Finboy’s Costa Azul LX 570

[finboy]

Had a very Lexus themed day, first I went to visit the tire shop to get a new spare thrown on. Preview for spring on the size I’m going, still need to put on spacers and do some minor front wheel well tweaks.

When I pulled out of the shop I ran into this fine specimen in old-man-gold.

After that I headed down to visit a family friend at Lexus Calgary where this truck was sold originally in 2008. My family friend actually remembers it showing up and getting sold within a couple of days. They have their own glass guy who is going to work on the aluminum moulding trim and clips that have come apart over the years, I also had to order a touch up paint pen that isn’t available in North America currently. While there, I spotted another old Lexus.

 

[finboy]

Two wins and a loss today
Win 1 - upgraded to better led headlights, this required extended dust caps for the rear of the low beam as the pivoting headlights would interfere.
Win 2 - twitchy mirrors hopefully solved, Toyota used bolts without lock washers in the mirrors which causes a twitch at highway speeds. I installed the upgraded units as well as comically brittle plastic covers.

Loss - fog lights, ugh. There were diode dynamics previously but the seals must have dried out as both housings were suffering from moisture and the bulbs were quite corroded. Drivers side went fine, passenger side where there is a vent that allows moister to splash back, not so much. I will have to drop the bumper to finish the job as 2 of the screws were on the verge of stripping and no one needs rounded off screws in their life. I will deal with that when I get back from vacation and rock the two colours for now. Anyone have a part number for fog light mount screws?

 

[finboy]

More mods, more fails. This weekend I worked more on some mods for the upcoming boys golf trip, which means loading 4 guys and golf gear through the winding roads of panorama. Lexus, for reasons unknown equipped the LX 570 with really short roof rails, and the Land Cruiser with longer rails (just under a foot). After tracking a Land Cruiser set down stateside (thanks to ih8mud), I was able to swap out the silver for black, and now have less overhang for the roof rack.

Before:

Going for that punk look. These studs ensure none of the bolt anchors fell into the headliner while I swapped rails (another ih8mud idea)

Finished up and ready to load up with golf clubs as Lexus intended

Mod 2 unfortunately stopped in motion again. If you’ll recall from my previous post, there were some diode dynamics LED bulbs in the factory housings. The seals had long since given up, there was some moisture in the housings so I opted to upgrade to the Diode Dynamics SS3 Pro fog kit which is plug and play (or so I thought). After the last attempt where the passenger side defeated me due to seized screws, I was rocking one OEM fog light that worked, and one SS3 which wouldn’t illuminate. Upon getting the screws out, I thought it was going to be smooth sailing. Sadly now BOTH SS3’s won’t illuminate, but the dash shows fog lights as on (switch works), fuse is good, we tried with high beams on, low beams on, e-brake engaged and not engaged, in park and in drive, noooothing. If just one headlight was not working I would think it easy to track down as a bad light, but both….wtf? This mod is kicking my ass, I have an email into diode dynamics but if anyone has suggestions I am all ears.

Here is a shot of me frustratingly working on it with a friends 4Runner in the driveway

I got an oil change done as well, fumoto valve installed and a 5w30 oil cap from another global market land cruiser where they understand the folly of 0w20 oil

More too come soon.

 

[Ratchey]

More mods, more fails. This weekend I worked more on some mods for the upcoming boys golf trip, which means loading 4 guys and golf gear through the winding roads of panorama. Lexus, for reasons unknown equipped the LX 570 with really short roof rails, and the Land Cruiser with longer rails (just under a foot). After tracking a Land Cruiser set down stateside (thanks to ih8mud), I was able to swap out the silver for black, and now have less overhang for the roof rack.

Before:
View attachment 3607016

Going for that punk look. These studs ensure none of the bolt anchors fell into the headliner while I swapped rails (another ih8mud idea)
View attachment 3607017

Finished up and ready to load up with golf clubs as Lexus intended
View attachment 3607020View attachment 3607021

Mod 2 unfortunately stopped in motion again. If you’ll recall from my previous post, there were some diode dynamics LED bulbs in the factory housings. The seals had long since given up, there was some moisture in the housings so I opted to upgrade to the Diode Dynamics SS3 Pro fog kit which is plug and play (or so I thought). After the last attempt where the passenger side defeated me due to seized screws, I was rocking one OEM fog light that worked, and one SS3 which wouldn’t illuminate. Upon getting the screws out, I thought it was going to be smooth sailing. Sadly now BOTH SS3’s won’t illuminate, but the dash shows fog lights as on (switch works), fuse is good, we tried with high beams on, low beams on, e-brake engaged and not engaged, in park and in drive, noooothing. If just one headlight was not working I would think it easy to track down as a bad light, but both….wtf? This mod is kicking my ass, I have an email into diode dynamics but if anyone has suggestions I am all ears.

