Swap Insanity: The LQ9-Powered “LSXus” Takes Shape

lsxuslead

I went through a couple turbos and motors before deciding to build it right. – Evan Davis, D3 Performance

The SC400; it seems as if this particular model produced by Lexus could be considered as one that flew under the radar, perhaps due to big brother Supra stealing the limelight. Even though it never really got the attention that the Supra did, the SC400 was most certainly a pioneer of its time. By taking a quick glance at it, one can tell that the styling of the car doesn’t seem to be from the early 90s.

Even more unseen, both then and now, was that this Japanese coupe wasn’t all wheel or front wheel drive. Rather, it came out of the box putting V8 power down through the rear wheels, which was more or less unheard of in the performance community unless you had American iron under the hood. The 4.0L 1UZ-FE that cranked out about 260 horsepower was quite stout for its time. However, in the world of racing today, 260 horsepower is nowhere near enough power for a motorhead, let alone a performance shop owner.

The owner of Houston, Texas’ D3 Performance picked up his SC400 about four years ago. Prior to purchase it had been swapped over to a 1JZ-GTE turbocharged inline-six by the previous owner. While this was a respectable setup, Evan Davis, the new owner, recalls that he “…went through a couple turbos and motors before deciding to build it right.” What does “building it right” consist of exactly? You guessed it! Even though the Lexus served as a suitable and fun daily driver for a decent period of time, eventually the power just wasn’t enough anymore. This is where the Chevy swap began.

Shown side by side, you can see just how much more compact a pushrod LS engine is, compared to the DOHC Toyota. Image: Toymods.org.au

The Simple Plan Gets Complicated

The original plan was to drop the Japanese motor in favor of a little LS love in the form of an LQ9. Throw some nitrous into the equation and you have a simple yet effective build. These plans would leave tons of potential, meanwhile providing a quite capable street car for the time being. This sounded like an excellent plan at the time; however one thing led to another, and the rise of D3 Performance took priority over the simple build. This led the innovative coupe in a slightly different direction.

From the outside, it almost looks like your run of the mill sc400.

Because they are a performance shop, it would only be right to have a super-high-performance car to represent themselves properly. At this point, the build had taken a small step in the more powerful direction. Instead of building a simple and quick car, D3 was now ready to construct an animal with power numbers somewhere in the realm of 1,000 horsepower. At the same time, the shop wanted to keep the car streetable. In the words of Evan, the idea behind the build is to be able to “[have] fun at TX2k, the Texas Invitational, the Texas Mile, and some other races in the south,” along with keeping the car off of a trailer.

If you know anything about TX2k and the like, you also know that in order to compete you have to bring your A-game, and sometimes, even that isn’t even enough. Therefore, the team decided to shoot for these lofty goals.

A common sight for unwary competitors; the tail lights.

The Iron Giant

The new build, like the old one, began with the same LQ9 iron block. This time, however, the plan was to bore and stroke it to a 408. This was a considerable step up over the original displacement of the truck engine.

Even so, attaining their power goals for the car without some sort of power adder would be nearly impossible. The shop decided that a pair of twin 67mm turbos would more than suffice in aiding the Chevy small block power plant in its journey to the four digit power range. If you throw in a full standalone ProEFI engine management system and 10 point roll cage, you have what D3 proclaims as an “all out shop car.”

If You Want It Done Right, Do It Yourself

One of the most impressive parts of this build is that almost every aspect of this ride was done in-house. In the words of the shop owner himself, “[The] car is basically built from the ground up. From the engine and trans mounts to the turbo system, catch can, complete fuel system, engine harness for the ProEFI engine management, chassis harness, and roll cage, it’s all built in-house.” The only things not done in the shop, says Evan, were paint and the machine work on the engine. In other words, this “LSXus” is essentially the poster child for “built, not bought.”

It’s a fun street car to grab people’s attention and hold its own at the track and street.

Still not impressed? We don’t believe you. In any case, we’re about to put the proverbial cherry on the sundae for any perspective naysayers. Even though the freshly Americanized import makes enough raw power to decimate pretty much anything that any man, woman, or child throws in its way, it will still maintain a full interior. That’s right, the monster won’t only be hurting feelings on the track, it will be doing it in comfort.

The car will also retain the stock suspension with an independent rear, which will provide a smooth ride to go along with the impressive power. As you can see from the pictures, the car retains the stock body as well. Aside from the drag pack featuring Belak Industries wheels wrapped in Mickey Thompson ET Street Drag Radials and a few subtle body modifications, we can safely say that this car falls in the “sleeper” category with ease… big time.

Turbos? What turbos?

A Work In Progress

The Lexus will soon be ready to go forward and put the competition to shame. All that remains to be done is a small bit of intercooler and related piping fabrication. Once that is wrapped up, a little bit of assembly will have the street car up and running. Afterwards, the car will be double-checked, at which point any last minute tweaks will be performed before it is sent to the paint booth.

Building what Evan calls “…a fun street car to grab people’s attention and hold its own at the track and street” was the original goal of the recent redesign process. We here at LSXMag think that with a tad bit more elbow grease, the crew at D3 Performance will have done a stellar job of meeting those goals and more. Once finished, you can expect to see this baby at the strips and on the streets of Texas (and probably all over the internet) beating down any unsuspecting competitor that happens to stumble into its path. While this isn’t the most powerful car that we’ve ever come across, it may just be one of the most unique LS swaps we’ve covered. We also give a 10/10 on the sleeper scale. Be on the lookout for this bad boy to make its debut in the very near future.

About the author

Jesse Kleiber

Jesse is currently a Senior at the University of Delaware and has been a car freak his entire life, probably due to his dad being a mechanic. If he's not at school or writing about cars, he's probably under the hood or behind the wheel of his '00 Corvette.
Read My Articles

Late Model LS Power in your inbox.

Build your own custom newsletter with the content you love from LSX Magazine, directly to your inbox, absolutely FREE!

Free WordPress Themes
LSX Magazine NEWSLETTER - SIGN UP FREE!

We will safeguard your e-mail and only send content you request.

LSX Magazine - The Late Model GM Magazine for Camaro

lsxmag

We'll send you the most interesting LSX Magazine articles, news, car features, and videos every week.

LSX Magazine - The Late Model GM Magazine for Camaro

LSX Magazine NEWSLETTER - SIGN UP FREE!

We will safeguard your e-mail and only send content you request.

LSX Magazine - The Late Model GM Magazine for Camaro

lsxmag

Thank you for your subscription.

Subscribe to more FREE Online Magazines!

We think you might like...


chevyhardcore
Classic Chevy Magazine
dragzine
Drag Racing
enginelabs
Engine Tech

LSX Magazine - The Late Model GM Magazine for Camaro

Thank you for your subscription.

Subscribe to more FREE Online Magazines!

We think you might like...

  • chevyhardcore Classic Chevy Magazine
  • dragzine Drag Racing
  • enginelabs Engine Tech

LSX Magazine - The Late Model GM Magazine for Camaro

lsxmag

Thank you for your subscription.

Thank you for your subscription.

LSX Magazine - The Late Model GM Magazine for Camaro

Thank you for your subscription.

Thank you for your subscription.

Loading