Jae's '01 LX modification documentation thread (2 Viewers)

[jaewastooshort]

Thought I would put together a thread to document my ownership of this 2001 Lexus LX470. If nothing else it will give me a place to consolidate my own records for future reference.

I originally purchased this LX in April of 2018 prior to the birth of my third child with ~156k miles for $8,500, or approximately 1 BTC. It was far from perfect, and my first order was minor de-modification by removing the plastic bug guard on the hood.

Next, the tires that were on it were shot, so it got a set of BF Goodrich TA KO2s in 285/75-16, and realizing the sorry state of the speakers in the doors, I decided to replace the stereo system with a touchscreen double-DIN headunit, JBL GXA604 amplifier, and JBL GTO609C component speakers in front and JBL GTO629 2-way speakers. I don't think I got any pictures of the speaker install, it appears to just be short video clips. If I did end up putting that video together regarding the install, maybe I'll upload and link it, but no guarantees.

For my records on maintenance going forward:
7/7/22, 195,421: new tires, Cooper Discoverer ATP II, 285/75-r16
5/3/24, 209,679: a/c line replacement
7/14/24, 211,300: oil/filter change

 

[jaewastooshort]

The only other issue I had with this vehicle over the first couple of years of ownership was that the muffler developed a rust hole (or at least the inspection station finally decided to fail me for it) in April of 2022. I decided that rather than spend the money on an OEM replacement, or be disappointed by the work of an exhaust shop welding in an aftermarket muffler, I'd just spend the money on a stainless Borla catback. I don't know if my hitch was original to the vehicle, but the larger exhaust tip did not fit particularly well with the hitch.

Everything fit up surprisingly well otherwise...

 

[jaewastooshort]

There were several other small issues right around 200k miles... namely the water pump beginning to leak to let me know it was time to just do the full timing belt service. Had the original front CVs making quite a bit of noise and managed to get a set of OEM Toyota axles to put in. Timing belt and front axles done April/May 2022.

At the next tire change (July '22) found that the pulley that held the spare was frozen by rust. Got that cut out so I could get a full-size spare on, but that led to the question of how to carry the spare now...

 

[jaewastooshort]

November '23 we had some guy in a GX "lightly t-bone" my LX on the front fender/driver's door while my wife was driving. I was able to pull the fender and use a jack to straighten out the bent area of the driver's door. I did a little work to the fender to try and get it back into shape, but it'll end up getting replaced/spliced with a take-off from @LandTuna once I can get up to CO later this month and retrieve it from my buddy.

Damage

Fixing the door

with the fender straightened a bit and back on

 

[jaewastooshort]

March '24 we took in a stray pit dumped in our neighborhood with the intention of fostering until she could get into a shelter. Turns out she was pregnant and we had 8 bonus dogs on April 1st. Not LC/LX related, but dog tax:

May '24 I ordered Coastal Offroad front and rear bumpers. Received them in June and started putting them together.

Rear fabrication progression:
Turns out that I was having a lot of issues with my welder throughout the first part of the process. I ended up picking up a Vulcan OmniPro 220 a couple of frustrating weeks in and everything has gone much smoother.

Once relatively close to being done with the major welding and grinding I sprayed the bumper with black SteelIt to help with rust prevention, but making it easy to go back and keep welding as needed since it's a weld-thru paint.

 

[jaewastooshort]

The swing-out should have been fairly straight forward, but I couldn't find a great way to get it to line up with the bumper as the instructions indicated, so I decided to modify it quite a bit. It now sits nearly flush with the outer edge of the bumper, but that required making some adjustments with the upright that supports the tire as it would have interfered with the upper hatch in the closed position. I angled it around 10 deg at the bottom, then notched and rewelded to get it back to vertical near the top. On the tire mounting plate, I drilled out 3 off the holes and pressed in (and tacked) 3 wheel studs. My welding is still not fantastic, but I'm at least not completely embarrassed to show it in a picture by this point.

 

[jaewastooshort]

With some minor adjustments to the angle brace, it was welded in, then I began working on the locating pin, latch, and the plastic pad. With the latch located, I decided I'd rather keep the pin more accessible than mounting it on the back side of the arm which was now rather close to the hatch.

The latch is a bit misaligned in this pic, but the threaded spherical joints were both threaded fully in, and it only took about 1/2 turn out on each to get the latch recentered.

Got the welds ground down, drilled the hole for the locating pin in the bumper, adjusted the spherical joints, and mounted the plastic pad directly to the bottom side of the arm. Everything snugs down pretty tight now.

 

[jaewastooshort]

I figured that was close enough to done to move on for now and began assembly on the front bumper.

I got the center section aligned, tacked, and ready to fit onto the car...

...to discover the bumper mounts on the frame had been unintentionally reshaped at some point. A little gentle persuasion with a BFH and I was finally able to slide the center section of the bumper on to get it bolted onto the frame and begin fitting other pieces.

I only snapped one of these four crash bar mounting bolts, but got it drilled out and the hole re-tapped to fit these side brackets

Fitted the wings...

...and here you can see just how far off the crash bar brackets ended up by that gap between the mounting plate and the underside of the wing. Oh well, I don't see this bumper ever likely being transferred to another LX, and if that day comes those brackets are easy enough to cut out and reweld.

 

[jaewastooshort]

Lots more welding to get the front done...

...and then lots of grinding to get it smooth again. Crazy how messy the spatter is with flux core.

I managed to squeeze in a couple hours of stitch welding the inside edges and grinding before church so my boys could help me get it re-mounted in time to drive to church. All 3 kids made a cameo appearance here.

 

[jaewastooshort]

Test fitting lights...

