NeverFinis
SILVER Star
My wife and I are thinking about the next step in life now that our kids have finished college, and next year we are considering selling the house and overlanding for a few years.
My main concern is reliability. My wife would not like breaking down off the beaten path. She is risk averse, while I would consider it as part of the adventure. Happy Wife, Happy Life, as they say.
With that in mind, I am considering buying new ($50K-60K) or....building my LX450 (<$20K).
I gave my parked LX450 a look over, and rust is reasonable. Rear axle is rusting a bit, and the rear crossmember is rusting but not show stoppers. No significant rust on the body that I can see other than the front lip of the hood and front bumper, which I will fix/replace. The LX450 has good components. E-lockers, 2" OME lift, with caster correction, with 33" GoodYear Wrangler AT. Aluminum Radiator. New brake lines. New brakes (should be resurfaced). I have an auxiliary extended range fuel tank ready to be put in. I have a new exhaust system also ready to be put in.
Also, when it was parked, it was leaking oil in the cooling system. 200K miles on the original motor. I did the HG but there was corrosion pitting on the block that might be cause of the oil leaking into the coolant passages. The motor was only 6 years old with 90K miles at the time. I am thinking putting in a new short block, or a remanufactured motor to rectify that and to improve reliability. Probably the former. The main gas tank has a pinhole leak, but I now see you can purchase new tanks for a reasonable cost.
New short block/reman long block, new gas tank, new front and rear bumpers and hood, roof top tent, drawer system /w kitchen.... I am not seeing a ton of money here...at least not compared to a new vehicle. I am not changing the size of the lift or tires. It will stay the same since some countries will either fine you, block importation, or use it as a way to extract bribes for excessive lift, or tires beyond the fender wells.
The big downside is the 1FZ-FE is really really underpowered, and gets poor fuel economy compared to newer motor designs. I am ok with both other than it limits range, but the extended fuel tank should help with that. Not looking to swap to a different type of motor. The big question is can I build the LX450 as reliable as a new vehicle.
Just thinking out loud. What would you do?
My main concern is reliability. My wife would not like breaking down off the beaten path. She is risk averse, while I would consider it as part of the adventure. Happy Wife, Happy Life, as they say.
With that in mind, I am considering buying new ($50K-60K) or....building my LX450 (<$20K).
I gave my parked LX450 a look over, and rust is reasonable. Rear axle is rusting a bit, and the rear crossmember is rusting but not show stoppers. No significant rust on the body that I can see other than the front lip of the hood and front bumper, which I will fix/replace. The LX450 has good components. E-lockers, 2" OME lift, with caster correction, with 33" GoodYear Wrangler AT. Aluminum Radiator. New brake lines. New brakes (should be resurfaced). I have an auxiliary extended range fuel tank ready to be put in. I have a new exhaust system also ready to be put in.
Also, when it was parked, it was leaking oil in the cooling system. 200K miles on the original motor. I did the HG but there was corrosion pitting on the block that might be cause of the oil leaking into the coolant passages. The motor was only 6 years old with 90K miles at the time. I am thinking putting in a new short block, or a remanufactured motor to rectify that and to improve reliability. Probably the former. The main gas tank has a pinhole leak, but I now see you can purchase new tanks for a reasonable cost.
New short block/reman long block, new gas tank, new front and rear bumpers and hood, roof top tent, drawer system /w kitchen.... I am not seeing a ton of money here...at least not compared to a new vehicle. I am not changing the size of the lift or tires. It will stay the same since some countries will either fine you, block importation, or use it as a way to extract bribes for excessive lift, or tires beyond the fender wells.
The big downside is the 1FZ-FE is really really underpowered, and gets poor fuel economy compared to newer motor designs. I am ok with both other than it limits range, but the extended fuel tank should help with that. Not looking to swap to a different type of motor. The big question is can I build the LX450 as reliable as a new vehicle.
Just thinking out loud. What would you do?