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HEATSOAKED is a Florida-based car culture podcast hosted by Cris and KT - two 30-something year old car nuts who live the stories they talk about. What started as two friends having late-night conversation about dream builds, blown budgets, and heat soaked engines turned into a platform for the culture that raised them.
This isn't about perfect cars or polished influencer content. It's about the grind behind the build. Cris and KT bring real conversations about the 90s and 2000s era tuner scene, passion-built machines, and the culture that keeps them alive. Every episode dives into the journey of a typical gearhead; including the victories, mistakes, lessons learned, and the passion that keeps the culture moving.
HEATSOAKED - because nobody remembers the cool nights.
Cris (00:02)
What's up guys? Welcome to Heat Soaked. I forgot which episode it is so I'm gonna keep rolling with it. I want to thanks everybody who's watching. Thank you guys. We appreciate your viewing. You guys have given us some really awesome feedback. Now that we're a couple episodes in. Don't forget as we kind of go along you're gonna see our builds and as we progress through you're gonna follow me at Storm_Spec_IS on Instagram.
You're going to see what's behind you, kind of interesting, and you're going to follow KT at Cloudy.IS300 then of course the pod that HeatsoakedFL. So go ahead and keep following us. Click that subscribe, click that like button guys, and let's keep this trainer moving. Yeah. What's up man? How are you doing today?
KT (00:39)
How are you doing? We're in a completely different location today.
Cris (00:42)
So we're in my garage as small as it is but this is my one car and this is the this is the doctor's office man this is where the magic happens this is where the surgeries become
KT (00:53)
Speaking of cars, we got a different car back here today. What is this?
Cris (00:58)
Let's
talk about it, man. So this is ⁓ the start of a new project for me. I remember last time we had spoken a couple of times about jumping into a new car. And I remember I giving you a call. was like, man, where are people selling cars these days? and you were like, because I was like, I'm all over Craigslist. I'm all over. And you're like, no, man, everyone's selling something at Facebook marketplace. So that's how we ended up. We're going to talk a little bit about that story. But this is.
KT (01:22)
Yeah
Cris (01:27)
the project.
KT (01:28)
Cris's new project car. And you're in for a treat today because we're going to relive that day.
Cris (01:32)
Yes we are man. So it was a cloudy day. Let's see man.
KT (01:41)
Well, it was a Sunday in February.
Cris (01:44)
was Sunday in February. It was live. I remember we invited you and the wife over for dinner. We were just hanging out. Nothing too crazy was happening. And we had just been...
KT (01:55)
We had gotten there early in the day. My wife, got to your place. We were just, you know, hanging out like we normally do. And then the wives decided they wanted to go out. They wanted to something fun for the day. So the boys are just on the couch and this guy decides to screencast marketplace onto his TV.
Cris (02:14)
Man, what else was I gonna do that was like?
KT (02:17)
So
then in there we're shopping cars.
Cris (02:20)
That's
absolutely right. So we started looking Man, I was definitely on my search for a GS I wanted a GS for no apparent reason other than I like the way it looked and there was just a lot of really good projects out there when I started scrolling Facebook marketplace, but I don't have a Facebook so I had that I had to ask KT you to be like hey message
KT (02:42)
And just so
you guys know, this is stuff that we always did anyway. So I was just coming over and I knew he was always browsing cars. We're both always on marketplace looking for deals, trying to find stuff. So this was just like another regular Sunday.
Cris (02:58)
Yeah,
like I mean we had eaten lunch like we were just chilling there was nothing to be expected of it and then all of a sudden I remember earlier that day I had asked KT to be like hey man can you message this guy about this IS that's up for sale? Probably nothing man he's just seems like he's in a hurry to get rid of it let's see what we can do about it and I was like listen lowball the shit out of him
KT (03:22)
Before we get to that, this was in the afternoon, we're just looking at cards and you had a budget in your mind. What were you kind of looking to spend?
Cris (03:30)
I
was looking from probably anywhere from like probably two to three. Okay. Geez, nothing too crazy, right? I wanted a project, something I can get my hands on, but I wanted something that was going to be fruitful. wanted a, you know, just like everyone searches for their next project, they're searching for something that's going to be something that they create really well and kind of put towards the future. And that's kind of my main goal. And as, as we kind of go forward, that was my main focus is I want to find something I one had never done before.
Two, of course, the platform as we talked about was the rear wheel drive, V6 or V8, you know? And of course, typing into Facebook Marketplace, by the way, when you don't have a profile, is the second hardest thing I've done on a computer for a while, or on an iPad. Because as I'm screening this, man, it's just reverting back, because I made it California, and I'm like, oh, God, here we go again. So yeah, that was my main focus of this, something within that two, three range, and going from there.
KT (04:25)
And you were doing it, well I was doing it on my phone. So we were looking at the same cards for the most part.
Cris (04:31)
We were ⁓
KT (04:33)
So
a couple of cars we were coming across you had a couple GS 300 on your list Yeah, I think we found a 350 Z a clapped out one at once
Cris (04:43)
Yeah, I found a G35 clapped out like of course, you know, it's like hey not running You know, there's tons of not running shell only and stuff like that a couple sc 300s was looking at because that was a good option
KT (04:56)
found you a couple Subarus, but you shot them down real quick.
Cris (04:59)
You
did. You even found me an FRS and I also shot that down immediately. It was like, need motor. was like, no thanks. So was like, although we can switch it out, it's not worth it right now. Let's find something running.
