2007 LC “VX” (1 Viewer)

[imatalltree]

Guy in Tacoma picked it up, gave me full asking price so that's sweet. I was planning on doing the Gambler 500 with it but working on old junk solo doesn't hold appeal to me anymore. I'm happy to finally have that beast out of my garage!

I have to say that I'm coming on board. I love old VWs but the little bit of mechanicing I've done on the sequoia has been rather drama free. That's really appreciated at this point in my life.

 

[GTV]

Tackled the front door speakers. I’ve been playing with cars my whole life but I’ve never dabbled with car audio so this was a big learning experience for me. I went with the 2 way Morel Maximo Ultra 602’s.
Started with a sheet of Dynamat Xtreme on the inside.

And another sheet on the inner skin

Since I had the panels off I decided to properly install the LX470 lower door seals so they don’t fall off with the panel (tabs were folded over after the pic).

New speaker grills to finish it off.

The doors shut like a bank vault now so that’s pretty awesome. Speakers are so much better but I still have the other 3 to do.

 

[suprarx7nut]

Tackled the front door speakers. I’ve been playing with cars my whole life but I’ve never dabbled with car audio so this was a big learning experience for me. I went with the 2 way Morel Maximo Ultra 602’s.
Started with a sheet of Dynamat Xtreme on the inside.
View attachment 2516469
And another sheet on the inner skin
View attachment 2516472
View attachment 2516476
Since I had the panels off I decided to properly install the LX470 lower door seals so they don’t fall off with the panel (tabs were folded over after the pic).
View attachment 2516474
New speaker grills to finish it off.
View attachment 2516491
The doors shut like a bank vault now so that’s pretty awesome. Speakers are so much better but I still have the other 3 to do.

Love to see more people using morel. I was very pleased with their lineup from bottom to top.

Nice install. I bet that sounds solid.

 

[GTV]

Got rid of the absolutely idiotic mesh LC map pockets. Found a pair of used LX pockets with boards on eBay. Really nice to have something functional back there.

 

[GTV]

Rear doors have been Dynamat-ed and speakers are installed. I didn’t do what I was told and wasted a few extra bucks on the Maximo Ultra 602’s. I got a decent Black Friday deal on them and I’m a matchy matchy sort of guy.

The new Kicker sub has arrived, waiting on another shipment of Dynamat for the rear. It sounds about 1000% better so far!

 

[suprarx7nut]

Rear doors have been Dynamat-ed and speakers are installed. I didn’t do what I was told and wasted a few extra bucks on the Maximo Ultra 602’s. I got a decent Black Friday deal on them and I’m a matchy matchy sort of guy.
View attachment 2525577View attachment 2525578

The new Kicker sub has arrived, waiting on another shipment of Dynamat for the rear. It sounds about 1000% better so far!

I think you made the right choice on matching. Matching tone just right is never a bad thing.

 

[GTV]

One of my favourite features of the 100 series is the rear vent windows. Harkens back to my days with ACVW’s in Arizona when pop out quarters were essential for passenger comfort. However on the 100, the power switches are extremely non intuitive. I kept finding myself having to look down because I couldn’t remember which way was open/closed. I stumbled across this thread by @LndXrsr and immediately put it on my mods list. Finally got to it today.
The only difference between his method and mine that I could see was that I completely removed the white pin retainer.

The #3 and #5 pins then came out quite easily (I’m completely new to working with pin style connectors btw) and I was able to switch them without hacking into the wiring harness.
Another note, removing the bulb first allows easy removal of the rocker so it can be reoriented.
The only thing that isn’t perfect now is that the rocker doesn’t sit on the switch 100% correctly as they are designed to fit one way. Only side will clip in but I don’t anticipate it being a problem. The switch feels normal to the touch and it’s not going anywhere.

This has got to be the best free mod going. Thanks again to LndXrsr!

Now if I could get them to stop rattling when open...

 

[LndXrsr]

Haha. Must be something messed up with my connector because no amount of force was getting those things out, even with removing that white retainer clip all the way.

I think I filed part of the central round part of the rocker switch (the part in your second pic that isn’t fitting flush over the rocker post) to get it to fit well when flipped. One side is slightly flattened naturally so I filed the rounded side down to match it. Clipped right on.

Glad to see more people enjoying this mod! No idea what Toyota was thinking with the original design.

 

[GTV]

I think I filed part of the central round part of the rocker switch (the part in your second pic that isn’t fitting flush over the rocker post) to get it to fit well when flipped. One side is slightly flattened naturally so I filed the rounded side down to match it. Clipped right on.

Glad to see more people enjoying this mod! No idea what Toyota was thinking with the original design.

I considered filing it down a little to fit, maybe I'll get back in there and do that.

I agree, Toyota totally missed the mark on that one. The wannabe industrial designer in me could not let that be.

 

[LndXrsr]

I considered filing it down a little to fit, maybe I'll get back in there and do that.

I agree, Toyota totally missed the mark on that one. The wannabe industrial designer in me could not let that be.

Found another pic. I think this is what I filed down to get things to snap on smoothly. One is slightly flattened and the other rounded from the factory. Both flat works just fine and gets the pins to snap in properly.

