One of the nice things about a project car is that pretty much anything with wheels can qualify as one. Take, for example, the humble Lexus LS 430. While it’s certainly known as a bastion of build quality, reliability, and Japanese luxury, it’s not exactly something you see people modifying regularly aside from the VIP static stance folks.
But just because nobody else is doing something, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a try, and that’s just what Dave Pratte and Pete Tarach did with a humble, black-over-tan 2004 Lexus 430 that came out of Florida pre-thrashed, though originally, that’s not what he was looking for.
“I had been looking for a GS 430, which is probably a better competitor for Pete’s M5, but we really struggled to find a nice one within our limited budget,” said Dave Pratte, co-founder of Speed Academy in conversation with CARiD. “So, when I found the LS, I figured, hey, it’s the same drivetrain, but more comfortable. Why not?”
The big black luxo-barge was bought as part of a $6,000 sport sedan challenge that saw Pratte’s Lexus pitted against an equally hosed BMW E39 M5 bought by Tarach. Calm down if the idea of a Lexus LS 430 being called a sport sedan has already started your keyboard warrior instincts to twitch. There’s more to it.
The first modifications done to what eventually came to be known as the “Flexus” were some mild performance brakes from Stoptech. It was nothing wild, just slotted rotors and slightly grippier pads that replaced tired stock units with a bad vibration problem. The stock brake calipers have been retained since they’re really nice all-aluminum fixed, four-piston Sumitomo units.
Next comes the problem of the Flexus’ wallowy, boat-like ride. These cars are mighty soft right from the factory, which, to be fair, is likely what most LS buyers want. Soft turns into seasick-inducing quickly, though, once the rear dampers give up the proverbial ghost, as is the case on this high-mileage car.
Getting the ride to trend towards sporty is, thankfully, pretty simple. The Speed Academy boys called up Fortune Auto for a set of coilovers. The 500-series coilovers they ended up getting offer just a single adjustment for rebound with 24 steps between full stiff and fully soft. Aside from the upgraded damping, the big win here is the ability to adjust ride height, since if one is building a car for YouTube, you can’t be riding at stock height, lest you face commenter ridicule.
Ride and braking sorted, it was time to address the 430’s power deficit. According to BMW, the E39 M5 is good for 400 horsepower at the crank. The LS 430, comparatively, only makes a decidedly chamomile-tea-and-warm-blanket-fresh-out-of-the-dryer 278 hp. Making extra power on an N/A V8 like the 3UZ isn’t a super simple thing unless, of course, you’re willing to toss the naturally aspirated part of that equation out the window.
It’s at this point that Elate Manufacturing comes in. The then-Australian, now-New Zealand-based company specializes in adding superchargers to Toyota V8s, and it was in the process of developing and releasing a supercharger manifold kit for the LS 430 that, unlike the factory TRD supercharger option or the TOMS supercharger kit, wasn’t discontinued and therefore made of unobtanium.
The Elate manifold is designed to work with a reasonably common Eaton M112 blower. These were the stock superchargers on the 2000-2004 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra and the Ford Lightning pickup. This means you can pick these up used on eBay for undner $1,000 in decent condition all day.
But wait, it gets even better. For some reason, Lexus/Toyota opted to make the LS 430’s ECU capable of adapting to small amounts of boost. This means you don’t need to tune the car or change the fuel system as long as you stay around the five or six psi range. That boost level should give you an extra 80 or so hp at the crankshaft.
For added simplicity, the Speed Academy guys decided to run without an intercooler, which, at the low boost levels they’re running and the car’s intended use-case, shouldn’t be an issue. Elate offers a kit with a water-to-air intercooler and all the associated plumbing, and it should increase the engine’s longevity if the vehicle is driven hard, so if you’re considering this swap, it might be something to consider.
The installation is surprisingly easy, and now it’s even easier since manufacturers like 507 Garage (which is Elate’s US dealer) offer further conversion parts to remove fabrication from the installation process essentially totally. Talking to Dave Pratte about the install, he thinks that it would easily be doable in a weekend on a driveway with the new parts.
The installation complete, the car went to the dyno, where it made a very respectable 70-wheel-hp with the help of a tweaked factory ECU from Quantum Auto in California.
Now, for the best part: Reliability. Dave has been using the Flexus as his daily driver in the suburbs of Toronto and has put approximately 50,000 miles on the car with zero issues and zero extra maintenance. In the series’ most recent video, you can see the level of Dave’s borderline-spiteful neglect in the level of gunk found in the K&N air filter. It’s the grossest one I’ve ever seen, and that says something.
The only real changes that were made (other than cleaning that filter, thankfully) are a move back to more stock-like brakes with pads and rotors from Stoptech’s parent company, Centric, and a slight bump in ride height to help cope with Hamilton, Ontario’s gnarly roads.
So, going back to the beginning of this whole adventure, when I said that just because nobody else is modifying something, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try; this is the reason why. This platform is peak Lexus. It’s not thrilling, but it’s been built to be as solid and reliable as humanly possible, which isn’t something you often see on the cars people usually turn into projects.
They say never to daily drive a project, but Dave Pratte’s Flexus seems to be the exception to that rule. That’s why, aside from his long-term, bare chassis restored 3SGE BEAMS-powered 70s Celica, Connie, this Lexus is the only Speed Academy car that he’s not likely ever to let go.
“It just works so well. It’s reliable and comfortable, and with the muffler delete, it sounds amazing,” said Pratte. “It’s also been huge for Speed Academy, and every time we post a video about it, that video does super well. We never expected that, but it’s been really cool.”
