Builds PiM '96 LX450 Build Thread (2 Viewers)

[JTU]

Those seats look great. What year model a6 did they come from?

 

[ProjectsNMotion]

Those seats look great. What year model a6 did they come from?

They came from a 2013 Audi A6. The A6 of that generation had 3 options for seats, Base, Sport, and Comfort. These are the Comfort seats. They are, in fact, quite comfortable.

 

[ProjectsNMotion]

I finished fabrication on the center console. I'm going to fabricate the shifter console, then I'm going to clean up and upholster both.

My replacement carpet arrived during the week, so I'll swap out my destroyed carpet before I permanently install these consoles.

 

[ProjectsNMotion]

I made some limited progress on the shifter console today

 

[ProjectsNMotion]

The shifter console face that I made yesterday actually wasn't wide enough, so I remade it. The top and bottom of the opening for the transmission shifter housing were angled at 25° and 45°, respectively, to better match the contours of the transmission shifter housing. The transfer case shifter opening was drilled at 10° on the High side and 53° on the Low side, and then channeled out. The top of the shifter console face was beveled at 55° and angled 4° across the top, to match the pitch and angle of the center stack. Lastly, I knocked out some openings for the buttons for the heated and vented seats. I'll probably recess the buttons further on the back side of the face, so that they sit more proud on the face itself.

This was the set up to drill the transfer case shifter channel ends.

 

[KingMidas38]

Great progress you've made so far. Sub'ed for updates.

 

[ProjectsNMotion]

Great progress you've made so far. Sub'ed for updates.

Thanks!

 

[ProjectsNMotion]

I installed an auxiliary fuse panel this weekend, with a pair of adjoining relays.

This is a quick schematic of the fuse block. Right now, I'm only actually using 2 circuits, one for the powered subwoofer that I installed underneath the passenger seat, and the other for the dash camera(s) that I also installed over the weekend. The fuse block is basically set up as the same circuit twice. A primary fuse (35A) feeds another fuse slot and the Normally Open contact of the relay. The relay coil is controlled by an ignition source. The Common contact on the relay feeds three more fuse slots. So I can have up to 8 load circuits, 2 always on and 6 on with the ignition.

This is the front dash camera that I installed. It installs nicely behind the rear view mirror. I tucked the power wire up into the edge of the headliner.

The dash camera that I installed is a dual channel camera, i.e. it has a rear facing camera as well, and all of the footage is recorded to the same card that's store in the front camera. I ran the wire from the back to the front, through all of the factory wiring routes, including the rubber sleeve from the body to the rear hatch, for a very clean install.

 

[Wompom]

Thinking of doing similar with a switched fuse panel for accessories like those (including a dual dash cam sitting on my shelf). Thanks for posting up how you did it.

 

[Heckraiser]

That center console is going to be one classy piece of equipment. Dang

 

[ProjectsNMotion]

Thinking of doing similar with a switched fuse panel for accessories like those (including a dual dash cam sitting on my shelf). Thanks for posting up how you did it.

The dash cam that I installed (this one) came with a cable that runs between the two cameras, and that cable wasn't long enough for the way that I routed the cable. The included cable went from the camera in the back and got as far as the driver's kicker panel. I had to get a Mini USB extension cable to go from the kicker panel, up the A-pillar, across the headliner, and into the front camera. Keep that in mind.

Edit: the Mini USB extension cable that I got didn't work. The cable needs to be the 10 pin variety, and the one that I got was a 5 pin. I subsequently searched for a 10 pin mini USB extension cable, and couldn't find one. So I pulled the included cable back from the driver's kicker panel, all the way back to where it enters the cabin next to the rear hatch, and I rerouted it on top of the headliner all the way to the top of the windshield. Rerouting the cable was very easy and fairly quick with the use of fish tape. I connected the cable at the front dash camera, zip tied the excess cable together in the back of the headliner, and buttoned everything up. It works perfectly now.

 

[ProjectsNMotion]

I performed some much needed maintenance this weekend. I replaced all of the major and minor coolant hoses including the PHH, the thermostat, and the water pump. I also replaced all of the vacuum lines.

Once the engine was in a fair state of disassembly, I also replaced the valve cover gasket, as I suspected it was leaking.

It turned out that it wasn't leaking though, and my valvetrain looks to be in great shape, especially for 280k miles.

For as long as I've owned the vehicle, I've found a little but of oil in the coolant, but no coolant in the oil. I suspected it was a failure of the oil cooler gasket

As it turns out, whoever was in here last forgot to install a gasket. This also turned out to be the oil leak towards the back of the block for which I suspected the valve cover gasket. Anyhow, I cleaned it all up, put the proper gaskets in, and now it runs better than it ever has in my ownership.

 

[ProjectsNMotion]

I upgraded most of the front lights on my Lexus this weekend. You can view the process at the embedded album below, or click on the album to be taken to the full version



Cheers

 

[ProjectsNMotion]

I finally got my 4x4 Labs front bumper powder coated and installed. I went with a flat black for the powder coat, and I'm very happy with how it looks.

Cheers

 

[White Stripe]

I finally got my 4x4 Labs front bumper powder coated and installed. I went with a flat black for the powder coat, and I'm very happy with how it looks.

View attachment 2087637

View attachment 2087638

Cheers

How did you get the smoked turn signals?

 

[ProjectsNMotion]

How did you get the smoked turn signals?

The smoked turn signals and smoked side markers are both made by Depo, and I got them from Japan, courtesy of Import Monster.

Cheers

 

[nukegoat]

Where's the finished center console

 

[ProjectsNMotion]

Where's the finished center console

On a to-do list

 

[lasoundguy]

Did you paint the plastic cladding too? Looks a darker grey--really good with your front bumper!

 

[White Stripe]

The smoked turn signals and smoked side markers are both made by Depo, and I got them from Japan, courtesy of Import Monster.

Cheers

Yeah i noticed you said that in a prior post but did see them on the import monster site. Do you have a link?