 

[GTV]

Found another pic. I think this is what I filed down to get things to snap on smoothly. One is slightly flattened and the other rounded from the factory. Both flat works just fine and gets the pins to snap in properly.

View attachment 2526707

Ahhh! I was thinking of filing it a different way but that makes much more sense. Thanks!

 

[way out west]

Did a quick trip to Bend and Crater Lake to ride around the rim. Almost zero traffic. Glad I had the comfort of a 100 series to drive home in today, I was hurtin.
View attachment 2445454

FIXED I assume or free?

 

[GTV]

FIXED I assume or free?

Fixed.

 

[GTV]

I had one extra sheet and a bunch of scraps leftover from the door project. Got as much stuck on the inside as I could reach. This made a huge difference when closing.

 

[GTV]

Finally finished up the [snowballed] audio upgrade.
Dynamat everywhere.
Vent window rattles fixed.
Sirius antenna removed.
Broken seat belt clips replaced.
Kicker 6 3/4” DVC 1ohm sub installed.

Really happy with how this turned out!

 

[jtb517]

Looks good! When can you come dynamat mine?

 

[GTV]

My nemesis, the AHC system, has been riding a bit rougher than it should lately. Since I’ve owned it the pump also occasionally makes this weird high pitched noise at the end of a cycle, seems to happen more often when the ambient temperature is low and/or the truck is cold and hasn’t been running for very long. The fluid level was about 2 clicks below minimum at N. It still goes up and down as it should and I’ve got 12 gradients or fluid movement in the reservoir so I figured my first course of action should be a fluid flush as I’m sure it hasn’t been done since Paul had his hands on it. So that’s what I did today.

The old stuff is dark but not as bad as I’ve seen from others. Fluid is now at the correct level in the reservoir. Still at 12 gradients from L-H. I’ve only driven it a short distance so far but the ride quality does seem to be better. However it did make the weird noise again, any idea what that could be?

 

[suprarx7nut]

My nemesis, the AHC system, has been riding a bit rougher than it should lately. Since I’ve owned it the pump also occasionally makes this weird high pitched noise at the end of a cycle, seems to happen more often when the ambient temperature is low and/or the truck is cold and hasn’t been running for very long. The fluid level was about 2 clicks below minimum at N. It still goes up and down as it should and I’ve got 12 gradients or fluid movement in the reservoir so I figured my first course of action should be a fluid flush as I’m sure it hasn’t been done since Paul had his hands on it. So that’s what I did today.
View attachment 2555691
The old stuff is dark but not as bad as I’ve seen from others. Fluid is now at the correct level in the reservoir. Still at 12 gradients from L-H. I’ve only driven it a short distance so far but the ride quality does seem to be better. However it did make the weird noise again, any idea what that could be?

I'm curious to hear a recording of the sound.

The pump runs after a raise cycle to refill the height accumulator. That's normally when you can hear it run. It's a high pressure hydraulic pump and sounds like one (high pitched and "strainy").

Might be a totally normal sound.

A pump with bad seals will sound a little extra whiny. A brand new pump is cheap and relatively easy to replace if that's it. Also, Blackstone labs can test a sample of fluid. That'll help ID a worn pump.

 

[GTV]

I'm curious to hear a recording of the sound.

The pump runs after a raise cycle to refill the height accumulator. That's normally when you can hear it run. It's a high pressure hydraulic pump and sounds like one (high pitched and "strainy").

Might be a totally normal sound.

A pump with bad seals will sound a little extra whiny. A brand new pump is cheap and relatively easy to replace if that's it. Also, Blackstone labs can test a sample of fluid. That'll help ID a worn pump.

Hmm. Might be normal. When it happens everyone around me stops and looks, it’s not quiet. It definitely doesn’t sound healthy to my ear but your description is accurate. I’ll try to upload a video later this week.

I thought about a Blackstone analysis but I imagine the fluid in the bottle has been polluted with fresh fluid from the flush. Not sure how accurate that would be.

 

[suprarx7nut]

Hmm. Might be normal. When it happens everyone around me stops and looks, it’s not quiet. It definitely doesn’t sound healthy to my ear but your description is accurate. I’ll try to upload a video later this week.

I thought about a Blackstone analysis but I imagine the fluid in the bottle has been polluted with fresh fluid from the flush. Not sure how accurate that would be.

A video would be neat.

The Blackstone analysis is still very helpful, imo. Numbers from a system with a fault could be literally 10,000 times larger than normal. If you indicate that it's partially new fluid, they can take that into account.

My recent AHC lab came back high in metal contaminants - real high. I'm guessing it's my pump, but my pump is still quiet.

If you had a poor lab results combined with the noise, that would be enough for me to be comfortable moving forward with the pump replacement. It's apparently a super fast job. Like oil change fast.

Finally fixed my AHC! Changed pump~

Like some of you, I had my AHC issues ('04 LX, 120k miles)... and I tried swapping Actuator globes (both B&B and new OEM)... then swapped out the front shocks... tried to bleed, and failed 1/2 way through the process. Then thanks to BonS' posts, I ordered a new AHC pump sub assembly. Meanwhile I...

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