Noob building an lx470 (1 Viewer)

[Fullthrottle100]

This post is mostly just a way to keep track of my work and be able to look back and see if I have learned anything valuable along the way. I am completely new to working on cars and going in to this all completely blind. It is a joint project with my dad and he has a little more confidence, but neither of us have done much mechanically with our vehicles.

Obligatory new to the 100, but not LCs. I owned a '66 FJ40 in high school. Bought it from a guy who had a bad left leg, so it had the engine and automatic transmission from a 98 blazer I believe. I was young and dumb, and it had some electrical issues, so we traded it to a dealer for an '06 Tacoma back in the day. My dad currently owns an '89 FJ62 that he inherited from his dad. It has about 160,000 miles on it and is completely stock besides a new exhaust and aftermarket stereo.

My grandparents have owned a 2000 LX470 since 2002. They bought it from a neighbor who's wife hated it. It has spent its entire life in San Diego and used 100% for highway driving. It had 164,000 miles on it when I went and picked it up. My grandparents just bought a new car, so they gave this one to my dad and I for free. I flew down to San Diego on a Saturday and drove it 1000 miles back to Eugene Oregon on Sunday. I hadn't found this forum yet so I didn't really take any driving home pictures, but here it is the day I got down there.

Overall it seems to be in pretty good condition. There were some mice living in the engine bay at one point. They chew through some wires that were replaced, and a little big of the firewall. There was mice poop in the engine bay that I dealt with with a shop vac and good wash. Unfortunately don't have any before or after pics of that process. A lot of the weather sealing is cracked or peeling from not being garaged, but after a pretty good rain since being back home there doesn't seem to be any interior leaks.

One of the first things I did since getting it home was have a new stereo head unit put in. This one had the aftermarket stereo, and while I found some excellent instructions on here I just wasn't feeling up for the task so I had a stereo place put one in along with a back-up camera. Looking back, I probably should have and could have done it myself.

 

[Fullthrottle100]

My original plan was to get a front and rear bumper straight away. But with the super long lead times right now, I pushed that thought back until things maybe settle down a little bit. Instead I figured I would start with some quality of life things. The first was to replace a rear passenger side tail light that my grandfather had smashed. Ordered a replacement on Ebay and the process was super straight forward and easy. Unfortunately there is some body damage and surface rust. My plan is to just treat the rust, touch up the paint, and not worry about the damage. This is going to hopefully be a used/abused truck in the future anyway.

 

[Fullthrottle100]

On my entire 1000 mile journey home I didn't notice a single thing wrong mechanically. No strange sounds, no loss of power, no brake issues. The AHC worked perfectly when I tested in a rest stop parking lot. My grandpa was kind of a neat freak so he got this thing worked on frequently. I mostly just felt the need to clean up the interior a little bit. It was fine for the most part. Mostly just some sand, and a melted lollipop in one of the rear seat belt areas from one of my cousins. Also ordered and installed the Weathertech floor mats. Like I read on here, Fit isn't perfect, but they will do the trick. Also just happened to see a lot of pine needles near the rear tailgate so I pulled that off and vacuumed it. Eventually I will get to the weather stripping and things like that. Might wait until it gets a little closer to the rainy season again.

 

[Fullthrottle100]

And last post for today since this is where things are now. I wanted to make it at least a little bit more off-road worthy so that I can at least take it on some adventures this summer. So the current plan is to do new tires and rock sliders. Decided to go with the Metal Tech sliders. one because they are pretty close so I can just drive up there to pick them up, and second because it seems like they are pretty good with keeping things in stock so will hopefully get to pick some up early June.

