Builds LX450 "Rex" Build (7 Viewers)

[duece71]

Exactly my problem with them!

That and the turn signals are obnoxiously bright, because they can't be dimmed.

I feel your pain……NO rheostat for adjustment dim or bright in my truck. Didn’t come with one.

 

[NeverFinis]

I figured out why my low fuel light was always on...LED.

I switched most of my cluster lights to LED a while back, but if you switch the Low Fuel Light, it might be always dimly lit. Switching back to an incandescent bulb fixes it. One probably needs to add an inline resistor to use an LED in that spot but just easier to go back to an incandescent bulb Credit

Worked on my factory lockers...

I tested both front and rear lockers and they do lock but the rear locker light will continue to blink despite being locked.

Discovered heat damage on the rear locker harness. The vent tube melted and I need to test the harness.

View attachment 3897504

The slee rear locker guard is a pain in the ass when you are trying to test the rear locker...just saying..

Found the issue with the rear locker light not going solid, despite being locked.

As shown above, I did have burn damage from the exhaust, but the issue wasn't there. It was a few inches higher and it was the only wire in the area damaged.

I believe this sub harness is NLA.

I prefer crimping over soldering.

The rear locker light now switches to solid once the diff is locked.

I think this is the last big issue that needed fixing.

Next: Wiring the winch, and installing the 270° Awning.

 

[NeverFinis]

I finally installed the 270° Ostrich Awning on a Penthouse XL RTT. I had it for a few years but it was a low priority behind the LS Swap and mechanical restoration. Posting this full of pics here because I couldn't find any detailed installation pictures online. Just marketing videos. Hopefully it helps the next person.

I almost installed it before the recent road trip, but the directions had issues. The directions wanted the rear awning bracket in the same space as the RTT rain fly hook.

The holes for the awning on the rear bracket needed to be in fixed location relative to the end of the RTT as the awning wraps around the RTT. Rear of RTT = back of vehicle. Front of RTT= front of vehicle.

After returning from the trip, I sent a text to Theo at Rugged Bound and he promptly replied with a solution. The front and rear awning brackets needed to swap.

Front bracket repositioned to the rear, approx 95mm to the left of the original 140mm mark from the corner.

Rear bracket repositioned to the front, with holes drilled 100 mm from the corner.

The directions were again a bit odd. There is a "Z" bracket to support the pivot of the awning, and another bracket to reposition the rod mounts for the rain fly.

The directions showed two 8mm bolts, rather than one 12mm and one 8mm bolt, see the bottom of the picture below.

The directions also wanted the two 8mm to be angled the other way (the top bolt should be up and to the left of the bottom bolt, rather than up/right), but there wasn't enough "meat" in the "Z" bracket to do that with the 12mm and 8mm bolts. "Z" bracket did have some movement range, but in the wrong direction to make it work.

Final result. The awning works beautifully.

 

[NeverFinis]

I gave the frame an internal wash today, using a pressure washer and a sewer attachment.

The sewer nozzle has holes that point backwards, allowing debri to be pushed out as you pull the hose backwards.

I was able to insert the hose all the way to the rear bumper on each frame rail.

The frame was accessible because I had the front bumper off to mount the winch Solenoids.

 

[NeverFinis]

I made a thing...

I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, so I designed this.

It is a Roof Top Tent brackets to lower my Penthouse XL RTT about 1".

These bolt to the load bars and the RTT, making a very secure connection.

They are made out of 304 Stainless.

First time using SendCutSend as well. I am impressed.

Just finished designing a license plate bracket for the first gen DeltaVS rear bumper. This will be made out of aluminum and powder coated matt black. Cost? Cheaper than anything I could buy on Amazon and exactly what I wanted...this is a completely new world....

 

[wiynwiyn]

I made a thing...

View attachment 3936838
I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, so I designed this.

It is a Roof Top Tent brackets to lower my Penthouse XL RTT about 1".

These bolt to the load bars and the RTT, making a very secure connection.

They are made out of 304 Stainless.

First time using SendCutSend as well. I am impressed.

Just finished designing a license plate bracket for the first gen DeltaVS rear bumper. This will be made out of aluminum and powder coated matt black. Cost? Cheaper than anything I could buy on Amazon and exactly what I wanted...this is a completely new world....

