Got an 01 LX 470 from my father who can no longer drive. Plan is for my brother and I to convert it to an overland build. This forum has been incredibly helpful. We've never done an LX470 or Cruiser build so any advice would be helpful. Following the advice here - Step 1 is to get it to a known mechanical state then step 2 is the overland build. Our father has no mechanical no-how. His hammer unscrews at the bottom for screwdriver storage. Probably only the most basic maintenance has been done and then maybe not.
Car Details: 2001 LX 470, 158K miles. Frame and body are basically rust free. NYC Garaged. L
ts of parking rash and worse.
Initial maintenance that we have already done: Oil change and filter, transmission fluid flush, radiator flush, power steering flush plus replaced lines, replaced timing belt and water pump plus pulleys and tensioners, replaced serpentine belt. AHC fluid was nasty and low. AHC would not go to high and showed an "Off" message. Replaced with new AHC fluid and bled. AHC now works. Replaced spark plus. Replaced heater-t's (good thing we did this as one was disintegrating). Cleaned the throttle body and the mass air sensor. New air filter. New battery. I can now confirm that my father does not know how to maintain a car. See the pics of some of the fluids.
Interior: we removed the entire interior and detailed it. The front seats had gold duct tape holding them together. Bought new Ridies leather for the front seat. I have to say , they look fantastic. Took a little while to get comfortable replacing the leather but the second seat went on quickly. Sourcing affordable parts is really difficult for this truck. New from the dealer is insanely expensive while used parts are not cheap. Bought used plastics from ebay to replace worn or broken pieces. The interior was so grimy that cleaning was so rewarding. The climate control buttons were very sticky. I followed advice here and cleaned the circuit board and bought new soft touch silicone buttons. New WeatherTech mats cleaned up the interior. The cabin air filters looked almost original and had ingested twigs and leaves. Felt good to replace these. Removed the 3rd row seats and their seatbelts in prep for an overland storage area.
Exterior: haven't done much yet. Just removed one piece of cladding. Lots to fix in this area. Some starter pics below.
Stuff I need help with: The passenger side view mirror housing is cracked and separated. Very expensive to replace the whole unit. Any ideas on getting just the housing? The dark brown leather at the top of the doors and on the steering wheel has areas that need to be dyed back to color. Does anyone know the color code for this? Any mechanical/maintenance stuff I missed?
Car Details: 2001 LX 470, 158K miles. Frame and body are basically rust free. NYC Garaged. L
ts of parking rash and worse.Initial maintenance that we have already done: Oil change and filter, transmission fluid flush, radiator flush, power steering flush plus replaced lines, replaced timing belt and water pump plus pulleys and tensioners, replaced serpentine belt. AHC fluid was nasty and low. AHC would not go to high and showed an "Off" message. Replaced with new AHC fluid and bled. AHC now works. Replaced spark plus. Replaced heater-t's (good thing we did this as one was disintegrating). Cleaned the throttle body and the mass air sensor. New air filter. New battery. I can now confirm that my father does not know how to maintain a car. See the pics of some of the fluids.
Interior: we removed the entire interior and detailed it. The front seats had gold duct tape holding them together. Bought new Ridies leather for the front seat. I have to say , they look fantastic. Took a little while to get comfortable replacing the leather but the second seat went on quickly. Sourcing affordable parts is really difficult for this truck. New from the dealer is insanely expensive while used parts are not cheap. Bought used plastics from ebay to replace worn or broken pieces. The interior was so grimy that cleaning was so rewarding. The climate control buttons were very sticky. I followed advice here and cleaned the circuit board and bought new soft touch silicone buttons. New WeatherTech mats cleaned up the interior. The cabin air filters looked almost original and had ingested twigs and leaves. Felt good to replace these. Removed the 3rd row seats and their seatbelts in prep for an overland storage area.
Exterior: haven't done much yet. Just removed one piece of cladding. Lots to fix in this area. Some starter pics below.
Stuff I need help with: The passenger side view mirror housing is cracked and separated. Very expensive to replace the whole unit. Any ideas on getting just the housing? The dark brown leather at the top of the doors and on the steering wheel has areas that need to be dyed back to color. Does anyone know the color code for this? Any mechanical/maintenance stuff I missed?