KT (05:09)
So let's talk about the car that you almost got. ended up being, ⁓ obviously you ended up getting this, but at one point we were looking at a GS 300 and I it was like matte black, was like rattle can, black, but it was running and it was within your budget too.
Cris (05:25)
Yeah,
yeah, it was like, what was it? It was like 1350 or something like that. The guy was like, listen, take it. I'm trying to get it off of my hands. It was in South Florida. We were just searching around. We were like, hmm, cause when you think about a project car, you're like, I can drive a hundred miles. You know, what's a couple hours away going to do for me? So I always extend that, you know, that range of area. And that's how we kind of looked into that. I was really interested in the platform. It was four door. was something that I know it was going to be easy to work on. There's plenty of the junkyard parts.
And that was something that for me, was like, okay, I have something I could use temporarily as a daily if needed, or something I could kind of swing back and always do a manual swap if needed. So I mean, there's plenty of those, like I said, junkyard parts, and that was my favorite thing. That's exactly what I was looking for, just like any of us would look for on something. But that was, for some reason, man, the GS300 would just call it my name, because I like that style.
KT (06:17)
It was pretty clean for a what like a $1,500 car. We knew we were going to have to put in work because it's a project car, of course. Of course. But it had the bones. Looked good. It had a 2JZ. And that was one of the big things you were looking for too. engine itself was one of the big things you were looking for.
Cris (06:21)
Yeah, ⁓
Yep, 2JZ
Yes,
yes, of course. mean, of course, anytime I want to look for a project car, it's got to be something that, like I said, reliable, tons of aftermarket parts you can find. 2JZGE is going to be one of those that has all of that available to it. Yes, am I going to have to look for some specialty parts every now and then? Okay, yeah, not a problem. But what car kind of at this point that's a little bit older doesn't have that option? So for me, was, my heart was set on a GS.
KT (07:06)
So because you didn't have marketplace,
Cris (07:10)
I
said KT on a quest right? And I was like listen man I need your help here. We're gonna use your face, we're use your name, go ahead start throwing out messages I want to see if I can come in after you.
KT (07:21)
So we're like lowballing the shit out of everybody. ⁓
Cris (07:24)
He
was like, listen, I'll give you 900. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, too far low ball.
KT (07:29)
No, but this guy, just reached out to him just with your basic, hey, you know, is this still available? And it wasn't the generic bot sort of response like, hi, is this available? We actually tried to keep it a little personal. Yeah, absolutely. But reached out to the guy. He actually took a couple hours to respond, but he did respond and said yes, eventually. While he was, you know, taking his time responding, of course, we're still searching around, right?
Cris (07:35)
I'm interested
KT (07:58)
So we ended up seeing a couple like SC 300s, right? But I think a lot of them were in like Tampa or South Florida. deals are deals, but there were a couple of them that were a little out of the way. So we were, know, and at this point we were just casually searching, right? We weren't expecting to go buy a car the same day.
Cris (08:04)
Yeah
No, like dude it was like it was starting it was like five six o'clock. We were just hanging out the girls weren't there We just watching some TV. we were just scrolling on marketplace. I like I said it we were just BSing We were kind of just going over like man. What's the next build gonna look like? know all these little options you talk about like I want a project car and all of that's inside of the box You know, we're discussing what do you want to do? How do you want it? You know, what's most important to you when you get build a project car? Like you said good bones. It's got to have good bones man. So
KT (08:47)
So we end up stumbling across an IS300. And the guy actually in his listing said, today only.
Cris (08:55)
Yeah, he
goes, I'm leaving today.
KT (08:59)
And he had it at $2,900. So we see it, and like, this is an IS. It's not a fully built one, but it's a project car. And it fits the budget. I show it to you, right? And you're like, yeah, that looks pretty good. I was like,
Cris (09:15)
Sure, I was like, why not? You know, let's see what we can do.
KT (09:18)
Alright, so I'll just message the guy just to see if he still has it. And he does! Alright, so now we got our in, so now it's time to decide what to do next, right? Are we gonna negotiate? we gonna just go there, buy the car as is? But you decided that you wanted to negotiate.
Cris (09:35)
I'm
a little more aggressive when it comes to the car buying market, right? I'm not the like, hey, I'm going to make friends with you. ⁓ Well, unless we're in person, right? If it's like Facebook or something like that, if it's a phone call, it's a little bit different because you can have a proper discussion. But via messages and everything like that, it's a little bit difficult to have that form of communication, right? Because that communication is important, especially if you're buying something from somebody that's
Hey, hey, it's gotta have that good bones, gotta drive, you know, something like that. So, ⁓ yeah, I went straight aggressive. I went straight for the kill.
KT (10:10)
So he told me that he wanted to offer this guy, what was it like 2k?
Cris (10:15)
I
was like, I was like, offer him. was like, listen, KT, do me a favor, man. Let's go straight for the throat. Offer him 19. I'll come by and buy it right now. Then what happened after that?
KT (10:25)
And mind you, this is what, like 5 o'clock, right? So it's 5 o'clock, I offer the dude like $1,900, know, a couple of minutes go by, he responds back and he says, $2,500 today is yours, right? So we're like $2,500. That's a little over the price range, but I was like, here you go, Cris. Like this is his asking price right here. So what do want to do?
Cris (10:29)
Yeah.
