Thread: 95 Lexus SC300 - 0l33l's "Project SC300"

I was hoping that the clublexus members would help me map the ins/outs... Its really weird. I supposedly connect to the two terminals behind the buttons, but they are already connected. When I press the button, it doesn't disconnect them. I'll have my grandpa figure this one out.
I originally wanted to hack right into the cable that goes from the board with the LCD to the controllers, but I'm fearing that an interface chip for the LCD and buttons is connected there

You can shove a VIA EPIA behind the dash, its been done on clublexus already And the EPIa is bigger than the Nano-ITX
About the cupholder in the console (not the one that you click to open). I'm talking about the one that you pull out. Its useless anyways because cups tend to FALL OUT of it! It would be more of a safety precausion, that way no sodas will fall on your LCD display.

Thanks for telling me how much room I had there. I didn't think it was a lot, so I didn't even bother to check

Yeh, the trunk space is inadequate to say the least. I haven't been on CL in a while, too much homework and stuff. But when I was there anyways, I never visited that section what's your ID on it?

When I was removing the 3rd brakelight to replace a bulb, I broke off one of the clips. I'm gonna guess that its gonna be making a racket, even with the stock system
I do think I know what's causing the racket. There is this plate behind the rear seat. Maybe this will help get rid of the rattle...

I just ordered some Goodyear GS-D3s... so now I won't go sliding in the rain Almost took out a few poles with the old tires

I'm probably gonna mount it instead of the CD changer. Plus, you won't hear the fan noise inside the car! Kill two birds with one stone.

I'm going to be going with probably a first get Audigy PCI. Look for the kXProject drivers, its like having a digital processor right in the sound card

Originally Posted by TO_SC300

Yeah, those taxes took a chunk of my soul with them

My LCD is bleeding as well, if you do map out the CC ins/outs properly, I'm sure clublexus members will love ya for it, myself included. I didn't know that 95-96 has a different CC, odd. I will scan the diagrams once I get back from the US, flying down to Virginia in the morning, but I'll email them to you when I get back.

I was thinking of jamming the computer in the radio area as well, I was waiting for the Nano-ITX but hell's frozen over at least twice since I started waiting. My idea is to jam it in the trunk, for the additional space and also because my amps are back there, less distance for a (possible) rca interconnect wire = less interference. Cupholder idea is a great, but there's no other spaces for cups! Can't give that one up

Under the glove box there isn't much space. There's a large pipe that's part of the frame. The filter for the AC actually goes in from the bottom of the passenger footwell, straight up. Just remove the lowest panel and look up. You'll see a white plastic rectangle held in with two screws. It's not in the way, but a whole heck of alot of wires, air conduits and chunks of frame are.

It's annoying really. There's isn't many 'cubby holes' in this damn car to hide things. The trunk space is ridiculous. The cupholder situation makes me laugh out loud. It's that damn smile I can't wipe off my face when I see her parked in the driveway sporting her 18" summer paws. She's like a girlfriend. Great to look at, but slowly drives you nuts.

I chucked the stock amps within the first week I had the car. I did the ole' make two MDF shelves above the gas tank. It's been discussed on clublexus, works well. I have two amps in ther, one for a 500 watt free air sub in the rear deck (replaced the old one) and one for the four speakers. If you're thinking of replacing the rear deck subwoofer, don't do it with another subwoofer in the deck. At high power, there is not way in hell you can stop all of the rattle, I've dynamatted the entire rear of the car, still rattles at certain frequencies. Mostly the brake light/woofer cover. Do a woofer box, if you can spare that ample trunk space we have

So I'm thinking of putting the computer right where the CD changer was in the trunk. Keep the metal base it's attached to and bold the case right to that base. Then SB live pci card or sb extigy connected to SPDIF output from the motherboard. Don't want to load the usb bus with audio, sounds like it slows down the CPU a fair bit.

Wagon Its a coupe!

Does yours have the stock navigation?

I actually use the backseat on occasions. Its one of the reasons that I got the SC300 over an MR2.

I find the car awful on gas. Its pretty ironic that the v8 gets better gas mileage than the inline-6. I've gotten around 300miles for a tank of gas, and I use the highest octane rating they have here in Cali, 91

I think the climate control issue was a problem on all models. Its just that the LCDs crack because of heat

Originally Posted by Blackrazor

Nice wagon. I'll post pics of my Toyota Soarer 4.0GT (which is pretty much the same thing as a Lexus SC400 with extra gizmos and etc) as i go once i start building it

Boot space isnt an issue as the back seat is disappearing to make way for an aperiodically loaded sub enclosure

BTW, i dont find the Soarer is THAT bad on gas, i get about 9.6L/100km which is (does the maths, ruddy Imperial measurements) 24 miles to the gallon... a full 78L tank gets me about 600kms (about 375 miles) which isnt too bad. The secret with the Lexus V8 engine is to run it on 96 Octane, which even tho it costs more seems to use much less

BTW, you gotta have a chuckle, you've got the same issue with the aircon control that mine has

Thanks for the diagrams! I skimmed over them. Not that helpful And google can easily receive those files

Yeh, the cup holder sucks. And the one in the center (the push one) is broken. But it's been fixed by my uncle You can run USB and power cables from the trunk to the vertical cupholder... that was my original idea I've seen VGA cable run for that long (rando's install), and the iamge quality was good. He says not to use the cheap cables.

