1996 LX450 (1 Viewer)

[drews2566]

> Oh, doing the head gasket before the lift will be much easier unless you have a good platform to stand on to do the work on the lifted truck.

This is a very valid point.

The ARP Supra studs seem to be sold out pretty much everywhere.

Thanks @Cass007 it seems like the Supra head studs are out of stock until late June.

 

[drews2566]

Well. I did it. That's a beast of a Head.

I have 300 dollars in OEM head bolts and an OEM head gasket headed to the nearest Toyota dealership. It's gonna be a couple days. I'd like to get the head resurfaced. We'll see if that is possible without waiting many weeks for the work to be done.

Does anyone have thoughts on getting the 1FZFE head resurfaced for an OEM head gasket?

Things, in general, look pretty good. Just dirty. The valve cover gasket must have been leaking at the back. There is like a 1/2" of gunk caked down the back of the head. The cylinder walls look alright. Pretty dark in there but nothing too gunky. I found some plastic in the back of the head from where a sparkplug seal had cracked and broken but other than that. Nothing surprising.

The exhaust came off pretty easily after a quick trip to grab yet another extension. I only stripped one exhaust stud trying to get it out. Luckily it was in an easy spot and the vice grips got her spinning nicely.

I followed the Otramm video. Pretty easy especially from where I was at. Maybe three more hours of work after I had the damn intake manifold off. Thats with walking back and forth to hit start/stop for the Otramm video on my laptop cause my phone was almost dead.

 

[bencallaway]

Awesome! I took my head to the machine shop that all the cruiser shops around here use. Had them take off as little as possible, they knew the drill. Used Also did valve stem seals and a valve job. You're gonna be waiting a few weeks for it but its worth it.

I used OEM gasket and also wore Chacos throughout the entire process. Make sure to order new exhaust studs and fan clutch and fan hardware. Lots of good threads here on how to clean the block. Don't overthink it. Red brillo pads were key for me. I didn't do oil cooler though everyone will say you should.

 

[drews2566]

I didn't do oil cooler

@bencallaway what do people say to do to the oil cooler?

I ended up just buying the OEM head gasket rebuild kit from Toyota. I bought a bunch of individual seals from Wits End, but after looking at buying the valve seals and then the head gasket and all the other stuff, I decided to just order the damn kit cause it was gonna be the same price and I needed all the exhaust gaskets and valve seals anyways. But, I'll pick up new exhaust studs as well. I like the shiny.

I knew someone was gonna notice the Chacos. While I no longer tromp through snowy winter days in Chacos. I pretty much do just about everything else in Chacos! Might as well do mechanicy work in them as well.

 

[jpoole]

did valve stem seals and a valve job

Definitely include this while the heads out. I had the machine shop do a mild resurface too but I didn't do much besides basic cleaning on the block. There may be better approaches but I didn't want to get abrasives/junk in the block so kept it simple. No issues in 40k+ miles since the HG job.

 

[brad187b]

Many of you guys chimed in when I was contemplating a 40th Anniversary series outside of Portland. In the hunt though I found a 1996 LX 450 in Bend and flew out there this morning and picked it up. The pics made it look like it was in amazing condition, it wasn't quite "amazing" and unfortunately the current owner wasn't super forthright with that information. I'm hoping there isn't anything else that was "hidden".

Either way, I bought it for 8.5k and I'm fairly happy at that price. There are some glaring issues though right off the bat.

The biggest is that there is a giant patch on the exhaust on the down pipe. It's leaking, the patch is pretty terrible.

View attachment 2654266View attachment 2654268



Anyone have thoughts on exhaust options? The rest of the exhaust seems ok. Not good. Not great. I figure if it had enough holes in it for this crappy patch, I should probably replace it. The Otramm exhaust puts a real hamper on the budget for some of the other work I wanna do to this beauty.

I have some other questions. I'm 90% certain the oil pump seal is leaking. I'm trying to take some pics but it's a bit tough. I think the valve cover gasket was replaced at one point. It doesn't seem to be coming from up top. But there is quite a bit of oil running down.

View attachment 2654269View attachment 2654270


The last thing I have going is about the knuckles. They look pretty dry, but this is my first solid axle. (See photos below).

I know I need to do the brakes and do some baselining, the PHH, etc. I think most of the heater hoses need replacing.

