Baby Lex: WizMariefa's Lx450 Build (1 Viewer)

[wizmariefa]

A nice little poser pic to get us started here:

Current/In Progress Modifications

LSEAT New Seat leather (Ivory)	August 2020. I went cheap on this and already regret it. Just buy the nice leather or new seats.
Dobinsons Lift: Shocks, Springs, Poly Caster Bushings	December 2020
Tires: General Grabber ATX 315/65/16	December 2020
Recovery Points (front): Ironman 4x4 recovery points for FZJ80	December 2020
Tint: 30% ceramic tint on front, 50% ceramic on rear to closely match front	February 2021
XOFab Slider kit	in progress....
Bowfin Cruisers Roof Rack	August 2021
Coastal Offroad Front Bumper	August 2021

Small Upgrades/Maintenance

10" subwoofer and new speakers (pioneer speakers and sub)	June 2020 (speakers) and November 2020 for sub. 10/10 decision.
Clear corner lights/LED rear lights	September and November 2020. Rear lights still click my cruise control off when i signal.
Noico Sound deadening mat and foam on doors/cargo space	October 2020 and January 2021. Still need to finish one door/do the passenger area floor
New Throttle Cable (from DeltaVS)	3/10/2021- great thread writeup on how to do it for n00bs like me. Made a huge difference.

Future Mods That I Dream of But do Not Wish to Fund Just Yet

• DIY Turbo build
• Rear Bumper Build
• Aussie style aluminum/stainless snorkel
• Transfer case crawler gears & 10% underdrive
• Durty Sevens
• Upgraded steering box

I bought this truck in June 2020 from a local used car dealership. I was chewed up and spit out by a p38 range rover and decided i wanted a vehicle that liked me, instead of one that vehemently despised me, so I passed that project off to another poor soul. The family that brought it in on consignment treated the car pretty well, but it had been in an accident at some point and has replacement passenger doors and front fender from a pre-94 land cruiser that were painted from red to black. Some of the body molding isn't held down and it drives me crazy, but not crazy enough to actually fix it I guess.
All in all it is in superb condition and had a ton of very expensive maintenance done only a few months before i bought it, including a new windshield, yay for me! I mostly just want this thread for me to look back on to document what I've done a bit better than I can on instagram. It's not gonna be something exciting or cool like a bunch of the other threads, mostly just for me to keep track of everything I'm doing.

A couple pictures of what the tint looks like (30% ceramic on front windows, 50% ceramic over the top of the factory tint on the rear windows):

 

[wizmariefa]

Broken Bolt count: 6

 

[wizmariefa]

and the third for good measure, why not

 

[SoTexCruiserDoc]

A nice little poser pic to get us started here:

View attachment 2610610

Current/In Progress Modifications

LSEAT New Seat leather (Ivory)	August 2020. I went cheap on this and already regret it. Just buy the nice leather or new seats.
Dobinsons Lift: Shocks, Springs, Poly Caster Bushings	December 2020
Tires: General Grabber ATX 315/65/16	December 2020
Recovery Points (front): Ironman 4x4 recovery points for FZJ80	December 2020
Tint: 30% ceramic tint on front, 50% ceramic on rear to closely match front	February 2021
Slider Kit and Bumper Kit Ordered and Sitting in garage (oops)	November 2020/Jan 2021

Small Upgrades/Maintenance

10" subwoofer and new speakers (pioneer speakers and sub)	June 2020 (speakers) and November 2020 for sub. 10/10 decision.
Clear corner lights/LED rear lights	September and November 2020. Rear lights still click my cruise control off when i signal.
Noico Sound deadening mat and foam on doors/cargo space	October 2020 and January 2021. Still need to finish one door/do the passenger area floor
New Throttle Cable (from DeltaVS)	3/10/2021- great thread writeup on how to do it for n00bs like me. Made a huge difference.

