be put off any longer, it was time to fix the rust. I don't seem to have any photos of the actual repair, but it turned out pretty solid. Hopefully it will be visible in later photos.







It was all done with seam sealer and primer after. I also cleaned up the pinch welds on both sides and any other surface rust on the car, then it was all primed.






Finally it was time for the payoff! It had been months in the making and I had something ABSOLUTELY SICK planned. Bedliner is a super tough coating, the Americans literally use it to line pick-up beds so they can throw their tool boxes etc. in the back and not have it scratch the coating. I decided to bedliner the underside, arches and floor of the chassis.

As I'm sure its apparent by now, I LOVE RACECAR SHIT. I love seeing a pristine white chassis, with the added bonus of fluid leaks being easy to identify. I bought A LOT of Raptor tintable bedliner, and some white paint to tint it.

I could have really used a Raptor sponsorship....





I sprayed in three steps, the rear underside and arches, the front arches and the underside floor, then the floor on the inside of the chassis. Such a messy long process, BUT WAIT TILL YOU SEE THESE IMAGES!





















Don't lie, thats pimpin'

 

It felt so good to be putting parts back on the car at this point! Because the chassis was so clean now I ended up sanding and painting virtually everything I put back on the car.

The exceptions being the front suspension and subframe as I'm still planning to do some angle stuff. I have a kit designed I could make, or I could have the knuckles and arms modified to a more conservative design I also have, it will be funds and time dependant.















I was also doing a pile of other things I had lined up at the same time. The car always leaked a couple of drops of oil, after changing an AN fitting twice, and a bit of head scratching I realised one of the oil cooler lines was touching the chassis under load. This was causing the fitting to leak.

I went with a different style of take-off plate, which is 100% better. The old take-off plate screwed on to the oil filter threads, so where it stopped rotating is the orientation you were stuck with. By going with this style I can point the inlet/outlet anywhere I want and tighten the cap on to it. Plus it means I can ditch the 90 degree fittings, solving the clearance issue.







There has always been a noise coming from the bellhousing when I lift my foot off the clutch in neutral, I determined it had to be the clutch fork rattling on the release bearing. I finally got round to putting in a spring to hold the fork off the bearing, it definitely helped, but there still is a faint noise, I'm going to put a second spring in next time the gearbox is off.









My fuel tank was in pretty bad shape, and when I wire wheeled it to try and clean it up I ate a couple of holes in it. Went and bought a clean one and sealed it up with red oxide and then underseal.







It was around this time after ordering more bedliner for a second time that I got to paint the inside





While that dried I continued reassembly on the outside

 

With the bed liner on the inside dry I could start in there too. I am so happy with how it turned out, I love how you can still see the stitch welding through the bed liner.









With the handbrake cable routed from the inside I could continue getting the tunnel ready for the gearbox. As soon as the bed liner was dry on the inside the car was roadworthy in about two days, parts started flying on.











I bent up a bracket and welded it to the pedal box. The position of the drivers foot plate wasn't quite right before, it now bolts to two rivnuts in the bracket and sits perfectly. There is a second bracket I made that positions the rear of the plate.







I hadn't driven the car in months at this point, and I was really excited to see how it felt now that it was theoretically stiffer and a lot lighter. There was still plenty on the to do list, but I decided to do them with the car on the road.

This is the first picture of the car after the rebuild, I was going to Edinburgh for a week to see my bois and I finished it the day I was due to leave. I have family that live right beside the airport, so I drove it up there for a first drive.




With the car being so fun to drive I started going through a lot of tyres haha, I was getting a pair of part worns on the rear every week, telling myself I was going to make them last longer. That didn't include track tyres

 

Flexin on the lift at the tyre place







You may have noticed there is no rear bash bar in them two photos, that because I was making this....

This is easily one of the best things I have done to the car, it is just some thick walled CDS tube welded to the standard bash bar, but it makes life so much easier at the track and it is super handy about the garage.









I redone the wiring from the rear mounted battery to the emergency cut-off. Before it was hidden under the carpet, but now that it was on show I wanted it to be routed neater. I have a passenger floor mat that covers some of it.





That discolouration on the floor is just dirt. The bed liner wipes clean so easily, its amazing.


I finished that splitter. After coating the plywood in fibreglass resin I wrapped it with gloss black wrap. I then added some rubber U-channel around the edges.







Splitter all mounted and the car clean it did look pretty sick!







I had planned to make an air dam to bridge the gap between the splitter and the bumper, but a lack of driver talent ate that splitter within a week haha

While this was going on I was constantly doing bits of bodywork trying to get the car ready for paint





One of the things that has been on the to do list for ages is to remove the cats. There are two cats on the GS300, both on the manifold. Don't be like me, spend the money on a manifold, this was a pain!

High temp primer under the heat wrap to minimise rust.









I was having a lot of fun with the car while doing this stuff. At one point the me and the car arrived back at my house at 11pm on a recovery lorry, and managed to get on track the next day for 3pm.

 

Some drifty shots







Fell in with a sick bunch of drifty bois





Country roads, wet leaves, torrential rain and no ABS. Well it did look good for that week.







The car went up a small grass bank and took out a fence post, I was pretty lucky to not drop that oil cooler! The splitter did look sick, but it was also pretty impractical for a drifter that finds a reason to take his front bumper off twice a week.

I decided to buy a genuine Greddy lip off a mate. It was super cheap because it came in several pieces. I was saving for a move to Edinburgh at the time, so the cheapest option won.