I'm just laughing because I'm relieved at moment. We're sitting on the couch and I'm like, no deal. Like off the bat, was just like, no deal. I'm like, we gotta find something else. I was like, back the drawing board. And then what does he do after that? After you ⁓ said something about, you you're super kind, dude. I gotta give you props. You're such a nice person.
KT (11:00)
Back to the drawing board.
⁓
this is a little more budget right now, you still have it around, just let me know for sure. So we just leave it at that, right? And then we're back to the drawing board. This is by now, it's around like seven o'clock or whatever. And then the wives come home.
Cris (11:27)
Yeah, the wives come home and then I think after you're trying to talk to him a little bit more, he actually blocks you, He just saw 1900 and he just blocked KT. was like, absolutely not. This dude's full of sh... He's like, I'm not gonna deal with it. I'm not gonna work with it.
KT (11:46)
So the only reason I found that I was blocked because this guy right here he was like pondering on and he was like did that guy ever respond to that?
Cris (11:54)
Did
he hear back from him? Because 25 hundred is not bad for that car. He goes, yeah, I tried but he blocked me. So we just had to sit and lull on that for a little bit. And so after that, yeah, you're right, the wives got home. We started hanging out. I'm pondering more and more and I'm like, well, let's think about it. know, everybody lists something where they got out like, you know, I have all the time, OBO, I'm not letting go. I know what I got.
Like I think those are my favorite words to see. I know what I got. I got a clapped out piece of shit. But at the end of the day, it's funny because it's like, I was pondering. was like, man, if he's got to get rid of it, respectfully, I still want a project car. But it did seem like it had good bones. But I want to see more of it before I pull the trigger. I don't know. And I was like, KT, you got some time tonight?
KT (12:45)
for me ⁓
Cris (12:50)
I
have KT as the angel in my ear like, man listen, really think about this like this. Like the devil over my shoulder, like, come on, this guy's a piece of crap, we blocked him. KT's like, nah man, listen, it's okay, it's okay, let's go look at it.
KT (13:04)
You know what happens is that he's still thinking about it ⁓ and in my head I know this guy wants that It's been marinating for like almost two hours. Yeah, dude. He asking me. Hey, did that guy ever?
Cris (13:16)
have
⁓ a
KT (13:23)
He doesn't
have a Facebook account. No, he just got blocked.
Cris (13:26)
So I did the next best thing and I was like, I talked to my wife and I was like, hey, do me a favor, message this guy and see if this car is available. And so of course, you know, she messaged him and she asked the same question, hey, is this thing still available? And you know, can we come by and look at it? And the guy's like, listen, everyone's been, what did he say? He was like, everyone's been asking about pricing. No one's come to look at it. If you can be here to come and look at it, you know, we'll talk. And so what do we do, man?
KT (13:54)
A nine o'clock on a Sunday night.
Cris (13:56)
I
looked at KT and I really pondered and I looked at my wife, I looked at KT's wife and I was like, you guys mind if I borrow him for a couple of hours? So what did we do man? I got his phone number, I called him and I was like, hey, I'm in route man, me and a buddy are in route. We jumped in the truck man and we started driving.
KT (14:17)
Lucky for us it was 45 minutes away, count over so it wasn't
Cris (14:21)
That's was a couple of towns over. We drove straight over. ⁓ the guy literally showed us his phone. He's like, look, this is how many people have been. He's like, keep scrolling. He's this is how many people have been hitting me up. You guys are the first people out here and we met up at a dollar general, man. We're totally took a look at it. And of course I'm of court, like I said, and in over, over Facebook marketplace as I'm messaging people, I'm super aggressive about
KT (14:29)
of it.
Cris (14:46)
you know, like low ball offers and stuff like that, because you never know what you're going to get without asking. And usually people who are selling something and willing to work with you, if they're not, they'll just block you and you move on. But in person, I'm a little bit more of a communication. Like I like to talk to people. I like to get to know people. It's something where I guess I open up a little bit more and that's where I get more comfortable. Cause when I shake somebody's hand, we have like now a form of communication, a form of comfort.
And just asked him, was like, dude, tell me about this car. Like, tell me what's going on. And then I sent KT over to start looking at it while I'm distracting the guy. Like, it was like a two-man operation. guys should have seen it.
KT (15:25)
Yeah, you should have seen it. We rolled up to the Dollar General and this car was like under a light.
Cris (15:31)
There's like two lights out in the parking lot. We're under one this guy's under the other like we're just looking at each other
KT (15:36)
But you know, when I put eyes on that car, I said to myself, this car looks exactly like the photos. And if anybody has bought a car before, used car, a marketplace, you know that the car never looks like the photos. The photos, make it look like a 10 out of 10. And you show up in person, it looks like a three.
Cris (15:49)
No, no.
⁓ We were like I was expecting it to be like detailed I was expect to be like no the guy kept it exactly how it looked
KT (16:01)
But
that's a good thing because we knew exactly what we were getting. It looked exactly like this, right? You show up and there's like a hood missing. No, it looked exactly like this.
Cris (16:09)
There's no windshield.
The left tail lights out.
KT (16:16)
That right there was already a good sign. was like, I knew this car was a little rough, but it actually looks as rough as it is in the photos in person. So that's good sign, right?
Cris (16:26)
So
we're in there. We're in the dollar general parking lot half the lights are out. We're looking at this thing I hand KT a flashlight I started talking to the guy KT. What were you looking over man? While I was just discussing everything with this guy
KT (16:37)
Yeah,
so I'm just crawling around the car and bring a jack with us or anything. And it was also like nine, almost ten o'clock. was like. Right in Dollar General and a flashlight in one hand, but I'm just doing kind of like the basic checks, right? So I'm looking to see what sort of oil leaks we have. Yeah. So looking at the front of the car, trying to trying to catch any oil leaks on the ground.