Future Mods That I Dream of But do Not Wish to Fund Just Yet

• DIY Turbo build or 1UZ/2UZ swap
• Rear Bumper Build
• Aussie style aluminum/stainless snorkel
• Bowfin cruisers roof rack
• Transfer case crawler gears & 10% underdrive
• Durty Sevens
• Upgraded steering box

I bought this truck in June 2020 from a local used car dealership. I was chewed up and spit out by a p38 range rover and decided i wanted a vehicle that liked me, instead of one that vehemently despised me, so I passed that project off to another poor soul. The family that brought it in on consignment treated the car pretty well, but it had been in an accident at some point and has replacement passenger doors and front fender from a pre-94 land cruiser that were painted from red to black. Some of the body molding isn't held down and it drives me crazy, but not crazy enough to actually fix it I guess.
All in all it is in superb condition and had a ton of very expensive maintenance done only a few months before i bought it, including a new windshield, yay for me! I mostly just want this thread for me to look back on to document what I've done a bit better than I can on instagram. It's not gonna be something exciting or cool like a bunch of the other threads, mostly just for me to keep track of everything I'm doing.

A couple pictures of what the tint looks like (30% ceramic on front windows, 50% ceramic over the top of the factory tint on the rear windows):
View attachment 2610632
View attachment 2610636

Looking good. Like the tint. Can you show your subwoofer set up? I wasn’t going to do it, but rethinking that...

 

[wizmariefa]

@SoTexCruiserDoc So, I didn't really feel like spending a lot of money and went with a sub/amp combo, knowing that they're not the "best" solution. However, for under $200 for the sub/amp combo this thing performs great. I have zero complaints with it. Not the fanciest/best solution, but it sounds pretty good and hits hard enough for me. Amazon Link: Pioneer TS-WX1010A

 

[ttFJC]

 

[wizmariefa]

Sewed a new e-brake and t-case shifter cover this week. Haven't done much on the lexus lately, but figured after 23 years of soda and coffee and snacks being poured on them, it was time to make new ones.
It was super easy-- I pulled the center console, and took off both boots. Ripped the stitches, traced the pattern, and sewed them back up. A couple hours of work, a ton of vacuuming the disgusting snacks left from the previous owners, and voila!
I know it won't be everyone's taste, but I like it, and luckily since it's my vehicle that's what matters

 

[wizmariefa]

We bought a house, so I haven't done much on my 80 lately. Other financial and time priorities (while my half-finished bumper stares at me from the garage....)

Had some electrical problems with my CDL. I would switch into low, and sometimes immediately, sometimes after a few seconds, the gauge fuse in my dash would blow. It seemed to be intermittent, which lent itself to a short somewhere. I tore apart the inside of the vehicle, enlisted some friends smarter than I, and eventually we landed on pulling the trans wiring harness out. It was covered in muck, and I sat down to clean the connectors off when lo-and-behold, my short appeared. These 3 wires went to the CDL indicator switches and explains why my CDL relay would chatter and my CDL/ABS indicator lights would flash on and off at random intervals. Fixed the wiring up (a new harness isn't available, as it turns out) and everything runs smoothly, just need to get around to putting the replacement indicator switches I bought in. Wiring shorts suck.

As usual, I didn't take any pictures, but while I was procrastinating on trying to figure out some of the short issue, I ripped out the carpet and finished laying noise cancellation mat down in the lexus. I also pulled out the factory sub, because I like the bass up a little higher than it was capable of handling and it sounded terrible. My aftermarket one in the cargo space sounds great still, for $200 it's not a bad buy at all.

I also just put on new rotors/pads. I went with the EBC slotted and dimpled rotors front and rear, and the EBC yellow stuff pads. No complaints so far, but it's only been a day. Definitely brakes much harder than the OEM pads/rotors, which I prefer. Pretty easy installation, I decided I'd repack the front bearings while I was in there which added time to putting the fronts on, but the rears took me maybe 45 minutes total? Super easy upgrade. I think it cost about $600 for all 4 corners rotors + pads.

