New LX450 Owner (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Dec 8, 2016
Threads
3
Messages
19
Location
Martin, TN
Hello, long time reader first time poster.

Searching through 4 runners on CL to tackle the Ohio winters led to my stumbling upon of a 96 LX450 with 139k miles. No lockers, the body is rough (PO's son had it parked on a campus for 2 years), but the underbody is clean and she drives straight, not much evidence of being taken off road before. Birfields don't make noise but don't look fantastic, so that will be in the near future. Leaks 4-10 drops after cooldown, but can't pinpoint where exactly since i don't think the engine bay has been cleaned since '96.

My other car is a rust free '02 miata which I keep garaged in the winter, so my original intention was to just find a beater but I shot myself in the foot when I discovered MUD and now I'm stuck with 2 cars I love and don't know which to spend money on first. Miata will sit on the backburner for the next few months while I square this thing away for daily use, and as long as it can tow a 2200 lb car eventually I'll be happy. Sadly no expedition build in the near future, but I can see myself keeping this for a long time so we'll see what happens.

The more I read, the more I realize buying an 80 as a college student probably wasn't the best idea, but I go to a tech school and have access to tools, lifts, and help so what better time?

So far I've put 4 new 265 Trail Guide A/P tires on, not happy with this choice but PO had different tires front and rear so I wanted to make sure the AWD was happy.
* New gear in driver side seat, passenger side still needs some work.
* replaced tailgate handle
* PO had remote start installed, but unplugged. Plugged it in and now the key fob and remote start work, no issues so far. Will be keeping an eye on this
* removed running boards (shoutout to you guys for inspiring that)
* oil change
* added some moly grease to the birfs
* 6.5" pioneers in the front doors, no clearance issue (will grab model name if requested)



* diff , T case, and tranny fluid will be addressed this week.
* Coolant flush will be needed, hasn't broke 190 yet though so I want to wait until I have PHH to put on
* It would be an exaggeration to say I have rear brakes, so that will need overhauled soon.

I have the stuff for the center console phone, except for the phone itself. If someone can point me in the right direction of one, or one that will fit in the holster and look OEM that would be great. I know analog phones won't work, but I want the nostalgia.


I apologize for the poor quality photos, I haven't broken out the DSLR yet

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Nice. Good choice. Have fun with it.

Welcome! :flipoff2:
 
That not rough A new bumper and good to go. NICE FIND How the inside look ?
 
Nice find, I've had mine 2 weeks and am still baselineing but getting stuff taken care of next big project is Birfield seals... enjoy it!!
 
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Yeah new bumper and turn signal valence and I should be fine. I'm wondering if I can bring it to school and straighten it out on the English wheel. Didn't realize I don't have interior shots yet, will get some soon. Interior is really clean, seats are starting to crack but not nearly as bad as I've seen on some. Only issue is a relay or solenoid in the driver side of the dash that clicks like crazy at certain throttle %.
 
Yeah, front bumper is thin. Easy to pound out and a light coat of Bondo, sand, Paint, and you're good to go.

Truck looks great and is low mileage!

Welcome to Mud!!!
 
Maybe not the reply you want, but a 139K FZJ80 > Miata.

Sell the Miata and embrace becoming a dirty old man :cheers:


Since nobody else has -- WELCOME :flipoff2: !!!!!!! (official welcome)
 
Maybe not the reply you want, but a 139K FZJ80 > Miata.

Sell the Miata and embrace becoming a dirty old man :cheers:


Since nobody else has -- WELCOME :flipoff2: !!!!!!! (official welcome)

See post #3... Am I invisible to you?!?!
 
And ditto on ditching the Miata...
 
miata + 80 = perfect combo

You've got your affordable commuter and your obscene clunker, and both are fun to drive!
 
I had to deal with the same thing with my old LX450 bumper. Buy a new Toyota shell as they're cheaper than the Lexus and they're the exact same part. I bought some "touch up" aerosol enamel paint from Napa and sprayed the shell and corners. Easy project and turned out pretty well...

Before
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During
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After (with some bug residue)
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I'm sure the Miata is fun to drive. I would keep it. The LX will be a blast to drive, as well, but it will not satiate your speed fix...

Speaking from past experience, I would definitely recommend having a "backup" car and not solely limited to the LX if you can swing it. Not that the LX will leave you stranded or anything like that, but some projects (maintenance or otherwise) can take longer than a weekend if something doesn't go as planned, and it's really nice to not have to deal with borrowing/renting a car or catching rides...

Congrats and good luck!:flipoff2:
 
Thanks for the welcome everyone!

Maybe not the reply you want, but a 139K FZJ80 > Miata.

Sell the Miata and embrace becoming a dirty old man :cheers:

Since nobody else has -- WELCOME :flipoff2: !!!!!!! (official welcome)

If I can avoid selling the miata for 80 maintenance, I know I'll have to fight selling it to fund mods. They'll be swapping places during summers/winters as project and daily, so this will surely get some love.

miata + 80 = perfect combo

You've got your affordable commuter and your obscene clunker, and both are fun to drive!

It really is great, especially if I sort this thing out so I can tow the miata once it gets to that point. It's amazing how vastly different they are to drive (asides both being underpowered).