Cris (16:41)
No, no, didn't, we didn't.
Pluckin' night ooo that's how we got this
KT (17:02)
Looking around see if we have any rust spots just generally looking you know What's the condition of the exterior paint dings and then yeah, do we have really old tires? so it's kind of like your basic checks if you were to buy any car and obviously without a lift without The ability to do a full mechanical run through the car you can only see what you can see yeah, but you know lucky for me I own an is
Cris (17:28)
So it was it was literally me not knowing anything about this car because I haven't been kept my eyes on it yet I hate you looking around it. I was discussing with the guy you tell me the story the cars from Texas He had bought it. I don't know a year several months ago It was gonna use it as a parts car, but never did Had a couple other projects had a supra was working on other things with other cars and he was like, hey, man I just don't have the time for it. You know, we started getting a little more personal talking about each other
uh... you know lives wives and you know the rest of the calls with the kids and you know you know like i said that communication it's that uh... it's that uh... connection we started finding apparently we're from the same neighborhoods from the same area down south of the end of the near near my own you know that and uh... we started discussing so and i asked the guy straight up it's something i do with everybody and of course when you shop for a car everyone wants to sell this thing no you know it does that they'll they'll try to
hype it up, know, create this bubble. And the guy was like, listen, man, I'll tell you exactly what's going on here. It's got needs a wheel bearing. I'll tell you straight up. He's super honest. And that's something I can appreciate in somebody. It's not something you run into very often. Somebody starts, you know, not shooting on their car, but telling you exactly what's wrong. Like, Hey, the paint's not great. You guys can see it. Hey, listen, needs a wheel bearing. Hey, keep an eye out. It's going to need maintenance, this and that. But that conversation kind of led to like, all right, like what
You know, why, what, what, why did you buy it? Why did it sit for so long? And the whole time, like I said, KT's going over this car and I'm like, listen, then prior to this, prior to this whole thing, kind of starting, I gave KT a little speech in the car. was like, all right, man, listen, we came up with a code word. If anything goes wrong in this car and we just say, all right, we're done. We need to roll out. Cris doesn't need to spend any money on this car. He goes,
KT (19:19)
I should have got the GS3
Cris (19:22)
He goes, he goes, man, should have got the coder. He was gonna call me like, hey, Cris, man, we should have got that GS 300 we were looking at, you know, and that, hey, or the coder was GS, it was like 300, something dumb like that. I don't know why I did that, it was just something funny in the morning. Yeah, we basically had earphones in and we were talking to each other the entire, no, just, but it was just one of those things where I wanted to make sure it was fun and as KT was looking over it, he was just seeing good things and.
KT (19:38)
the whole
Cris (19:52)
Then we, yeah, we did. We did. It was a little rough on the test drive. It wasn't, but at the same time, I actually, I could feel that it wasn't a stock suspension. So there was a little off and you could tell like through the movements in the wheel, it just needs some tightening up, some new parts, nothing too crazy, but I wasn't feeling any huge amounts of rat. Oh, there was a, there was something flapping in the wind that was bothering the hell out of me. And I was like, Oh man, I think something's off with this car.
KT (19:53)
We ended up going on a test drive.
Cris (20:21)
So we looked under it and it was just a plastic, it was one of the fender liners coming up and just slapping with the wind. And I was like, okay, that's nothing, we can cut that off or fix it and stuff like that. So ⁓ after the actual test drive, it felt good, it pulled really good, it was a strong motor, started right up. We checked all the fluids, all the fluids were good. ⁓ She was shifting, no issues with the transmission. The only unfortunate part about this car is it's not.
Manual I know I know hold the comments no cheers, but that's what the manual swap is for that's what we're get into eventually I could see the pain on your face. All right, don't even start with me ⁓ but we go down had this adventure had a couple of different conversations with the previous owner and then shook some hands and she's mine now, so this is my is 300
all that. Yep. I picked it up for run. I talked to the guy. was like, Hey man, listen, I came all the way out here. He's showing me this list of people who are low balling him. Assholes. ⁓
KT (21:30)
Oh, we didn't even talk about it. Remember when we showed up, I was like, is he gonna recognize my face because I lobe all day?
Cris (21:37)
He
was so worried. He was like, he was like, oh man, he's going to recognize me. And he's going to be like, that's the guy that loved all me in 1900 bucks. was like, I can't believe that he's going to get the car drive off. It's like Tom down, man. He's not going to notice. Probably receiving a ton of messages. And when he showed us, he literally scrolled like four pages long of people messaging and asking about pricing for the car. And we were the only ones first one to show up, check out the car, have a decent discussion and conversation with this guy. He was a really cool dude. Props to him.
I was doing well in his future endeavors and future cars, can't, hopefully I can see you when this is all done. But this was what we picked up, man. And we drove it home with no license plate. 45 minutes. It was, it cooled. It was pulling great. KT was behind me in my truck and we showed up. I had a giant grin on my face and I pulled it. I'm pulling it into my driveway. And of course, when I picked it up, this thing was to the floor, just dropped to the floor.
So first thing I did when I pulled it up, just like of course, almost as though, as you hear this screech, it's like what, 11 o'clock at night, I'm drugging this guy out for almost like three, four hours away from his responsibilities, his wife, it's Sunday night, we both have work the next day, and like screech, and I back it in, and I'm just smiling ear to ear, KT, what do you got for this whole thing, man? And he's just laughing.