Got new wire terminals for the fog lights (running on stock fog switch circuit) and turn signals hooked up. I used the solder seal wire connectors and an additional layer of heat shrink to help keep them sealed up.

quick coat of SteelIt and back on the car with lights hooked up. Front bumper is done for now.

 

[jaewastooshort]

I'm also in the process of recovering my front seats with LSeat covers. Passenger side is done, planning to tackle the driver's side over the Independence Day weekend.

Driver's side before recover, and passenger side after a week or so installed (cover shrunk a bit with heat greatly improving the fit since installed)

 

[jaewastooshort]

I ordered an adhesive license plate replica for the front bumper, and planning on keeping both original plates mounted on the rear: one in stock location (obscured by swing out), and other on the swing out. Thought being that I can mount/dismount the swing arm at any point without having to worry about making sure the plate gets moved.

The vinyl copy is supposed to be the same reflective material they stick on the metal plate for the state issued item. This company/product is apparently recognized as a valid option for a legal front plate for vehicles that might not have a proper plate mount so you don't have to drill. My state isn't one of them, but they are generally fairly lax on the presence of a front plate anyway.

I'll get photos and post a review when it arrives and I can get it mounted.

 

[Foehammer]

Nice build and rig man!

 

[jaewastooshort]

Much appreciated. I've never really been one to keep vehicles for long and 6 years of ownership kind of snuck up on me... this is definitely one of the longest-owned vehicles I've had. The more I'm doing minor things with it the more I'm finding things that I either want to modify or improve. For example, in the process of doing the bumper I've found a couple of body rust spots that I really want to repair to go along with the spot on the rear hatch I was aware of. Thankfully the new welder is TIG-capable, and sheet metal is cheap. Hopefully before the end of the year I'll work up the confidence to start some of those repairs.

 

[jaewastooshort]

Driver's side seems the same as passenger so far... Figured I'd get pics of the process.

Removed trim pieces from bolts, move seat all the way forward and remove 2 rear 14mm bolts. Move seat rear ward to remove two front bolts. Make sure seat is raised all the way and back is in an upright position, then rock the whole seat back and disconnect the wiring connector (didn't get pics of that part...)

With the seat moved inside, remove the headrest and arm rest. Arm rest needs plastic cap gently popped out and the 14mm bolt removed with a socket. Make sure to keep track of the spacer ring.

The plastic side panels get removed from the seat base. 4 screws (philips head) hold the side with the switches, only two need to be fully removed. The two in the middle on the bottom side can simply be loosened. There's a course thread screw on the front side (just out of frame on the left side here) and a fine pitch on the back at the hinge cover (out of frame on right side).

There are a couple of tabs to carefully separate around the hinge. With the plastic trim piece free, disconnect the two wire connectors.

The other side is similar, with three screws getting removed and tabs at the hinge cover. The screw nearest the front of the seat is course pitch, the other two are fine pitch. If you adjusted the seat all the way up you can easily access the 14mm bolt securing the seat belt receiver to the seat frame. If you did not it might be slightly more difficult to access this bolt.

Disconnect the wiring connector for the belt latch receiver and it should easily come away with the panel.

 

[jaewastooshort]

Before removing the seat back, the pocket panel thing will need to be removed. There are two tabs to release at the top, and it can be tilted out and pulled up to free the bottom tabs. Release tabs in profile:

With the back panel removed, you need to undo the long clip on the seat base cover, then remove two hog rings.

Make sure to disconnect the two wire connectors for the seat heaters and lumbar adjustment. There is also a wire retaining clip that will need to be unhooked.

 

[jaewastooshort]

The seat back is held to the base by 4 (2 per side) 14mm bolts. Remove those and the back should be free from the base. Make sure the wires do not get hung up on the hinge covers as you pull the seat back away. The blue lines show the wire on one side routed through the hinge cover (the other side is similar).

Make sure to note which parts of the cushion, cover, and wires are routed around the metal bar on the seat base for when you re-assemble. With the seat back free, I started at the back removing the 8 hog rings, then pulled the three metal rods and set them aside to reuse in the new cover.

Before continuing to remove hog rings on the front side, I cut the two plastic keepers holding the heater to the cover. There are multiple places these will need to be cut as we go.

 

[BullElk]

Nice work and your efforts are commendable.

Curious…what factory radio did you have and what aftermarket harness did you find to fit factory harness?

 

[jaewastooshort]

Nice work and your efforts are commendable.

Curious…what factory radio did you have and what aftermarket harness did you find to fit factory harness?

It was the Mark Levinson, non-navigation. I didn't use an adapter harness, (if I recall correctly) I just spliced into the stock speaker wires between the stock head unit and amp to use as line level inputs for the new amp. I'm looking at going to a 5/6 channel amp and may just run all the signals by RCA. Only reason to change amps is to have a compact amp that will power a separate sub as well.

I did change head units after my original install and may have already converted the main speaker inputs to RCA.

 

[jaewastooshort]

I wrapped up the seat yesterday morning, I will try to get the rest of the write up posted tonight.

I've also managed to break the front center trim piece removing them for the front bumper installation, so rather than do the sensible thing and buy a new one I'm going to see if I can repair it with fiberglass. Worst case, I've found a new OEM piece that would need paint-to-match, but ~$90. We'll see how it goes after our road trip this month.

Today I started on the tailgate storage setup, so write up on that will happen once I figure out exactly where I'm going with it. I did get the panel cut out mostly along the lines I drew out (dry erase marker) and got everything filed to remove the sharp edge, but I think I will still cover the cut edge with something like door edge trim molding.
https://www.tapplastics.com/product/plastics/plastic_rods_tubes_shapes/edge_guard/608 or https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z7HRF25