Hey Mudders 
New guy here, bought my first LC back around Christmas after searching for a few months and am just getting around to introducing my new-to-me 97 LX450 (no lockers). After my wife and I had our first child in March 2016, it only took me a couple months to decide I needed something bigger than my Saab 9-3. Started my search looking at 100's, 80's, and 3rd Gen 4Runners based on the rep of Mr. T and the fact that I wanted to pay cash. Didn't take long for me to decide I wanted an 80, even though it's not the most practical ride for me. I love the look of the 80 and MUD convinced me to learn to wrench on one. I've never been an offroader, but I grew up camping and want to turn this into a light expo build after a few years of DDing it, when my son is old enough to enjoy it.
Back to the 80 search - found the one I bought the week before Christmas after looking at a couple riskier 80s. The PO seemed like the type of PO you want to buy a 20 year old truck from - kept everything OEM and stock, kept meticulous maintenance records, and did 99% of the wrenching on it himself. Only shop that touched it during his ownership from 2009 to 2016 was Mike Dajda at Dajda-Do-Right in NRH (he's a LC guy), front axle/diff rebuild in Feb. 2016. He had just bought a LX470 the week before because he found a good deal and jumped on it.
PO was asking 5k for the LX450 with about 282k on the clock and original HG as far as he knew, he'd had it since 127k. He told me it needed a new brake MC but I test drove anyway - had to take the pedal to the floor to stop but everything else felt/sounded great. New leather on front seats but everything else was stock. We settled on 4,200 and I'd pay for the MC job (done by Dajda for 500 for OEM) and the PO threw in his FSM and LX450 Parts Catalog. No CEL at the time but P0133 came on during the drive home, he told me it had been intermittent.
During the first few months I just got to know the LX. My first car in high school was a LR Disco but had driven the 9-3 since 2010 so it took a little to get used to a heavy SUV but I loved it. First thing I did was change out the stock radio for a Pioneer FH-X731BT and swapped blown front speakers for Pioneer TSG1645R's. Sipped/leaked a little oil, about a quart every 1,000 or so, but that seems to have stopped since I did the first oil/filter job with Shell Rotella T4 15w-40 and YZZD3. It's thrown P0133 and P0140 intermittently but has always gone away after a couple trips. I've had some time this morning to get under the truck so I replaced upstream and downstream o2 sensors (Denso 234-4153 and 234-4157) and took off the running boards - it looks much more aggressive now.
Next on the PM list is rad/block/heater core flush and fill and to try to figure out P0401 before I have to do emissions in July. Getting a new EGR VSV and moving it out from under the intake manifold seems to be the best route, but I need to do some investigating of the various EGR parts.
In the future, I'd like to get some BFG KO2 285/75/r16's on the stock wheels, an OME 2-inch lift springs/shocks, and a front bumper. I really like Costa Fab's, the Slee Shortbus, and 4x4 Labs. Rear bumper is too much $$ to think about anytime soon, especially for my current use. Steering wheel could use some new leather but it doesn't bug me too much. Hood paint is kinda splotchy so I'm thinking about matte black-ing it, but not in any rush.
I'm sure I'll be bugging y'all soon enough. Enough yapping, here are some pics
New guy here, bought my first LC back around Christmas after searching for a few months and am just getting around to introducing my new-to-me 97 LX450 (no lockers). After my wife and I had our first child in March 2016, it only took me a couple months to decide I needed something bigger than my Saab 9-3. Started my search looking at 100's, 80's, and 3rd Gen 4Runners based on the rep of Mr. T and the fact that I wanted to pay cash. Didn't take long for me to decide I wanted an 80, even though it's not the most practical ride for me. I love the look of the 80 and MUD convinced me to learn to wrench on one. I've never been an offroader, but I grew up camping and want to turn this into a light expo build after a few years of DDing it, when my son is old enough to enjoy it.
Back to the 80 search - found the one I bought the week before Christmas after looking at a couple riskier 80s. The PO seemed like the type of PO you want to buy a 20 year old truck from - kept everything OEM and stock, kept meticulous maintenance records, and did 99% of the wrenching on it himself. Only shop that touched it during his ownership from 2009 to 2016 was Mike Dajda at Dajda-Do-Right in NRH (he's a LC guy), front axle/diff rebuild in Feb. 2016. He had just bought a LX470 the week before because he found a good deal and jumped on it.
PO was asking 5k for the LX450 with about 282k on the clock and original HG as far as he knew, he'd had it since 127k. He told me it needed a new brake MC but I test drove anyway - had to take the pedal to the floor to stop but everything else felt/sounded great. New leather on front seats but everything else was stock. We settled on 4,200 and I'd pay for the MC job (done by Dajda for 500 for OEM) and the PO threw in his FSM and LX450 Parts Catalog. No CEL at the time but P0133 came on during the drive home, he told me it had been intermittent.
During the first few months I just got to know the LX. My first car in high school was a LR Disco but had driven the 9-3 since 2010 so it took a little to get used to a heavy SUV but I loved it. First thing I did was change out the stock radio for a Pioneer FH-X731BT and swapped blown front speakers for Pioneer TSG1645R's. Sipped/leaked a little oil, about a quart every 1,000 or so, but that seems to have stopped since I did the first oil/filter job with Shell Rotella T4 15w-40 and YZZD3. It's thrown P0133 and P0140 intermittently but has always gone away after a couple trips. I've had some time this morning to get under the truck so I replaced upstream and downstream o2 sensors (Denso 234-4153 and 234-4157) and took off the running boards - it looks much more aggressive now.
Next on the PM list is rad/block/heater core flush and fill and to try to figure out P0401 before I have to do emissions in July. Getting a new EGR VSV and moving it out from under the intake manifold seems to be the best route, but I need to do some investigating of the various EGR parts.
In the future, I'd like to get some BFG KO2 285/75/r16's on the stock wheels, an OME 2-inch lift springs/shocks, and a front bumper. I really like Costa Fab's, the Slee Shortbus, and 4x4 Labs. Rear bumper is too much $$ to think about anytime soon, especially for my current use. Steering wheel could use some new leather but it doesn't bug me too much. Hood paint is kinda splotchy so I'm thinking about matte black-ing it, but not in any rush.
I'm sure I'll be bugging y'all soon enough. Enough yapping, here are some pics
