I'm home! (1 Viewer)

[Steve-O]

So its been a while, but I am once again a proud owner of a Land Cruiser.. err Lexus LX450! I was fortunate to find this very clean 96. The rig is pretty solid, 2 owner with 202k on the odometer. The PO noticed some oil in the coolant overflow tank and decided to sell it to avoid the hassle of doing the HG.

I was the GM at Man-A-Fre for about 10 years, leaving there about 4 years ago to head Front Runner Outfitters in the US. The 80 series have definitely always been my favorite model Cruiser, I cant wait to tear into it and build it up. These projects are pretty much never ending but hopefully you will see it soon at some of the Front Runner shows!

I will be documenting the build here and on Instagram, if anyone wants to follow me there my name is @lxfourfifty.

 

[70Cruza]

Nice Rig. I always loved that color scheme. Good luck with your build. I'm watching.

 

[NLXTACY]

Build it!!!

 

[GW Nugget]

Awesome.
Let the fun begin!
Do you have a build list?

 

[MDarius]

 

[Wayne]

Great find! I'm anxious to see how it turns out.

 

[Heckraiser]

nice color combo. The chrome wheels scream 90's lexus

 

[Steve-O]

Thanks guys! No build list yet, or at least nothing in stone. Just started the tear down on the motor to do the HG. Will post photos and info on that soon. Once that is done I can move on to the fun stuff!

Pretty tossed up about the wheels. Personally I hate the chrome, but I have always liked the factory 80 wheels.

 

[landtank]

Awesome.
Let the fun begin!
Do you have a build list?

full compliment of drop brackets!

 

[landtank]

for those who weren't around back then,, that was a joke!

 

[Steve-O]

for those who weren't around back then,, that was a joke!

Wow dont even start with me on those haha.

 

[CycloSteve]

Pretty tossed up about the wheels. Personally I hate the chrome, but I have always liked the factory 80 wheels.

Mine came with the peeling chrome. Took them to a local electroplate shop and they reverse-plated the chrome and handed over a beautiful set of raw aluminum wheels. I then had them powder-coated, and eight years later they still look like the day I picked them up from the powder coater.

 

[surfpig]

Wow dont even start with me on those haha.

 

[Steve-O]

Couple pictures from starting on the head gasket. I of course broke the intake hose... Even being really delicate with it haha. I set the motor to TDC, attatched a couple pictures in case anyone ever needs those for reference. The dist rotor at 11 o'clock is TDC, the second picture with it at about 9 o'clock is about where you would want to set it in when you re-install a distributor. The gear rotates as you insert it.

 

[Steve-O]

Got a little more done on the HG yesterday. Throttle body, alternator, distributor and some other odds and ends. Hopefully tonight I can find the time to get the manifolds off!

 

[Steve-O]

Lots of work, but not much time to post on mud! The head is off, here are some photos of the progress so far.

Upper intake manifold off:

Valve cover off

Timing marks on cam. Single dots touching for TDC, double dots on the outside

 

[Steve-O]

Fuel rail out, this is the 6th injector. Definitely sending these out to be rebuilt!

Taking the distributor gear off

 

[Steve-O]

Exhaust cam out. I have never done this before personally, but it was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. FSM is an absolute must though!

Both cams out, I was surprised at how good everything looked!

Cam caps are numbered anyways, but better to photo and label everything just to be safe

 

[surfpig]

Exhaust cam out. I have never done this before personally, but it was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be. FSM is an absolute must though!
View attachment 1229292

Both cams out, I was surprised at how good everything looked!

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Cam caps are numbered anyways, but better to photo and label everything just to be safe

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Following. I hope I never have to do this as long as I am alive.

 

[OGBeno]

The inside of that head looks great.