KT (23:01)
I hear it while I'm in your truck and the windows are all rolled up in your s*** actually and you saw the issues going up your driveway but you know we got it parked got out of the car looked under and it was the flange where the the cat merged up with the actual cat that was yeah so fortunately it was just
Cris (23:05)
Everything.
⁓ my god
KT (23:26)
Now, it wasn't horrible either, it was still a couple inches off the ground but we already knew, you know, that's something we gotta fix, In the whole process, while we were driving there, we already had like a laundry list of items in your head, what you need to fix, what you wanna do, you know, the vision was there for you.
Cris (23:32)
So
Dude,
it was, I was like, so I wasn't expecting to get an IS 300. Like I told you from the very beginning, the GS was in my heart. It was just a good all around car. It's something that's a platform I'm familiar with. I had buddies with them. I've worked on them previously. This thing doesn't sticky dash, know, like all the IS's do. This thing had nice seats in the interior. They're a little rough looking. We're gonna of course post some, you know, photos out and everything. We could use some work, but.
The bones were great. Everything about it was something that was easily to work on and it's something that I'm excited to get started and you have one. So of course I'm going to, you know, take parts off of his one, his old one and go from there and then eventually do the manual swap. And ⁓ first thing what we did after that was actually look under it. And that's when we actually got a couple of surprises. So walk us through that, man. Like we, so we jacked this thing up.
KT (24:30)
Yeah.
Cris (24:35)
we get under it and we start looking and I'm like alright man we gotta adjust the suspension I can't drive this thing if it's slammed to the ground it's driving me nuts you know someone you know help me and so of course call KT get him over here jack up the car and we start going
KT (24:52)
I Jack in my car, the one I bought from Harbor Freight, you know, years ago, which you don't own one, but now you do.
Cris (25:00)
In
the one. Yes, it's right there now. It's like
KT (25:03)
But I bring that, I bring all my tools over. We learned that you had coilovers. That's what the guy told us So I brought my spanner wrenches. I brought pretty much everything I thought you would need over. So bring it over. We get the back in the air first. So we get the back in the air. We pull the rear wheels. And first off, confirm that you actually do have a coilover.
Cris (25:13)
Yeah.
Yes.
Yes, first of all, we had to get through the locking lug nut wrenches that have no key So first of all for anyone who sells cars, come on man No key and locking lug nut wrenches. You can't bring this car anywhere to any Walmart a tire kingdom and for them to work on it So now we know 17 millimeter is gonna work on the car. Yeah, and we'll just rip that I'm just gonna replace all of those as we go. We crack it We look at we look under the back. Look at the diff trying to hey, I'm hoping it's you know
An LSD, locking diff, unfortunately it's an open diff so that's just another part to add to the parts list.
KT (25:57)
The suspension looked good didn't see any rust and obviously just 20 years old but nothing looked corroded broken
Cris (26:03)
No, not
exactly. I'm not. We didn't see like you said, no rust. I didn't see any damage, any previous wrecks. The jacking points were a little messed up. It seems like the car had been... For the last 20 years, it looked like someone had jacked this thing like 20 times a month. it's just... They're all just sideways. Yeah, yeah. Whatever they're doing. I don't know where the car is at, but we looked underneath it. We found some TN coil overs, some TN Advance.
KT (26:15)
Any car?
Cris (26:33)
and you had just put in some new ones on your car which by the way hold on I have a bone to pick somewhere for this who adds three TN coilovers to a car on one eBay special let's talk about this someone's got some explainer to do sir like this is
KT (26:48)
You guys should have seen the look on our faces. When we had pulled the wheels off, and I had to backtrack a little, when we first did it, we pulled the fronts off. Because we actually had to lift the front a little bit. So we had pulled the front two wheels off. We were like, okay, there's a tain here, there's a tain on the side. Cool, we're good. Let's adjust it with the wrench.
Cris (26:59)
Yes.
I'm like wiping them down. I'm like they're all green. I'm like there's green under here. Let's check this out I'm like, you know, not the money green but teen teen call overs or I'm wiping them down I'm like, hey like and we're looking for the sticker. We found it. Yeah teen advance, you know, and then we get to Like cool. Yeah, that's what I thought
KT (27:23)
Cool, you saved like $500.
We're lifting it up, adjusting the collars so you add about an inch on each side. Hopefully we don't scrape coming up the driveway anymore. We're all good on the front so we put the front down. We flip the car over so as you see right now then we have the back of it backed into the garage. So we jack up the back and we pull off.
Cris (27:34)
That was the prayer.
KT (27:46)
the left side first. So you pull off the left side and you're like, okay, cool. know, we're adjusting the left side. All right. Good on the left. And then I'm slow.
Cris (27:55)
sliding under the car at this point you know just like adjusting and looking it's got Megan racing
KT (28:01)
little
surprise yeah Megan racing toe arms adjustable toe arms so he's looking on the left side doing that stuff i'm over on the right side and i pulled the wheel off
Cris (28:05)
I was in the back.
All I hear is, what?
KT (28:14)
I'm like, dude, you gotta check this out.
Cris (28:16)
He's
like hey man like we might have an issue you might want to come take a look I was like, no, I'm like there's damage or something from a wreck. I was like, alright, let's go take a look. I'm like
KT (28:26)
Like, this isn't green, right? This is like, bluish color. This is blue, right? This isn't green.