It was missing a section, so I made a plan to shape expanding foam and then fibreglass over the top. The bumper and bonnet didn't sit quite right after the crash, so I got some super cool bumper catches and areocatch style bonnet vents. Sorted it right out, the bumper sits better than it ever did and its just as easy to get off









Instagram hotboi



You can see where I added expanding foam on the drivers side of the bumper lip. I repaired the lip with epoxy resin and a wire mesh moulded into the resin for strength.

Laying fibreglass over the foam





A photo of the finished interior. Around this time I bought fixed back bucket seats, but I havent had a chance to get them in yet





Some random photos and drifty days

 

I have wanted to add an expansion tank to the car for a while now, I'v had this one sitting in the garage for ages. I finally got round to getting an additional outlet added to it, and I ordered the fittings and hoses for it.

I made a simple bracket out of some steel box section.







I got the T-piece made with a fabricator from an ebay listing, quality was top notch!


These are the seats I bought, I'm so excited to get a proper seat in this car, I am bouncing about in the stock ones.





Some more random shots, getting closer to paint







I got some gold reflective tape for heat management and ended up going a bit hotboi. No regrets






I have always wanted a big gay wing for the car, it was a goal of mines. I couldn't really justify the price of a proper wing, but I was keeping an eye on facebook marketplace and forums. Finally got lucky with a good deal on a MASSIVE WANG.



It needed a freshening up, but it was perfect! I trimmed the endplates and put two subtle bends in them and stuck it on, I would eventually paint the blade the same colour as the car.







I'm sure many will disagree, but I think its just what the car needed, it completely changes the car for me. I LOVE IT


The front bumper was coming along well too

 

Getting prepped for a drift day at Aghadowey, turned out to be a pretty eventful day. I was on track and something broke after a third gear clutch kick. As I crawled back to pits I realised it sounded like the flex plate banging about in the bellhousing.

Occasionally when the car is reversing in a tight turn, and I put in the clutch the flex plate will contact the back of the block, you can hear it in the car. Its something I've been meaning to address for a couple of months.

Well it was clear something was mangled in there now, I got back to the pits and shut the car off, then I tried to start it and I could hear the motor working, but it wasn't engaging anything. Flex plate confirmed. Had a nightmare getting home.





I pulled the gearbox off the car and this is what I found.







The flex plate cracked in a perfect circle around 90% of the way round.

After a bit of hassle sourcing a new one, I chucked it on and expected everything to work fine, but it didn't. The occasional noise of the flex plate contacting the block under certain conditions is worse than the previous plate before it broke.

It is possible to bend these plates removing then, I could have got unlucky with the one I got? Need to pull it apart again, but unfortunately I didn't have time before I left.



These gearboxes are so compact and light!


I promised myself by the time I left for Edinburgh again the car would FINALLY be painted. It had been literally a year since all the panels on the car were clean and the right colour. I didn't take many photos, but I took a lot of time with the prep and the cutting and buffing and it actually turned out really well for someone who hates painting.






Around the same time I was starting to repaint the lower half of the car the same Sparking Grapite the arches would be painted in. Really want a two tone look for the car.




Panels back on, this is before they were polished







I still have the lower portion of the sides to do in grey to finish the two tone look, but seeing the car finally come together visually is SICKKK, will post some professional shots on the next update!

 

For those of you reading this in the future, it is currently March 2020 and the whole of the UK is on lockdown because of covid-19, seems like a pretty good time to get the build thread up to date.

I have recently noticed I have fallen out of the habit of taking photos in the garage as I work on the car. I'm going to try and change this and keep the build thread up to date in the detail that I used to. Its really handy being able to look back at what I did, previous versions of components etc. Reading through it today I realised had forgot a decent amount of stuff I done to the car even.

So as promised last time, here are some sick pro shots of the car. The photographer, Richie McDermott, actually spotted the GS in a car park and got my insta off a sticker on the car. He contaced me saying he'd love to shoot the car and I was well keen.

















Not long after this I moved back to Edinburgh after spending some time in Derry after uni. Unfortunately I had to leave the car in Derry until i could secure a decent job and get settled in a flat again etc.

I called back to Derry occasionally and managed to get a bit done to the car here and there. One thing I really wanted to get off the list was making custom seat brackets for the bucket seats.

Morgan, (my litter brother and owner of the Corolla G6 in the photos), and I shot some footage for a youtube video on the process. I only got round to editing it the other day, (nearly a year later hahah), link for anyone thats interested:

I later reinforced the brackets for a bit more peace of mind and painted them hotboi gold of course. The bucket seats made such a difference to the feel of driving the car. I've never had proper racing seats before and I'm actually in love with them.

Trips back to Derry pretty much centred around the car at this point, I has having a lot of fun with it. Here are a selection of random photos from the time.











June came around and it was time for Donegal rally again. I've spoke about it before on here but it is probably my favourite weekend of the year. Not only are there stages on twisty Irish roads to watch, there are several drift/diffing events around the rally and it attracts hundreds of modified cars with the nicest Jap cars in the country usually in attendance.














Having the GS in its stripped out, stitch welded, full fucking racecar form at the rally for the first time was like having christmas and my birthday in one. It was such a good weekend right up until it wasn't.

My local track was having a drift event on the Sunday, the last day of the rally so I packed up the car and headed down. I bumped into a mate Rory down there with his absolutely unreal JZX100. This resulted in some sick more door Toyota tandem photos.













This is where shit hit the fan.

On the last couple of laps the car cut out a few ties when i was off throttle on the handbrake. Because I was having so much fun i just started it up and kept thrashing a few times. Well the engine popped. After I got towed off track I managed to get it started again but its knocking real bad.

I got the car recovered to the house, parked it up and went back to Edinburgh. I put it aside for months until Christmas when I was heading Back to Derry a week.