Miata is still stock at the moment, eventual plans involves throwing a Honda K-series in it with some more weight reduction.

I had to deal with the same thing with my old LX450 bumper. Buy a new Toyota shell as they're cheaper than the Lexus and they're the exact same part. I bought some "touch up" aerosol enamel paint from Napa and sprayed the shell and corners. Easy project and turned out pretty well...

I'm sure the Miata is fun to drive. I would keep it. The LX will be a blast to drive, as well, but it will not satiate your speed fix...

Speaking from past experience, I would definitely recommend having a "backup" car and not solely limited to the LX if you can swing it. Not that the LX will leave you stranded or anything like that, but some projects (maintenance or otherwise) can take longer than a weekend if something doesn't go as planned, and it's really nice to not have to deal with borrowing/renting a car or catching rides...

Congrats and good luck!:flipoff2:

Awesome advice on the bumper, will definitely consider that if I don't stumble upon anything used. Also have a fab shop at school I could hopefully use to make one.

And yeah that's where I really screwed up; I thought I could buy one of these and just dump money into the miata, but I ended up liking this more than expected so now I feel like I need a 3rd car... I have rides if needed now but will get a scooter if needed.





Today I dropped the trans pan, checked the fluid, and threw a new gasket on. Fluid seemed good, not burnt and still red, some clutch material in the pan (also cleaned a good few mm of caked on oil from the pan). Shifts buttery smooth, diff fluid later this week. Forgive me for the photo quality again, some are iphone and I'm still learning with full manual on the DSLR.

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PO's duct tape intake job too. Wonder what else I'll find along those lines...
 
Great find! I didn't realize it has the "magic dial!"

If you don't have a FSM (Factory Service Manual), you need to download one ASAP.

You will find that you didn't need to drop the pan for the transmission fluid change and there is still a large amount of oil that you didn;t change (unless you drained the torque converter too)

Grease the u-joints and slip yokes. The intake tube is still available from Toyota (I think) Get one soon before they are gone forever.

Hopefully you used FIPG for the seal on the pan and not a fiber gasket. The FIPG is longer lasting (as long as you use the correct type (Not the permatex black)

Check your coolant to make sure it isn't brown. If it is, you need to drain, flush, flush, flush, flush, flush with distilled water, then refill with green and distilled.

Good Luck!
 
Miata is still stock at the moment, eventual plans involves throwing a Honda K-series in it with some more weight reduction.

Wow, I didn't even know that was a thing, had to google it. Cool beans. I'm a former honda nerd and used to build/race them
 
Great find! I didn't realize it has the "magic dial!"

If you don't have a FSM (Factory Service Manual), you need to download one ASAP.

You will find that you didn't need to drop the pan for the transmission fluid change and there is still a large amount of oil that you didn;t change (unless you drained the torque converter too)

Grease the u-joints and slip yokes. The intake tube is still available from Toyota (I think) Get one soon before they are gone forever.

Hopefully you used FIPG for the seal on the pan and not a fiber gasket. The FIPG is longer lasting (as long as you use the correct type (Not the permatex black)

Check your coolant to make sure it isn't brown. If it is, you need to drain, flush, flush, flush, flush, flush with distilled water, then refill with green and distilled.

Good Luck!
no no no, sadly no magic dial. I thought the same thing when I saw the CL ad, it's just an LED for valet mode on the remote start. Got me over $1k off the price for that one.

Yes I know I didn't have to pull the pan, but having no maintenance records I wanted to check er out anyway. I thought about a full flush (especially since I can get the fluid at cost) but since it's not slipping or anything I won't worry about it yet.

Seen the intake for $90 on eBay, with check with cdan to see if he has it for cheaper (along with a list of other things), that will probably be post Christmas. Speaking of which, FSM is already in the mail.

Scraped a ton of red rtv from the PO pan gasket job, rubber gasket in now and it holds, but if that changes will do FIPG. Thanks for the suggestion, keep them coming please!

Zerks are up next, got a grease gun for the moly so I'll buy a tube for u joints and stuff. Coolant is more brown than red or green so yeah that's coming soon.

Wow, I didn't even know that was a thing, had to google it. Cool beans. I'm a former honda nerd and used to build/race them

Yeah it's fairly new to the market, and something I aspire to get my hands on. An integra gs-r is what got me in to cars so I definitely have a soft spot for Honda motors. Adapter plates to use the stock trans and an s2000 intake manifold, modified/tubular subframe and some wiring and you're +100hp -100 pounds. Better weight distribution than an LS with much less work, and more reliability than a 13b rotary so it's a no brained for me. Riding in a few well sorted cars at the tail of the dragon had me sold. Plus, if there was an LS block in my garage it would be going in the lx450 way before the Miata
 
Wow, I didn't even know that was a thing, had to google it. Cool beans. I'm a former honda nerd and used to build/race them

Former?!?! Seems like once a week you are trying to convince me that Civics are cool! :rofl:
 
Rather than buying a new bumper just keep your eyes open for someone wanting to unload their factory bumper in favor of an aftermarket (Slee, ARB, etc). They will give them away.
 

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