 

[wizmariefa]

Finally got my Coastal Offroad bumper welded up. I was able to just bend the A/C dryer out of the way for it, for my first welding project I don't think I did too bad-- some ugly welds hiding on the inside, and all the nice ones (along the outside, when I got the hang of it) are all ground off, of course. Apparently the center section with the C O logo is upside down, but I think that it looks better this way with the angled headlights on the lexus.

Also got in a Bowfin Cruisers roof rack after a few months of just missing out on available stock. Super stoked I got my hands on one, love the way it looks.

 

[FMC80]

Sharp looking 80! Gotta get me a bowfin rack! Someday soon

 

[wizmariefa]

Sharp looking 80! Gotta get me a bowfin rack! Someday soon

Thank you! It’s definitely worth it, customer service is top notch as well.

 

[OffRoadScott]

Finally got my Coastal Offroad bumper welded up. I was able to just bend the A/C dryer out of the way for it, for my first welding project I don't think I did too bad-- some ugly welds hiding on the inside, and all the nice ones (along the outside, when I got the hang of it) are all ground off, of course. Apparently the center section with the C O logo is upside down, but I think that it looks better this way with the angled headlights on the lexus.

View attachment 2800943

Also got in a Bowfin Cruisers roof rack after a few months of just missing out on available stock. Super stoked I got my hands on one, love the way it looks.
View attachment 2800946

That bumper looks great and tucks in nicely.

 

[wizmariefa]

Got 5.29 Diff Gears installed, put in new front row window runs, and put in an Alpine ILX-W650 head unit. Also got my bumper powder coated (in October, but haven't taken any pictures of the ol' girl until now).

 

[OffRoadScott]

Got 5.29 Diff Gears installed, put in new front row window runs, and put in an Alpine ILX-W650 head unit. Also got my bumper powder coated (in October, but haven't taken any pictures of the ol' girl until now).
View attachment 2908502

5.29s and what size tires? How is the drive ability?

 

[wizmariefa]

5.29s and what size tires? How is the drive ability?

315/75/16, which are “technically” 35s but measure closer to 33.5. Around 3k in OD on the interstate, so for my taste it’s a little bit overgeared. Haven’t tested it off-road at all yet, actually am still breaking them in, so I don’t have any comments on how they feel off road. So driveability isnt any worse than it was with factory gears, but it’s definitely not optimal IMO.

 

[OffRoadScott]

315/75/16, which are “technically” 35s but measure closer to 33.5. Around 3k in OD on the interstate, so for my taste it’s a little bit overgeared. Haven’t tested it off-road at all yet, actually am still breaking them in, so I don’t have any comments on how they feel off road. So driveability isnt any worse than it was with factory gears, but it’s definitely not optimal IMO.

Do you have plans on moving up to 37s eventually? I am on the fence about 5.29 and 37s or 4.88s and 37s.

 

[White Sheep]

Do you have plans on moving up to 37s eventually? I am on the fence about 5.29 and 37s or 4.88s and 37s.

I was 315/75/16 w/ 5.29 gears a little while ago. Bumper up to 37s. Feels better with the gear ratio IMO.

 

[ttFJC]

37s ore ewe arent kewl

 

[nukegoat]

Looks great. How is the wheeling in Bozeman? Any good rock crawling or is it more PNW style?

 

[wizmariefa]

Do you have plans on moving up to 37s eventually? I am on the fence about 5.29 and 37s or 4.88s and 37s.

Yep! Currently sourcing some 17" wheels, then need to figure out what tires I want to go with.

Looks great. How is the wheeling in Bozeman? Any good rock crawling or is it more PNW style?

It's pretty OK. It's definitely not Colorado or Utah, that's for sure. There's really only a handful of moderate trails and mostly easy trails, but a lot of great camping spots that the trails are hard enough to keep other people out of.