Cris (28:30)
Yeah, this is spring.
And I'm looking over and we start waving down and all the gray comes off so it's all red and I'm like, oh man, we got an eBay special. Someone went online, bought one coil over for 70 bucks and slapped that thing in there. We don't know what kind of coil over it is. I'm gonna take some photos of it and we'll kind of try and wipe it down but you know, it might be something else as we kind of go along. But that's the surprises we found underneath it so far.
And that was a very interesting, very fun day that we went over. So, got the car raised. It's not scraping on my driveway anymore, so good on us. And now, man, it's just been sitting. I've been wiping her down. Today's her first bath, and this is what she looks like.
KT (29:16)
You've been building your parts list and you've making a list of things you want to do. Yeah man. Let's go through that. like maintenance was a really big thing for you. thing is just to get it running solid.
Cris (29:27)
Yeah, well, for, course, you you gotta get the car, you know, put in your name, you gotta go to the DMV, that was the whole process. Dude, I can't believe how expensive it is right now to put cars in your name, by the way. It used to be like 150, 200 bucks. Now they're charging like insane amounts to put a car in your name. I was like, man, Florida's making some money off of us, I'll tell you that. but in reality, yes, finding the parts list, maintenance, super important to me.
Looking at the timing belt, looking at water pump, looking at the tensioner. Of course, we have found a slight oil leak up front, so I'm thinking it's coming from one of the cam or crank seals. know, out over that valve cover gaskets, know, a lot of failure points on the car. Of course, is that front ball joints. So I'm going to make sure the lower ball joints are going to be replacing and going from there. But yeah, building that parts list now. Of course, you watch the money climb while you build these parts list.
Hit it for my wife as long as I can and she saw it the other day and was like wow I and I was like yeah, it's gonna be fun Can't wait for you to write it
KT (30:33)
We both collectively see the vision and that's why you have it and we know it's gonna be a process. There's gonna be some trials, tribulations, there's a lot of learning, there's gonna be a lot of just like sweaty, greasy nights.
Cris (30:37)
Absolutely,
If you see this, please sell me one coil over for the rear. Please sell me one coil over for the rear. That's it That's all I need. I just want to complete the set of teens like please If not, I'll have to buy two or four we'll talk about But yeah, man The visions there I've been looking at a couple local guys here in Orlando Trying to see what we can do about this paint and get this fixed up. But of course, I want to make her healthy I want to make sure she's driving
Maintenance first of course is always gonna my first go-to especially with these cars. It's got the 2JZG in it ⁓ And then of course, we're gonna be junkyard hopping looking for those big brake swaps from the LS400. We're looking for you know So so first for the first rides we go on me and KT what do do we go to the parts store?
KT (31:34)
door hit.
going to other zone to get a new tail light bulb or something.
Cris (31:45)
Yeah,
we were going to get into a light bulb. I was working on a civic for, you know, some family, you know, doing some work and she had an out tail light. So I was like, Hey, let's take the, you know, let's take that. Yeah, let's go for grass. So we go for a drive. Everything's great. We're jamming. It's got like a nice, uh, you know, Android auto on the inside. And then I was like, this is nice, man. If you saw our other videos, I told you the only thing I needed in my car is Bluetooth and that has it. So was like, perfect. So we're riding, riding. Everything's good. KT goes to get out of the car.
Dude, you gotta explain from your, cause from my point of view he grabs the handle and I'm just turning the car off and all I hear is, kuh! So I look at the key and I'm like...
KT (32:24)
And I'm like, you know like you would do in every single car you grab the handle to get out and I grab it And I'm like
Cris (32:31)
panel goes... It's dangling right now. So he does this, right? He cracks it, he opens the door, and he goes... And then he looks over at me.
KT (32:34)
It's like the heavens like dangling by the chrome little paint
Cris (32:47)
And he looks over and moves like the eyes like this and I look at him and I just start laughing because like it's a project man. Of course at the end of the day our buddies have probably broken something, dinged something and at the end of day dude it's all about the love cards. Dude shit happens. Like I told you at the end of the day I don't care if like you know as long as you didn't snap glass or anything on it we're fine. dude we'll find another one via junkyard have some fun and just go from there.
I'll just make you paint it Make you put it in with me. There we go. That's that's your labor. Yeah, man. That's that's the fun man I'm actually excited. It's the first project since my 836 so I can't wait to do it Been talking to a bunch of guys doing a lot of research There's tons of stuff. want to do it you with yours right now. You're redoing your whole suspension now, you're you're basically you're gonna have a nice nice ride here and a few just
Dream to drive here if you've that's gonna be nice. What step are you on right now with yours, man?
KT (33:48)
Yeah, so I've been rebuilding the suspension and I'm on the rear suspension right now. So I had finished up getting all the fueling. had put all that back into place, my subframe is back into place. So my subframe is replaced with all ⁓ polyurethane bushings just on the subframe mounts and the differential mounts.
Cris (34:06)
Which by the way, I'd like to point out, can you explain how you're putting in these polyurethane bushings? Because I think it's important for you guys to know that we don't have a lift, we don't have a shop, we're doing this out of the garage, man. So please explain how you've been doing this the whole time.
KT (34:24)
So it was very painful, but you gotta do what you gotta do. So I had a ⁓ Harbor Freight ball joint replacement kit I've owned for years and it's basically a gigantic sea clam.
Cris (34:42)
Yeah,
that's amazing what you've been using.
