2002 LX470 - Newbie to Cruiserdom (2 Viewers)

[beeveewee]

My son and I bought this as his first vehicle. Went halvsies with him. Paid $10,700. 221,000mi with excellent service history. But he’s got a list of things to work on. Here’s the list…

• Tires (wants 33’s and different wheels)
• Replace filters
• Wheels (Maybe find some Tundra wheels for cheap? Maybe paint them?)
• Grind out rust at bottom of driver’s side doors (replace window seals? where is the water coming from?)
• New headers (classic popping exhaust manifold from passenger side when under load). This is the one I didn’t catch in inspection. Can’t hear it unless under load. And can’t hear it with the windows rolled up on a hot day. Lesson learned… Next time roll the windows down and listen closely while accelerating. Should I tackle this one with the young man?

Don’t have plates for it yet, so will try to get some of these done before he gets on the road. He’s super excited! Frankly, I’m excited to pass along what little I know about wrenching. Grew up working on my first car with my dad.

Here we go!

 

[Trapper50cal]

Nice! Great father/son project!

Welcome

Don't count on getting a set of Doug Thorley headers...they've been unobtainium for a while with no end in sight to my knowledge.

I know a lot of folks happy with both Method wheels and ICONs

 

[beeveewee]

Nice! Great father/son project!

Welcome

Don't count on getting a set of Doug Thorley headers...they've been unobtainium for a while with no end in sight to my knowledge.

I know a lot of folks happy with both Method wheels and ICONs

Thanks for managing my expectations! Fortunately, can probably be lived-with for now. But will start looking now and be ready to jump on them.

 

[beeveewee]

More pics of the underside…

 

[excessive]

If you want to tackle the headers , i've got a nice set for sale in the classified section. LMK

 

[SteveH]

Don't go after your doors with a grinder....

The rust stains on the door bottoms are from the steel door cladding clips dissolving and rusting away. I would lie on your back under the half-open door, and gently pull the cladding away and inspect what's left of the clips and sweep out all the rusty bits. You can use something like naval jelly (phosphoric acid) to convert the stains on the door paint. They should disappear, but be sure to clean the paint well after doing this.

Then, you can choose to use something like urethane adhesive (PL series from Home Depot), and glue the cladding back to the door with a few large blobs of adhesive. The cladding clips are not sold separately and and removing and reinstalling the cladding is non-trivial. I have removed and reinstalled various cladding and ordered the clips (those that are plastic and are still available) and it's a great way to shoot a day screwing around.

 

[beeveewee]

Don't go after your doors with a grinder....

The rust stains on the door bottoms are from the steel door cladding clips dissolving and rusting away. I would lie on your back under the half-open door, and gently pull the cladding away and inspect what's left of the clips and sweep out all the rusty bits. You can use something like naval jelly (phosphoric acid) to convert the stains on the door paint. They should disappear, but be sure to clean the paint well after doing this.

Then, you can choose to use something like urethane adhesive (PL series from Home Depot), and glue the cladding back to the door with a few large blobs of adhesive. The cladding clips are not sold separately and and removing and reinstalling the cladding is non-trivial. I have removed and reinstalled various cladding and ordered the clips (those that are plastic and are still available) and it's a great way to shoot a day screwing around.

Wow, certainly hope that’s the case. It feels swollen there, so I assumed it was rusting under the paint and puffing it out. But we will check it out exactly as you describe. Thanks Steve!

 

[beeveewee]

I just called Vivid Racing about the Doug Thorley headers. They knew all about the shortage and explained that DT has been moving locations, setting up machines, tooling, jigs, etc. Don’t know when they’ll be running again, but it sounds like they do expect to resume production.

 

[beeveewee]

If you want to tackle the headers , i've got a nice set for sale in the classified section. LMK

Thanks for the heads-up!

 

[Malleus]

More pics of the underside…

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I would classify that frame as rust free.

Lucky kid.

 

[Chrisek]

Huge congrats And welcome! As for wheels, yes on Tundra and Land Cruiser. I would suggest looking at pics from 98-07 and see if there are any you like. If you do, then try some place like car hyphen part dot com (salvage yard website) you should be able to find them for less than $100 each. Or check classifieds. Good luck with the project and hope you update us along the way.

 

[suprarx7nut]

Cool. Good on you.

That rust is pretty mild. Definitely some rusty bits, but altogether pretty clean. I'd be surprised if the doors were actually rusting away like that.

 

[beeveewee]

Starting with a low-difficulty, high-payoff job, removing running boards.

 

[beeveewee]

New hat and boots! The boy refurbished an old Yakima Megawarrior off FB Marketplace. And some BFG KO2s in 285/75/16 (33”).