View attachment 3936841

That looks really clean and great craftsmanship. My cousin used sendcutsend as well for his Cummin truck’s bumper. I thought about designing my own bumper but won’t have time.

 

[NeverFinis]

That looks really clean and great craftsmanship. My cousin used sendcutsend as well for his Cummin truck’s bumper. I thought about designing my own bumper but won’t have time.

View attachment 3937054

That bumper looks clean! Your cousin did a great job.

I tried to hand making one RTT bracket, but it ended up looking like crap and I needed 6 of them... I am no hand fabricator.

 

[NeverFinis]

My License Plate Bracket came in.

It is now purchasable on SendCutSend here. It only fits gen 1 left swing out DeltaVS 80 series rear bumpers.

Fully Installed.

The original one made out of an old license plate that I made just to get past inspection

 

[NeverFinis]

Switched to a different evap vent solenoid (pigtail). The other one had an integrated dust filter on the output, which meant that gas vapors would have been released into the engine bay. Not horrendous, but it does mean you might smell gas if you walked by if the ECM was venting the gas tank. The new one allows running a hose into the frame rail, which is what Toyota does. Plus, it takes up less space in the engine bay.

 

[NeverFinis]

More custom designed parts.

This bracket slides into the RTT M8 channel, and bolts to the other RTT bracket I designed, as seen in post #225

Here are the two together:

What I was using to bolt the RTT to the load bars.

Above raises the RTT needlessly 1".

My custom RTT brackets drops the RTT down to sit on the load bars directly, distributing the RTT weight more evenly.

 

[NeverFinis]

I recently noticed my t-case was hitting the rear DeltaVS skid plate. Everything is covered in fluid film, which makes it look oily...

This is with the engine moved 1.25" forward and 0.25" to the US passenger side. The 6L90e is 1.375" longer than a 6L80e. Theoretically, I should have been within 1/8" of stock location....

I am pretty much spot on with the t-case mount, but 0.25" to the passenger side, as expected.

The above is looking underneath at a DeltaVS t-case crossmember, bottom of picture is towards the engine.

I originally opened the holes towards the rear, but I didn't' need to.

No idea why the t-case is hitting the rear skid plate.

Because I had to drop the cross member, I decided to design transmission mount shims. DeltaVS front skid comes within a hair of the transmission pan and the shims will help with more clearance there as well as solve t-case issue.

These are 0.125" made out of 304 Stainless Steel. There are two in the picture. Got to love SendCutSend!

My engine is at 3° currently, which is a decent angle but it could be less. The shims will let me dial in that angle.

 

[thepinktaco]

Just came across this build. Found it funny to be a similar situation for my build. Looks like we are both in MA, tore the interior out due to mice, rebuilt HVAC box, similar rusty body spots and V8 swaps, except Im using a Toyota engine.

 

[NeverFinis]

Just came across this build. Found it funny to be a similar situation for my build. Looks like we are both in MA, tore the interior out due to mice, rebuilt HVAC box, similar rusty body spots and V8 swaps, except Im using a Toyota engine.

Honestly, I was not expecting the amount of mice, or evidence of, in my LX450 as I found.

I just checked your thread. Very ambitious to put in a 2UZ and you got a steal buying that 97 and the axles.

I am not sure how you got it on the road without a title. The good news, swaps on older vehicles are easy to get past inspections in MA.

 

[thepinktaco]

Honestly, I was not expecting the amount of mice, or evidence of, in my LX450 as I found.

I just checked your thread. Very ambitious to put in a 2UZ and you got a steal buying that 97 and the axles.

I am not sure how you got it on the road without a title. The good news, swaps on older vehicles are easy to get past inspections in MA.

It was a whole summer of cleaning every single piece of the interior but Im used to it. Had to deal with mouse problems frequently when I worked at a dealership.

I emailed the RMV and said it was originally bought without a title for parts, original registration was destroyed by mice, and asked if there was any way to get a title for it as I didn't have the owners information anymore. I had to have the police department do a VIN verification but it had been so long since it was registered it didn't show in the system. I then gave the registry the original plate number off the inspection sticker, they found the info and everything was worked out. Took 6+ months of back and forth and was really surprised that I got it done in Mass. Even more surprised I didn't get charged sales tax on book value.