KT (34:44)
Yeah, a gigantic sea clamp and I'm trying to press out bushings with this gigantic sea clamp and it is not easy at all.
Cris (34:51)
Dude, I could just imagine the amount of curse words coming out of your mouth while you're trying to get this damn ball joining these polyers
KT (34:56)
Well,
you know what happened is that we ended up buying a press so So we have a 20 press coming from Amazon so that'll be here in a couple days and it's gonna be really helpful for all the rest of my rear suspension and then obviously for your suspension and Hopefully going forward when we get other projects
Cris (35:01)
Yes we did!
Yeah, I think that that talks a little bit about like I think we were talking about cars and like what we want to do and going around we want to do some more meets and go around and meet people, know get get them involved and do what we keep talking about and be a part of that culture and that community. think community is really important when comes to cars. If I didn't know KT, I don't think I would have gotten this car and I'm really grateful. So at the end of the day, it's going to be fun as we do the ball joints the bushings.
you know, I'll use that press to all of its degree and probably resell it after we're done. And, you know, little things like that. It's always nice to have a hand while you're working on cars. I think it's important that even for people who don't know how to work on cars, you know, if you know somebody, you know, ask them to help out every now and then or, you know, be that friend that asks other people who don't know. I'm just excited to dig into this, man. I'm going to be honest. I'm excited to get this timing set done.
Valve cover, get this oil leak fixed up, really get this thing running at 100, and then of course it's going to be on to the fun stuff. And then fun stuff meaning I can get four of the same rims. It's got G35 rims on the front, it's got standard stock Lexus rims on the back. And the tire, okay, here's another one to pick.
KT (36:31)
I'm tired.
Cris (36:36)
We got two, okay? Not only the suspension, all right? Who adds three tens? Not just that, and one eBay special. So these tires are... tires. Single direction tires, yes. They're directionals, basically. And somebody installed a directional tire backwards. Guys, I drove this car for 45 minutes home. I can't explain how that could have gone wrong really fast. Basically, the beat of the tire could have just...
KT (36:52)
You
Cris (37:04)
broken, it could have cracked, it could have done several things. I had to take this tire off because of the locking lug nuts, I couldn't take it anywhere. So then I had to take the tire off, it in the truck, drive over, Walmart, you got a great auto care center, those guys didn't charge me a thing, it was nice, they flipped the tire over, put it back on, sealed it, resealed the bead, and I got it on the car. So she is...
Perfect now, all four tires, just need some work to do. But the guy actually recently did brakes to the thing. So the brakes are all clean, there's new hubs. Brand new calipers. Brand new calipers, new hubs on them. Everything's looking good. There's a couple things we gotta adjust, but yeah man, getting into this project's exciting. Because now you start thinking, like those parts lists, you start thinking of, what can I make this? I could drift with this, I could drag with this, I could just make this a really clean street build, a monster.
You know, it's got the two JZGE in it, which has a lot of those aftermarket parts. I can, I can make sure it's turbo happening. I can make sure I get rid of that ugly air intake system that goes over the top of the motor happening. Like, so it's just all of the options you talk about. And it's, it's really fun because when we got this, it was a full experience for us.
Of we had work the next day and both of us are like going to work like this because we're like half asleep. so excited. The whole drive back, I'm ⁓ on the phone with you and I'm like, hey man, what do you think? How's it looking? Is it driving good? I do a couple of pulls on the highway and he's like, dude, it's smooth. It sounds good. There's this crazy rattling coming from the inside. We got rid of the plastic. It's just, it's fun, man. It's what project cars are all about. It doesn't matter where you start. It doesn't matter.
at what tier you start at. Of course, this was what it is. ⁓ It's the purchase I made and I'm extremely happy with it. Yes, am I excited to not drip oil on my driveway? Absolutely. ⁓ But I think it's going to be really fun for the future as me and you go along with this one with yours. Dude, you're to hear about the stories of us snapping stuff, busting our knuckles, start really having some fun with it. And we're going to see some content as we dig deep into this stuff and start really getting into this build.
KT (39:09)
Yeah, we're
Cris (39:22)
And hey, you never know, it might be time for us to get another motor at one point and start building that up. Maybe a couple. We'll see. It really depends on how we're going to go with it. But I'm really excited to make this thing happen and have some fun and have some guys who maybe aren't too much into cars, bring them along, maybe have them join us and go from there and see what kind of they do. You have a funnier car buying story than that.
KT (39:50)
I just wanted to talk a little bit about car buying in 2026 because we talked about it a little bit at the very beginning. But you when we were talking about buying that day, you we were talking, you were asking me, where do people buy cars these days? Because back in our day, it was like Craigslist, right? And either it was either that or you'd either have to drive around and see a for sale sign on the car.
Cris (40:08)
100 absolutely absolutely ⁓
Yeah, you'd be all the rich neighborhoods first You know that was the rule right because you want to see what someone was giving their son up for a deal after they bought him a new car That was the first neighborhood you want to go to all the neighborhoods just around people had cars like at the local Auto zones, you
KT (40:34)
Mechanic shops can't shop. He's like, yeah, I just don't want to fix it anymore. I'm put it for sale I run the owner put it for sale
Cris (40:40)
Absolutely, absolutely. we, we that's, you know, I asked you about carbine cause I was all over Craig list at first. I was all over, ⁓ offer up. I was looking at like, Hey, where can I find? Cause I found my previous E 36 on offer up, you know, and I was like, where can I find this? And he was like, dude, you gotta go to Facebook marketplaces. ⁓ man, I know. And that's all.
