97 LX450 Subtle Build Thread (1 Viewer)

[half k cruiser]

So here's one that I picked up a while back. It's been sitting out in the driveway waiting for the shop build to finish up. The details are; 187K, no lockers, extremely stock, has freshly recovered and re cushioned seats from the PO. The story was dad owned it since new, always garage kept, always dealer/ garage serviced, was given to the son for a year while he was living in Colorado. Vehicle was brought into a garage because of a bottom end knock.

 

[half k cruiser]

 

[half k cruiser]

The plan here is to pull the motor and see what's making the noise, though I am already suspecting #4 rod bearing. Once I figure that out I will refresh all seals, gaskets, hoses and vacuum lines. Once running it will get a set of 285/75/16's, a bit of cosmetic touch up, and at the very least new springs as the factory ones are clapped.

 

[half k cruiser]

Up and out. Was tired of playing with it today. I will get it on the engine stand tomorrow and start the disassembly.

 

[half k cruiser]

Just before attaching it to the stand

The surgery center is up and running finally. Manifolds and accessories taken off, both oil pans removed.

 

[half k cruiser]

So right away I noticed large pieces of bearing material in the bottom of the lower pan and on the screen of the pickup.

I knew the #4 bearing was out because I had used the dowel rod trick to diagnose it when I first bought the truck. I wasn't expected #3 and #5 to also be damaged.

3 and 5 are definitely salvageable with new bearings and a polish. Unfortunately the damage to the #4 spot on the crank is fairly savage. The bearing deformed itself towards the front of the motor and gouged a groove down into the crank. I won't know if it's salvageable until I get if over to the machinist but i'm going to start looking for a replacement. I should get the head pulled tomorrow and be able to assess the cylinder walls for damage.

 

[cjmoon]

I may have a line on high mileage blown head gasket unit if looking for parts 93. should have details in the next few days.

 

[half k cruiser]

I may have a line on high mileage blown head gasket unit if looking for parts 93. should have details in the next few days.

Thanks Jess, that would be great. It looks like the most I can take off of the crank is .50 mm. Depending on what the cylinder walls look like this thing might be trash.

 

[half k cruiser]

The head is off, it looks good, a very small amount of carbon on the valves, but much cleaner than most of the ones I have pulled.

 

[half k cruiser]

The carnage continues with maybe half of the big end bearings and half of the mains showing serious damage. Aside from the #4 rod journal the rest of the crank appears good to go. It looks like the bearings took the brunt of it.

 

[half k cruiser]

So the other half of the PO's story, which i'm now inclined to believe, was that after he gave the truck to his son the son did an oil change and only put 5qts back in. Which would totally explain the amount of damage going on down there. I did find very minimal damage on cylinders 4 and 5. Something got in there and just barely smoothed some of the cross hatching off of the wall. There is no ridge and the walls are still smooth to the touch.

 

[cjmoon]

Looks rebuildable, nothing to bad. The low oils light is on at 5 qrts way before issues like that occurred as long as you didn’t ignore the light.

 

[BILT4ME]

So the other half of the PO's story, which i'm now inclined to believe, was that after he gave the truck to his son the son did an oil change and only put 5qts back in. Which would totally explain the amount of damage going on down there. I did find very minimal damage on cylinders 4 and 5. Something got in there and just barely smoothed some of the cross hatching off of the wall. There is no ridge and the walls are still smooth to the touch. View attachment 2366389View attachment 2366392

I would run a hone through those, the check the diameters with a bore gauge to determine how much they are worn / out of round to see if the cylinders are still in spec.

With that much lines, I may consider new pistons. Depends on how they look after clean-up. They definitely need to be measured and weighed. Maybe glass beaded for clean-up.

 

[half k cruiser]

@2fpower contacted me yesterday to let me know he currently has a short block holding down a corner of his yard. I'm going to work with him on getting that. Once I have it I will pull it apart and see if I can make something happen between the two. Surely between that motor, this one, a trip to the machine shop, and a round of shopping at the local Toyota parts counter, I can have old Brosephine up and running again.

@Box Rocket I really wish I had my FB/social media game dialed in right now. I feel like this baby could be in the running for the isolation build contest !

 

[half k cruiser]

I took the Bantam up to @2fpower to pick up a care package. As always it was good to hang out with Kelly and fun to look at all of the projects he has going. He was gracious enough to let me look at his two 70 series as I had never seen one in person. I absolutely love the square body lines and old school 80's interiors. I really want one.

Here's the bottom end and crank. Some minor scuffing on the #1 main, cylinder walls look good. I will get these down to the machine shop and see what they say.

 

[half k cruiser]

When I finally get this thing running these are the tires that will be going on it. 285/75/r16 duratrac's with 13/32 tread left. This was one of my better craigslist deals, as I think I have $250 in all 5.

 

[half k cruiser]

The crank from @2fpower is dropped off at the machine shop, I should hear back from them next week. It had some very minor scratching on the #1 main journal, hopefully it just needs a polish. I am currently debating how crazy I want to go with this refresh. Obviously the bottom end is going to get fresh bearings, hone, and new rings at a minimum. The debatable items are

- OEM everything, gasket, seal, plugs, wires, motor mounts, vacuum lines and hoses (even down to the OEM clamps) they are all currently sitting in my online shopping cart to the tune of about $1200

- Valve job and deck the head $600 (maybe do a very mild port and polish on the intake and exhaust runners).

- Rebuild the PS system ( it's a messy job and the gearbox is a real nightmare trying to get all the ball bearings back in)

 

[chap79]

If your going to keep it I would do the extra motor work and rebuild the PS. Much easier to do now than later down the road. I’d also replace the modulator and VSV and whatnot on the bottom of the upper plenum just to know worry about future 401 codes.

 

[half k cruiser]

If your going to keep it I would do the extra motor work and rebuild the PS. Much easier to do now than later down the road. I’d also replace the modulator and VSV and whatnot on the bottom of the upper plenum just to know worry about future 401 codes.

I don't suppose you have any part numbers on those ?

 

[chap79]

I don't suppose you have any part numbers on those ?

these were from my ‘97

modulator (25870-66011)
vacuum switching valve (25701-66011)