Here is a shot of me frustratingly working on it with a friends 4Runner in the driveway
View attachment 3607022

I got an oil change done as well, fumoto valve installed and a 5w30 oil cap from another global market land cruiser where they understand the folly of 0w20 oil

More too come soon.

Are the bulbs reversable? Many LEDs are polarity sentitive and won't function if installed in reverse polarity.

 

[finboy]

Are the bulbs reversable? Many LEDs are polarity sentitive and won't function if installed in reverse polarity.

I might give this a shot, the pigtails look like they had a uni-directional input but might see if I missed something on installation

 

[finboy]

Update, one bulb was reversed, the passenger connector seems to have a corrosion issue, it will light up when partially engaged but turns very weak when fully connected. I might have to de-pin and clean the connector unless someone has a better solution.

 

[Ratchey]

Try this Electrical Contact Cleaner Lubricant | WD-40 - https://www.wd40.com/products/contact-cleaner/ and some dielectric grease

 

[ryanCA]

Are the rear tails lights tinted?

 

[finboy]

Tail lights are tinted with film, not 100% on it yet but until I can find a good set of 13-15’s on the cheap, they stay and I’ll keep working on making them look good.

In other news, 33’s (32.8 I suppose) are on. De-chroming select parts is in progress, I have the accumulator globes in the garage, things are slowly coming together.

 

[finboy]

De-chrome starts and general cleanup day. Chrome was all the rage in ‘08, I’m not a fan so first order today was beginning the de-chrome with OEM LC200 sills, over-week parts from Japan.

Before:

After:

Previously this truck had some zero offset Te37’ s with 1.5” spacers, looked cool but definitely left some rock chips. In order to avoid future rust issues, I spent the rest of the day cleaning out, priming, then touching up each wheel well.

Primer:

Finished:

Finally I went to check on that front fog light, seems the contact cleaner and dielectric grease did it’s job, both are currently working.

 

[finboy]

Fun week

Thanks to a driver of a gravel truck that didn’t cover his “empty” bed, this beauty showed up. I called the owner, and despite his buddy having a shop that could totally do this for a deal, I told him I only trusted one guy in town to replace it. He was hesitant but then other cars that were showered in rocks started calling insurance. Unfortunately Lexus of Calgary couldn’t source aftermarket glass, so brand new OEM goes in.

On the upside

And while I was there, replaced the old and crusty wiper arms with some new OEM units

 

[finboy]

Well, AHC line by the driver rear burst, waiting on a tow to an independent Toyota shop. Does anyone know what line I might be looking to get it back running?

 

[finboy]

Well, she’s back

Breakdown on the repair cost
- globes - typical eBay cost
- AHC fluid - a buddy hooked me up with spare stuff from his garage
- AHC line - $276 Canadian, $100 more than landed from Amayama but 2 day turnaround from Lexus of calgary
- labour $1100 canadian

Honestly pretty good considering that was swapping the globes in and doing the line, I was hearing quotes of $1500+ USD for just the AHC line replacement so I will count myself lucky

 

[pvchaitanya]

love this color. Is this custom or came as an option for that year?
If you know what color or wrap was used, it will be helpful.

 

[finboy]

love this color. Is this custom or came as an option for that year?
If you know what color or wrap was used, it will be helpful.

It’s Costa azul mica and was only available between 2008 and 2010 in Canada and 2009-2010 to the us. Mine is one of 9 that came to Canada, I believe 134 were delivered to the us.

Avery has a wrap colour that is close, but I don’t know the name of it, I just compared swatches against the paint.

 

[Ratchey]

It's not too far off from the color I wrapped my old ES a while ago. 3M Perfect Blue Satin. (I believe it is discontinued now)

 

[pvchaitanya]

It's not too far off from the color I wrapped my old ES a while ago. 3M Perfect Blue Satin. (I believe it is discontinued now)

View attachment 3685760

View attachment 3685761

sweet! did you do it yourself?
You are giving me some tick again to consider DIY on my LX.
How easy or difficult is it to remove the wrap if it doesn't sit well after few days?

 

[Boston Mangler]

Love this color! Dont remember ever seeing one here in Murica!

Looks great sir!

 

[bp2009LX]

De-chrome starts and general cleanup day. Chrome was all the rage in ‘08, I’m not a fan so first order today was beginning the de-chrome with OEM LC200 sills, over-week parts from Japan.

Before:
View attachment 3629635

After:
View attachment 3629636

Previously this truck had some zero offset Te37’ s with 1.5” spacers, looked cool but definitely left some rock chips. In order to avoid future rust issues, I spent the rest of the day cleaning out, priming, then touching up each wheel well.

Primer:
View attachment 3629639

Finished:
View attachment 3629638

Finally I went to check on that front fog light, seems the contact cleaner and dielectric grease did it’s job, both are currently working.

Do you have a link for the black LC trim?

 

[finboy]

Do you have a link for the black LC trim?

I bought them on amayama per below