KT (40:59)
new Craigslist.
It was a miserable experience, but at the end of the day, it did its job.
Cris (41:07)
It
was a good experience man. I think we had a bunch of fun I think the drive there so let's talk about the drive there just a little bit just to bring us back a couple steps because I Want to talk about the excitement that we both had that we were both going there first of all KT wasn't even buying the car and he was excited and I was excited because I was like hey We're going to look at a car both of our wives were not excited about this. I just want to Mine especially but she's very happy with the purchase. She can't waste it
can't wait to see what it's going to turn into in the future. So that's going to be the craziest thing. But like you were saying, man, you want to talk a little bit more about that.
KT (41:44)
Yeah, that buying experience, I mean, it was a different platform back then. But when you think about it, it was the same thing, right? Once we showed up in person, talked to the guy, got to know him, got to know his car, got to know why he's selling his car. All of that. It's just the human interaction. Everybody nowadays wants to get the best price and just know what they're getting before they show up.
Anyway
Cris (42:21)
Listen, if you haven't bought Spanish ice cream or from a Spanish ice cream truck, you haven't lived.
KT (42:25)
If you guys didn't see that, it was just a red Chrysler minivan. It wasn't like an ice cream truck. It was a red Chrysler minivan with a microphone strapped to the top of it.
Cris (42:34)
That was a person talking. It wasn't a recording. There was actually an MC in that vehicle. Oh man. Like you were saying. Of course.
KT (42:46)
Everybody wants the best price on a car.
You just want to know what you're paying up front before you go and show up, Natural. But at the end of the day, you're fighting 30 other guys like that guy showing us. So it was actually to our benefit to show up in person, have a little bit of conversation. He trusts us. We trust him. And at that point, he was willing to make a deal with us, right?
Cris (43:13)
and
I think
KT (43:14)
we weren't gonna lowball him in his face that's pretty insulting but you know i mean i wasn't he was willing to work with us you know the price wasn't the price anymore once you realize that these guys are serious about buying this car these guys aren't just keyboard warriors just sending
Cris (43:21)
You got a little ball there. I thought about it.
Yeah,
exactly exactly and I think that's important like a lot of people forget these days like you can send all the messages online You can you can really like lowball everybody you can but till you get there and look at the car like don't forget You're actually talking to another person who might have invested a ton of time a ton of like love and you know effort into a car Like some people don't care I get that you know, that's that's the first side of me on that keyword warrior side, right? It's like I'm not a lowball you and go from there but
It's also like, please don't forget the fact that you are buying something that you're going to turn into something as a labor of love. And you're going to turn into something that this ⁓ is going to carry you wherever you're going to go to the next one. And if you think about it, having that conversation in person is going to be way more important. I've known guys being able to communicate via message and get them down and wear them down as much as they can. ⁓
KT (44:26)
Yes, you're going to say it.
Cris (44:32)
That's our opener.
KT (44:34)
Yes.
Cris (44:37)
Girls and boys, get the ice cream. Welcome to Orlando. The generator, dude, I wish we could record this right now. And he stops right there, didn't he?
KT (44:42)
he has a generator strap.
He sees me making eye contact.
Cris (44:52)
Are you thinking about getting ice cream?
KT (44:54)
he's gone now. He knew I was... He knew this guy was...
Cris (44:59)
Dude, Continued. Yeah, no, dude. It was just funny. So, like I said, we're filming in my garage. We're not gonna show you guys anything different. This is real. This is what it is. We got the car. I'm super excited to start in the future. Yes, it needs paint. Yes, it needs some maintenance. But, hell yeah, I'm excited to drive this thing every day with an oil leak. That's what it is, man. Yeah.
KT (45:19)
That's
what it's about, that's why we love cars.
Cris (45:20)
And
I don't think the guy would have worked with us on price unless we shook hands and talked about it, man. He was a real cool dude and props to him, like I said, in the future, hopefully we can see him out and show him what this thing turned into.
KT (45:32)
Yeah, I'm excited for you. We're going to make a lot more content. We're going to have a lot more fun. We're going to, you know, go to shows like we want to do. We're going to be able to do so much more now that you actually have something that you can wrench on and build to your dream, basically.
Cris (45:45)
Okay
Absolutely, man. I'm gonna you you went suspension first you that was your goal get all that straightened out I'm gonna go motor first and then like I said if I need to pick up another one We'll start upgrading that and I will slowly start doing suspension work and maintenance work and making sure we're good to go But guys they tell me what you think, you know, she's not pretty but she is a car JZ GE with real-world drive and automatic I know I'm gonna get hate in the comments on the automatic side, but
That's fine. I can't wait to do the swap, show you guys how it's gonna be done. And we just get to go home with it, man. I can't wait for the junkyard hoppin', the future that becomes for anybody that wants that project car. Listen, man, don't let those conversations stop you, with the ice cream trucks yelling in your ear. You know, let's have some fun, have good conversations with people, get to know them, and understand how people think, man. This is how it goes. Yeah, man, we had some fun. I can't wait. Yeah, for Guys, welcome back to Heatsoak. This is exactly how it is.
And this is my IS-300. Thank you.
KT (46:50)
See you next time. See ya.
Cris (46:51)
Don't forget, click, like, subscribe, watch our videos, maybe reels. Ice cream guy at El Guarrito
KT (46:57)
Okay.