Hello all,
I decided to sell my BMW 7 series daily driver in favor of a 100 series due to life changes-100lb dog, daily home depot trips, skiing 30 days a year, etc. The 7 series was a beautiful car, but I needed a daily beater that I wouldn't be worried about. So I picked up a 1999 LX470 from a soccer mom that was meticulously maintained, black on tan and 173k on the clock.
I am a car fanatic, but this will be my first suv that I have owned. Earlier in life I wanted to go fast, and look good while doing it. I now have other vintage cars and motorcycles that let me do this, but I wont be able to abandon my roots, and will be concentrating on making the car look better than it does currently.
First things first, I ditched the running boards and replaced and flushed the ahc. Then off came the running boards. Then Plasti-dip for the front grill and rear emblems. This is the first picture I can find of the truck with one of my BMW's parked behind it.
The stock tires were a bit larger than stock, but I knew that I would be changing them out for bigger tires soon.
Unfortunately the car had a timing belt failure on I-225 after only 40k, and I had to deal with that ordeal. Had the car towed to Slee in golden where they told me I should sell the car for parts or start looking for a used motor, and they were quoting me about $7000 for the repair with a used motor. Being a car nut/weekend mechanic I wanted to investigate further and had the car towed back to my garage. If I needed a new motor I would rather install it myself than pay 7k.
Under further inspection this is what I found:
Now the Toyota literature and the common impression is that this is an interference motor, but guess what, it's not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was lucky enough to talk to a mechanic who had fixed many of these motors both in the LC and TUNDRA, and he said out of 8 TB failures, only 1 had damage to the head. If the timing belt fails on you, or in my case a bearing, you can check the condition your motor by putting a rachet on the cams and spinning them manually. If there is damage you will feel it! After we verified that there was no head damage, we put it back together.
Car fired right up and runs like new. I have put about 7k on the car since the failure without a hiccup. Not sure if the PO used an OEM TB kit or not, but I do have the receipt from the replacement 40k previously. Either way it was a big relief to have it fixed and hopefully I can help the Land Cruiser community by putting this interference motor myth to bed. Moral of the story is if you have a TB failure, chances are the motor is fine!!!
Coming from much more modern German cars, I needed some tech for the car, so I added a Pioneer double din with nav, bluetooth and rear camera. HUGE IMPROVEMENT
Then I thought I would test the capability of the car offroad in essentially stock form. Went to moab with a big group and split off with a buddy and his fj to have some fun. Had no idea how well the car would do, it OWNED HELLS REVENGE. it had been raining and had some fun water crossings that were up to the hood which made things interesting but again, this beast owned everything I threw at it. Obligatory pics:
That brings me to where I am today. HID headlights are on order, as are new wheels, and have 305/55-20 BFG mud terrains waiting in the garage. Wheels will be here on monday, and I will post up pics for everyone, as I had a hard time finding anyone running a 20 inch wheel with a beefy tire.
Future plans include lifting the car 2in, but keeping the ahc as I love the smooth ride and after reading a post about AHC high mode being taller that the slee 2.5 inch kit, I plan on running air lift air bags in the rear and tightening the torsion bars in hopes it will help carry the heavy loads I often carry. I will say it did well for itself with 7 adults and a fully loaded roof box for 1400 miles 2 weeks ago. Currently have 1600lbs of marble in the back and often carry 2000+lb loads in the cargo area.
I am going to paint the two tone grey bumpers and lowers to black to match the car, as two tone was very popular in the 1990's but that is where is stayed and with good reason. I am also adding led tails, and a rear spoiler to try and bring the car into this decade.
Eventually I will add a front bumper, but all of the options for this car are butt ugly, so I will be building a custom bumper. It amazes me that there is not 1 good looking option for this car. Slee almost got it right.
9 months of ownership and I have to say I love the car. Its not a sports car but I don't treat it like one.
I decided to sell my BMW 7 series daily driver in favor of a 100 series due to life changes-100lb dog, daily home depot trips, skiing 30 days a year, etc. The 7 series was a beautiful car, but I needed a daily beater that I wouldn't be worried about. So I picked up a 1999 LX470 from a soccer mom that was meticulously maintained, black on tan and 173k on the clock.
I am a car fanatic, but this will be my first suv that I have owned. Earlier in life I wanted to go fast, and look good while doing it. I now have other vintage cars and motorcycles that let me do this, but I wont be able to abandon my roots, and will be concentrating on making the car look better than it does currently.
First things first, I ditched the running boards and replaced and flushed the ahc. Then off came the running boards. Then Plasti-dip for the front grill and rear emblems. This is the first picture I can find of the truck with one of my BMW's parked behind it.
The stock tires were a bit larger than stock, but I knew that I would be changing them out for bigger tires soon.
Unfortunately the car had a timing belt failure on I-225 after only 40k, and I had to deal with that ordeal. Had the car towed to Slee in golden where they told me I should sell the car for parts or start looking for a used motor, and they were quoting me about $7000 for the repair with a used motor. Being a car nut/weekend mechanic I wanted to investigate further and had the car towed back to my garage. If I needed a new motor I would rather install it myself than pay 7k.
Under further inspection this is what I found:
Now the Toyota literature and the common impression is that this is an interference motor, but guess what, it's not!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was lucky enough to talk to a mechanic who had fixed many of these motors both in the LC and TUNDRA, and he said out of 8 TB failures, only 1 had damage to the head. If the timing belt fails on you, or in my case a bearing, you can check the condition your motor by putting a rachet on the cams and spinning them manually. If there is damage you will feel it! After we verified that there was no head damage, we put it back together.
Car fired right up and runs like new. I have put about 7k on the car since the failure without a hiccup. Not sure if the PO used an OEM TB kit or not, but I do have the receipt from the replacement 40k previously. Either way it was a big relief to have it fixed and hopefully I can help the Land Cruiser community by putting this interference motor myth to bed. Moral of the story is if you have a TB failure, chances are the motor is fine!!!
Coming from much more modern German cars, I needed some tech for the car, so I added a Pioneer double din with nav, bluetooth and rear camera. HUGE IMPROVEMENT
Then I thought I would test the capability of the car offroad in essentially stock form. Went to moab with a big group and split off with a buddy and his fj to have some fun. Had no idea how well the car would do, it OWNED HELLS REVENGE. it had been raining and had some fun water crossings that were up to the hood which made things interesting but again, this beast owned everything I threw at it. Obligatory pics:
That brings me to where I am today. HID headlights are on order, as are new wheels, and have 305/55-20 BFG mud terrains waiting in the garage. Wheels will be here on monday, and I will post up pics for everyone, as I had a hard time finding anyone running a 20 inch wheel with a beefy tire.
Future plans include lifting the car 2in, but keeping the ahc as I love the smooth ride and after reading a post about AHC high mode being taller that the slee 2.5 inch kit, I plan on running air lift air bags in the rear and tightening the torsion bars in hopes it will help carry the heavy loads I often carry. I will say it did well for itself with 7 adults and a fully loaded roof box for 1400 miles 2 weeks ago. Currently have 1600lbs of marble in the back and often carry 2000+lb loads in the cargo area.
I am going to paint the two tone grey bumpers and lowers to black to match the car, as two tone was very popular in the 1990's but that is where is stayed and with good reason. I am also adding led tails, and a rear spoiler to try and bring the car into this decade.
Eventually I will add a front bumper, but all of the options for this car are butt ugly, so I will be building a custom bumper. It amazes me that there is not 1 good looking option for this car. Slee almost got it right.
9 months of ownership and I have to say I love the car. Its not a sports car but I don't treat it like one.