I know the diff gear oil was replaced in January. I'll check it again, but I don't expect there are any issues.

What else would you all replace as a baseline?

The suspension is totally blown. At least the rear passenger shock is gone and I'm pretty sure one of the fronts is bad. The drive home was prettyyyy bouncy.

Overall, the drive went great. Got 16 mpg ish. About 315 doing 70 to 80 all the way home. No issues at all.

Questions:

I can't pull on the windshield wiper selector for the windshield cleaner. Is this something wrong with the selector thing? Is that not how to do the windshield cleaners on this car?
Is the Dobinsons kit worth the extra couple hundred bucks over an OME kit?
Is the rear heater delete worth it?



Things that must be done asap:

1. Brakes
2. Oil pump seal
3. Exhaust
4. Suspension (OME? Or Dobinsons? is it worth looking at Bilsteins??)
5. Shakey mirrors
6. Tires (probably 255/85/r16's KO2's, might do Falken AT3W's)

Maybe knuckle rebuild?

Probably do coolant, it was also flushed in January.

Things I'd like to do:

1. Coastal Offroad Rear Bumper
2. Roof rack (either prinsu or a bowfin), there is no factory roof rack.
3. ARB front bumper (maybe Coastal Offroad front bumper too but I don't love it).

View attachment 2654267

I might be interested in the front coils if you end up replacing them

 

[drews2566]

> I might be interested in the front coils if you end up replacing them

I'm not certain you want them. But as soon as I get to it. They're yours.

The Eibach kit shipped and is sitting somewhere lost on a Fedex truck between here and Corona, CA. Not like it matters as I'm about 1.5 weeks out from getting my head back from the machine shop.

Does 1k sound reasonable for a head clean/resurface/valve job and all the associated bits? It seemed a little high in my mind. I told em to do the resurface for now and I'll call em about the valves in a couple days when I decide. The resurface was 250 which seemed totally reasonable in my mind, so I don't think he is trying to milk me. We are in Seattle (sigh).

 

[cvenom96]

I'm dropping mine off this morning so we're pretty much at the same point. OTRAMM video definitely helped in figuring out how to get the stupid intake off. Once it was out of the way I motored through the rest.

I ordered the oil cooler seals along with the bolts/nuts/studs/whatever "while I'm in there".

 

[bencallaway]

> I might be interested in the front coils if you end up replacing them

I'm not certain you want them. But as soon as I get to it. They're yours.

The Eibach kit shipped and is sitting somewhere lost on a Fedex truck between here and Corona, CA. Not like it matters as I'm about 1.5 weeks out from getting my head back from the machine shop.

Does 1k sound reasonable for a head clean/resurface/valve job and all the associated bits? It seemed a little high in my mind. I told em to do the resurface for now and I'll call em about the valves in a couple days when I decide. The resurface was 250 which seemed totally reasonable in my mind, so I don't think he is trying to milk me. We are in Seattle (sigh).

I paid $900

 

[brad187b]

> I might be interested in the front coils if you end up replacing them

I'm not certain you want them. But as soon as I get to it. They're yours.

The Eibach kit shipped and is sitting somewhere lost on a Fedex truck between here and Corona, CA. Not like it matters as I'm about 1.5 weeks out from getting my head back from the machine shop.

Does 1k sound reasonable for a head clean/resurface/valve job and all the associated bits? It seemed a little high in my mind. I told em to do the resurface for now and I'll call em about the valves in a couple days when I decide. The resurface was 250 which seemed totally reasonable in my mind, so I don't think he is trying to milk me. We are in Seattle (sigh).

If they are the LC 8 wraps I’ll definitely be interested

 

[Howard705]

@bencallaway what do people say to do to the oil cooler?

I ended up just buying the OEM head gasket rebuild kit from Toyota. I bought a bunch of individual seals from Wits End, but after looking at buying the valve seals and then the head gasket and all the other stuff, I decided to just order the damn kit cause it was gonna be the same price and I needed all the exhaust gaskets and valve seals anyways. But, I'll pick up new exhaust studs as well. I like the shiny.

I knew someone was gonna notice the Chacos. While I no longer tromp through snowy winter days in Chacos. I pretty much do just about everything else in Chacos! Might as well do mechanicy work in them as well.

I'd make sure to do those valve guide seals while off.