The plan for the wheels is to have the stock wheels sandblasted and powder coated by a local shop, and to go with the 285/75r16 KO2. They seem popular on here and that's what my dad has on his FJ62. So today my dad and I removed the running boards and very sketchily jacked up the truck. Our original plan was to do all 4 wheels and the spare at once, but due to a less than ideal jacking area situation we decided to just do the front and back separately. One, we did not have a flat space to work. So it already felt not right even just leaving one end jacked up for extended period of time. Second, I could only get my hands on 3 ton (per pair) jack stands. We won't be working under it while it is jacked, or touching it, but doing all 4 at once still just seems not right. If anyone here thinks we can get away with it let me know. Also, if there is any LC enthusiast in Eugene who wants to teach a complete noob to car mechanics how to work on there car, please feel free to message me.

 

[Fullthrottle100]

A few updates from today and one previous update. One of my very first purchases besides the rear tail light (which somehow has a small crack in it already even though it hasn't touched anything) was a YOTAMD key fob. Very happy with it and a massive improvement over the stock key. The first three rims have been sandblasted and powder coated and they look fantastic. Very happy not only with how they look, but also with the savings over going with a new set of rims. These three also now have the KO2's mounted on them which also look great (285/75r16). The AHC is in the low position in case there was any confusion about why they look so close to the wheel well. Unfortunately have to wait until Monday to drop of the last two rims at the shop to get cleaned up and sprayed so hoping to have that all finished up by the end of next week.

That will also give me time to decide on what to do with the center caps and lug nuts. Anyone have any suggestions of what they think would look good? Was going to bring the center caps to the guy who is cleaning up the rims and see if he thinks it is possible to sandblast and powder coat those too. Otherwise I might just paint them myself. Anyone have any suggestions for the lug nuts? Also not sure if I should bring those along with the last two rims and see if he can sandblast and paint them too? Should I just get those lug caps from colorlugs? Other options are to keep them the same and just replace the three that have somehow become separated from that little top round piece with the three that I paid too much for from my local Toyota dealer, or find a cheaper source and get all brand new lugs and just keep them chrome/silver.

I should hopefully be able to drive up and pick up the metal-tech sliders either end of next week or the week after. Haven't checked to see if their expected date has changed since I ordered them. Excited to support and see the local Oregon shop by @helocat. Dobinsons rear bumper has shipped so that will hopefully be here soon and will be the next addition. @crikeymike be warned I might be reaching out for tips in the near future for that. Also ordered new brake pads, heater t's, and a driver seat mount for a fire extinguisher (or anything else) from @NLXTACY 's shop wits-end. I really wanted to drive down to pick these parts up to and make it an excuse to visit family and maybe even take the new rig on its first trail, but I kind of wanted to get the new pads on before its next big drive. It will just have to be an excuse to buy something else from his shop so I can head down there.

 

[Fullthrottle100]

Few updates since the last post. While waiting for the last two wheels to be powder coated I decided to try to stop some of the surface rust from spreading on the body panels. I'll just say that it didn't necessarily turn out that great, and I am now realizing that I didn't even take a photo of the finished product. I did the best I could with he limited tools I had. But as I stated from the beginning I am not going to worry about the cosmetic aspects of this car, and I think I accomplished my goal which was to stop the rust.

Another part I finally got was a replacement for the driver side window switch. The new one I got off of eBay is nice. It adds auto up and down for all the windows, not just the driver side. It also has lights for easier visibility at night. Only downside is I broke the clip that holds the front part of of the trim piece down. If anyone reads this and knows where I can find a replacement for just that clip please let me know. I don't need a whole new trim piece, they are expensive, but that metal clip is just held on by a single screw so it is hopefully something I can find.

And finally, I got back the last two wheels, sprayed the center caps and got that all mounted. I also received the black lug covers but haven't put them on yet. I don't hate how it looks with the silver lugs, but I am mostly waiting because I will have to pull off all four wheels to do the brake pads when those come in anyway.

For whatever reason the photos aren't uploading in order.

