Builds "Blue Steel" GX470 Expedition Build (1 Viewer)

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ugh....you dont have to tell me about what a pain the air suspension is. I recently upgraded my rears to External Reservoir Radflos which allowed for too much articulation and an air bag popped out and tore on the trail. I ended up riding the rest of Rubicon Ridge at Supelift on the bump stops. Luckily Lexus in Little Rock had a replacement bag and I was able to get it home after a quick trail fix. I've got an extra set of Radflo rear springs for the 4runner so I'm thinking that this metaltech kit is what I'll have to do.
 
Definitely do the Metaltech kit, the airbags rode like crud overinflated, now with the Icon coils, it's like riding on a cloud, so smooth, cant wait to torture test em at speed in the Pismo Sand Dunes in a week
 
Finally threw on my Ricochet LCA skids I got from Miguel a while back that have been sitting forever, love that this platform has so many interchangable bolt on parts with the FJ/4runner, makes life easier. Cant wait to get the matching BudBuilt skids for the belly.



 
Just got back from my annual Pismo trip for the Turf N Surf 2014 event. The GX did amazing in the dunes with the Icon suspension and the v8 power compared to my FJ. The GX kept pulling where the FJ powerband would usually top out. The Wheelers superbumps did a great job of keeping the tires from rubbing the fender liners when bottoming out due to the extended travel Icons, they barely touched a small spot on the liner at full tuck. Got around everywhere in the dunes with the Cooper tires aired down to 15 psi, awesome trip, had a blast!

Base camp for the weekend:


Foggy runs in the dunes this year:


My awesome 70s retro temporary CB for the weekend, worked amazing, old tech rules:


Some of the weekends dune crew:
 


Short clip of some GX fun in the dunes, that v8 roar!
 
Finally got a chance to get out to Big Bear and White Mountain in Lucerne Valley for a well needed snow run with some of my FJ buddies. We ran 3N16 into Big Bear to go shooting and then headed up 3N17 up White Mountain in the snow. 3N17 is a narrow rocky steep trail with a few feet of fresh powder and a cliff edge on one side made for some butt puckering moments but all in all a really fun day and the GX did great out there.

Heading down 3N16 to the shooting area:


Right after the first river crossing:




The arsenal for the day, that 308 FN Scar 17S was a beast to shoot:


My girl taking a go at my 9mm AR pistol:


Dan shooting his .308 Scar 17s




Halfway up 3N17 White Mtn trail:


Making fresh tracks in powder:








Muddy aftermath and a couple hours of powerwashing:

 
A few more snaps by my buddy Ham and a video he edited:









 
nice pics and video. it's nice to see you're putting the modifications on your gx to good use.
 
Some of the scuffed chrome parts chipped a little, but holding up fairly well, once I respray it with bedliner a second time, should be fine
 
A recent pic of how she sits, I need some sliders ASAP.

 
yup 1" roll bar clamp flag whip mount on rola rack basket
 
So on a rainy Sunday, my buddy Paul and I finished up the snorkel install for my GX. It went pretty straight forward except for some minor complications (heads up for GX owners):

The snorkel kit consists of snorkel, snorkel head, and inner piece that goes under fender between snorkel inlet and stock air box. Since the snorkel was designed for a V6 Prado overseas, we had to make some modifications to get the snorkel to sit flush on the fender. The GX has more inner fender metal bracing so we had to cut off 1/2" off the snorkel inlet and the inner piece inlet to make up the difference of the extra metal.

Also the rubber coupling between the inner piece and stock airbox didn't work because the V8 airbox inlet was much bigger than the V6 airbox so we had to go buy a 4" to 3.5" step down silicone coupling from pepboys to get it to work. It would have been a quick install, had it not been for those two issues. Now installed, and loving it.

Lining up the template:


Holes marked and ready for drilling/hole saw:


Scary part of cutting into metal finished:


Installed!
 
This weekend, I swapped out my Magnaflow 12256 18" length muffler for a Flowmaster Super 10 single chamber muffler to get some more grunt out of the old girl. The Magnaflow was a bit tame for me and it had a slight exhaust leak at the welds. The Flowmaster Super 10 really opened up the V8 and now it sounds like a beast, absolutely love it. Here's my sound clip:



Install photo, its tiny compared to the massive Magnaflow muffler it replaced:



Also, added Trek Armor king cobra weave paracord "oh ****" handles for the passengers in the back since there is not much to grab onto back there.

 
My little homage to the Prado platform: bought a FJ60 land cruiser emblem, chopped off the Toyota part and sprayed with bedliner to match snorkel and attached with 3m automotive emblem double stick tape. It came out just as I imagined!

 
470SNC said:
My little homage to the Prado platform: bought a FJ60 land cruiser emblem, chopped off the Toyota part and sprayed with bedliner to match snorkel and attached with 3m automotive emblem double stick tape. It came out just as I imagined![/QUOTE

You'll be confusing all the normal, not-in-the-know folks with that! LOL
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