I don't want to dynamat the car as it will make it heavier. My goal is to put the car on a diet, not the opposite. I'm going to be making some LEDs for the rear lights, so I could just remove the cover. If you don't have the bulb for it, then you will get that annoying light missing light in the dash

We don't have winter here, unless you live in the mountains
I want an LSD. No Lexus SCs came with one in the US

I'm ripping the CD changer and amp out. In the hole, I'm going to put in a case. I'm going to be using either mATX or ATX motherboard, so it definately won't fit

But you own case. The PSU desicion is up to you
I'm going to be using a lot of PCIs. Like one for wifi, one for audigy, maybe AGP for better video card. Then probably some other stuff that I'll add later

I drive my car the same way. Never really slowed down that much to really gauge the true mileage. But try flooring the car in reverse. You'll get AWFUL mileage! Like you could see the needle drop!
I do get better mileage on the freeway, but I rarely go on it.

Originally Posted by TO_SC300

Yeah, can't help you with the mapping, except by sending you the diagrams which I just did to your email. Good luck with that, let me know if some email filter stops the zip file somewhere. It's a 3MB zip file.

That cup holder does, well, suck ***. Definately designed before the Japanese witnessed the 'super gulp' phenomenon I'm going to jam the computer in the trunk because all my amps are back there, not sure I want to run the audio cables back, think I'd rather run the VGA and USB cables 15 ft... might regret this decision at some point.

My ID on CL is the same, TO_SC300. Haven't been on in ages either, spent so much time on my car, had to take a break... but it's time again (carputer!) As for that thread RE: rattle, I dynamatted that entire plate in the rear just so I wouldn't have to take it out, thanks for the tip tho. I pounded the system with the rear seat out, it's definately the third brake lite and, after some time, other things loosen up! I'm going in with a big tube of threadlok when I install the carputer.

Good call with the better tires. I swap between true winter/summer tires, needed for rear wheel drive cars... ESPECIALLY if your car doesn't have a limited slip diff (LSD) like the 92 SC300 (imagine my surprise...)

Inside the CD changer.... interesting idea. Perfect case! Not sure if an EPIA board will fit in it tho!?

Thanks for the tip on the audigy. Might go PCI for it, need to figure out the power requirements. I'm having a hell of a time deciding on what to get for a PSU. Too many choices!! M1-ATX, Carnetix 80W, wait for Carnetix 1900, Opus 90W or Opus 150W. The biggest hassle is the ALL mini-itx cases come with PSUs it seems! So if I go Opus 150W, again for future expandability, I'm throwing away the DC-DC PSU in the case any paying $140 for a case (thinking C137, dual PCI). What a PITA.

BTW - About Gas milage... yeah. Isn't just you. That 3.0L sucks back gas like a Ford 5.0L engine... of course, that could be because of the constant launching at the lights... haven't slowed down long enough to figure it's true MPG

How's the carputer coming along? I'm anxiously waiting to see your finished product...

I rushed mine in about 3 months total for 2 different designs...too busy to work on my newest design...

Glad to see all the other SC/Soarer owners making the carputers...

Anyway, my setup currently is having the Epia board, 2.5" HD and Opus all behind the radio area.

I chopped the bottom of the cigarette lighter and ash tray and put the Opus right there...I moved the A/C display right above that and placed the Xenarc above the a/c display...

Everything has been working flawlessly for over 8 months now.

My next plans are to move my monitor up a bit higher and putting a slot load dvd rom in the middle of the monitor and a/c display.

Carputer is in progress. Just visited my uncle today (he's doing the fabrication work). He just totally chopped off the climate control countour and glued it to the Xenarc frame.

As you can see, I'm taking my time I've had like 3 design ideas, one that is basically a copy of yours. I figured it wasn't going to be powerful enough for my needs. I'm in progress on v.2. v.3 would be v.2 with a LCD repalcing the speedo. I want to use the GPS speed instead of the speedo. Then have directions displayed on the LCD (a la VW Paeton).

When I get done, I'll be like the 10th person to finish an install
So to be special I'm making the most powerful and feature rich computer with climate control capability

I wanted to do something that looks totally stock. That's why I'm not touching the stock bezel and the stock space. Removing the AC is going to look cleaner. When I figure out somethign for that space, I'll have to redo some of the dash.

Originally Posted by ACleanSC4

How's the carputer coming along? I'm anxiously waiting to see your finished product...

I rushed mine in about 3 months total for 2 different designs...too busy to work on my newest design...

Glad to see all the other SC/Soarer owners making the carputers...

Anyway, my setup currently is having the Epia board, 2.5" HD and Opus all behind the radio area.

I chopped the bottom of the cigarette lighter and ash tray and put the Opus right there...I moved the A/C display right above that and placed the Xenarc above the a/c display...

Everything has been working flawlessly for over 8 months now.

My next plans are to move my monitor up a bit higher and putting a slot load dvd rom in the middle of the monitor and a/c display.

Originally Posted by Blackrazor

Wagon = slang for car here.


If you mean the EMV display, no.

BTW, i know Soarer badges are hard to come by over there, and Lexus badges for an SC400 are a dog to come by over here, so if anyone wants to do a swaparoony, get in touch

P.S excuse the crusty pics, its 11:13pm here

Mmm.... I've got a spare gold L for the front laying around in my glove box