 

[zapatius]

> Oh, doing the head gasket before the lift will be much easier unless you have a good platform to stand on to do the work on the lifted truck.

This is a very valid point.

The ARP Supra studs seem to be sold out pretty much everywhere.

Thanks @Cass007 it seems like the Supra head studs are out of stock until late June.

The Toyota head bolts are more expensive but obviously work just fine in this application. Buy new ones, don't reuse (IMO), even if within the spec in the FSM.

 

[zapatius]

@bencallaway what do people say to do to the oil cooler?

I ended up just buying the OEM head gasket rebuild kit from Toyota. I bought a bunch of individual seals from Wits End, but after looking at buying the valve seals and then the head gasket and all the other stuff, I decided to just order the damn kit cause it was gonna be the same price and I needed all the exhaust gaskets and valve seals anyways. But, I'll pick up new exhaust studs as well. I like the shiny.

I knew someone was gonna notice the Chacos. While I no longer tromp through snowy winter days in Chacos. I pretty much do just about everything else in Chacos! Might as well do mechanicy work in them as well.

Take the oil cooler off, clean it out. Lots of sludge can build up behind it on the block. Replace the gaskets in it.

 

[drews2566]

I got my PHH replaced! Believe it or not that was what this whole giant mess started with.

Finally got the head back from the machine shop. They did a fantastic job even if it was a little over a month late in getting it finished (painful). They didn't do a full valve job, the guy at the machine shop said the valves look good, but they did adjust them and reseal them.

The deck, resurface, valve work was $805 after tax. Completely reasonable in my mind.

I ended up using OEM head bolts and head gasket. I think everything has been OEM at this point. The Toyota dealership up the road is loving helping me find parts.

I also replaced a bunch of seals/gaskets around the engine. Including the oil cooler. There is some oil gunk staining but it wasn't sludged up or anything. Those gaskets were *finished* though, I can't believe that thing wasn't leaking more.

Either way, after stabbing the dizzy 180 degrees off and bashing my head against a wall for an hour or two trying to get her started, I finally pulled the valve cover again only to facepalm and reinstall it all. She started right up after that.

I ended up breaking the electrical connector to the oil level sensor and the knock sensor 2 is broken. So, she's throwing a P0330 code and not running perfectly. Pretty nervous when a big oil light comes on, on the dash about 1 minute after starting her up.

I also forgot to hook up the oil pressure gauge on the first start-up and my heart almost skipped a beat when there was 0 oil pressure.

I did drive her down to put some air in her tires and generally check stuff out, is there a way to adjust the tranny kick-down cable? I felt like I really had to push to get her to downshift and she was a bit bogged down. It's probably the knock sensor right?

So clean and shiny!

Either way. Stoked to get that bad boy running. The lift finally showed up too. I won't get around to the install for a bit.

A small sample of some of the crap that got replaced this go round.

I got a bunch of other fun parts waiting for install now too. Somethings I have going in:

New windshield cleaner jets
All LED interior lights
Loncky steering wheel cover
Some rad rubber

 

[Devils Paw 80]

The biggest is that there is a giant patch on the exhaust on the down pipe. It's leaking, the patch is pretty terrible.





Anyone have thoughts on exhaust options?

Maybe this if your cat is bad. I'm getting the P0420 code despite new O2 sensors.
Amazon product ASIN B004SH8CR4

 

[drews2566]

She’s running like a top now! I played with a timing light this morning. She’s was at 0 degrees until now and now I have her set to about 5 degrees now.

I also had her missing when I had it in reverse. It only happened when she was warmed up. I played with the wiring harness where all the heat protection at the back of the block had fallen off and could get it to start missing. After inspecting all the wires I never saw any major damage and wrapped her up with heat tape. So far no more issues and got the timing set properly.

On Saturday I got the lift installed. Talk about an easy process. After finding a pipe wrench it was easy Pease getting the lift installed. So much tighter with new shocks!

I haven’t driven it too much yet but she’s jacked up a ton. I love it. Time for new tires and she’s gonna be lookin good.

 

[drews2566]

@brad187b did you want the springs? They’re out and gonna to the trash unless you’re interested in them?

 

[brad187b]

@brad187b did you want the springs? They’re out and gonna to the trash unless you’re interested in them?

Can you please email me some pics of the front ones? I’m looking for the colour stamps bradbouthillette@gmail.com
Thank you I appreciate it