 

[Fullthrottle100]

Also finally got to pick up the rock sliders from metal tech and the bumper got delivered from Dobinsons (@crikeymike . My dad and I spent the day getting the bumper installed. It went fine for the most part. Instructions were a little unclear in certain parts, and we still haven't perfected the alignment as we learned today when we tried to put the rear mud flaps back on. We will get that sorted next week after my next work stretch. Also neither of us are too keen on our wiring skills so I have an appointment next week with the shop that installed my stereo and backup camera. The sliders will be a next week project as well.

Also bonus pictures of my dad's '89 FJ62.

 

[Fullthrottle100]

Was finally able to install the sliders from metal tech (@helocat) before this massive heat wave. Took the back chrome diamond cover from the bumper to my powder coat guy to make it black to match the bumper. Wasn’t a huge fan of the chrome.

The final big parts (for now) is an order put in to dissent off-road (@benc ) for an aluminum front bumper and aluminum skid plates. Once everything is on the plan is for some heavier rear springs to make up for the added weight. My dad and I plan on taking to to a local 4x4 trail next week to just test it out, but not get up to anything too crazy yet.

 

[Fullthrottle100]

Two small updates. Got the diamond plate back from the powder coater for the rear bumper. Looks much better than the silver in my opinion. Also received and installed the front seat fire extinguisher mount from @NLXTACY. Fire extinguisher and mount are on their way. Installation was pretty easy. I kept reading that it would interfere with the weather tech floor mats but I don’t know if I just got lucky or have a different style but everything fit just fine.


Finally got out to a local 4x4 trail system here in lane county. Shotgun creek is about 45 minutes away and offers a variety of short trails for 4x4s. We were alone and inexperienced so kept it pretty low key but will probably try to make it back out at some point. Already posted this video but reposting here just for fun.



Anyone here members of the central Oregon land cruiser club? Would love to join and check out some of their bi monthly runs.

 

[Fullthrottle100]

Haven't updated for myself on here in a while. Have had a few things added since my last update. The first, and what turned out to be the most important were some rear control arm skids and rear shock guards from Trail-Tailor. They got tested almost immediately just outside of Bend, OR on an OHV trail out by Mt. Bachelor seen in the video part way through below.

I also made sure to have the new fire extinguisher and quick release mount on wits-end front seat mount for that trip. Didn't want to add to the fires that were already raging out there last summer.

 

[Fullthrottle100]

The two biggest additions arrived after about 16 weeks from @benc over at dissent off-road. Full aluminum skid plates and aluminum high clearance front bumper. The skids were super easy to install and they seem like they will hold up perfectly for what I will be using this rig for. I wanted better than adequate protection while also saving weight compared to the other steel options out there.

Same as with the skids, I was looking for a front bumper that provided clearance, protection, but also saved a little bit of weight. The dissent front bumper achieves all of those requests. It was a little bit more work to get on than the skids obviously, but in the end it really wasn't too bad of an install. I think some of the hardware has changed since they made their install write up, but it still wasn't too hard to figure out. I'm still not comfortable with wiring and electronics, so took it to the local stereo installation store and they wired it up for me pretty quick.

Next things to get done. Have heater t's and their tubing ready to get replaced, a winch, roof rack, and possibly going to sell this rear bumper and replace it with a dissent rear bumper... eventually.

 

[LCT]

Nice work, @Fullthrottle100! It’s coming along pretty good. Now that you’ve got bumpers, skids, sliders and tires, I would prioritize baselining the LX.

 

[Fullthrottle100]

Nice work, @Fullthrottle100! It’s coming along pretty good. Now that you’ve got bumpers, skids, sliders and tires, I would prioritize baselining the LX.

Thanks! Luckily this thing was pretty well maintained. My grandpa who I got it from is pretty particular about his cars and their maintenance. His mechanic wasn’t a specific land cruiser type of shop so there are just a few things that they didn’t quite keep up on. Such as the heater t’s and flushing/maintaining the AHC. Those are both on the top of the list but haven’t had any issues or signs of potential issues with anything quite yet. But yeah, now that the big upgrades are done more will be going towards that type of stuff.