In my experience...those buttons are clear with a reflective inner surface coat and an opaque outer finish. If you don't properly mask or later etch the markings, you won't have a visible (illuminated) button label. I've recently given up on my A/C button in the MR2. It's either silver with the etching or matching black without. I have patience to reproduce the etching by hand...just not the time. Good luck!
Build "Rednexus" - 2007 GX470 Build and Fabrication Thread
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- #723
Yup - I double checked. You are right @rav8. Clear plastic with recessed etching. The black I was seeing must be the primer for the gray Lexus paint, not the base plastic. We'll see if we can make a stencil that goes over the lettering with the Cricuit, which would allow the buttons to be repainted after stripping and the etching maintained (looks like, if it comes to it, I could scan the buttons and draw them up in CAD and then export it into a Cricut file which Mrs. Rednexus can cut out). If not, I'll return the $$$ SEM paint and run them as-is!
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Sorry I was right. Doing this without the OE manufacturing equipment is more an art than a task. I think you have the right idea though.
Maybe: remove the button from the assembly, place in a fixture [(button)], make a stencil that can be re-affixed to fixture after paint, then gently engrave or chemically etch through the paint. This is where I get a little nuts. It can be done...good luck!
- Thread starter
- #725
That's a good idea. I bet the paint can be removed with a Q tip soaked in some thinner. I'll experiment with the spare button but abort the mission if it ends up being too complex.
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- #726
Happened to check eBay today and found a non-working 60771 unit for $40, with what appears to be a very nice set of buttons. So I snagged it and will swap the buttons over to my 60773 unit. The SEM paint/prep products got returned, and I should be money and time ahead over restoring the old buttons. I'm also hopeful I can pull the electrotonic guts out of the 773 case and put them in the 771 case so I can use the 2003-2005 radio brackets as-is, instead of having to modify them to be compatible with the 773 unit. We'll see if that's possible.
I must say the non-nav conversion with it's myriad of tiny parts, some available from Lexus but many not, many of which differ slightly between production years, has been the biggest Rubik's cube of GX ownership! Even something as seemingly complex as a dashboard replacement only requires a single part number. But, if this 771 unit looks as good as the pictures in the eBay listing, it's certainly a great early Christmas present.
I must say the non-nav conversion with it's myriad of tiny parts, some available from Lexus but many not, many of which differ slightly between production years, has been the biggest Rubik's cube of GX ownership! Even something as seemingly complex as a dashboard replacement only requires a single part number. But, if this 771 unit looks as good as the pictures in the eBay listing, it's certainly a great early Christmas present.
Welcome to my world of SW20 nightmares! Glad you found it. Much better than attempting to reproduce.
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- #728
Kudos to an honest eBay seller. These buttons are close to mint, and I feel like I stole them for $40! I'll swap them all over to the 773 unit and keep my old 773 buttons as spares. Also the 771 and 773 mounts are identical, so I'm not sure why the Lexus "radio brackets" changed for 2006+. I'll try to use them as-is before bothering to weld up holes and re-drill them.
- Thread starter
- #729
The Rednexus HQ (e.g., our shop) had turned into a total pigstye. We lived in it from December though February while our house was getting finished. After that, we pivoted to moving into the house and the shop was split between storage duty and shop activities (including building railings, doing a lot of work on my GX and camper, and fitting in a few other cars). It was never really cleaned over those 10 months. Tools and boxes were everywhere and the floors/walls were covered with grinding dust, oil dri, and dirt.
So, I dove in on Sunday afternoon and just finished 20 minutes ago. Nearly 3.5 days of my time to get it totally cleaned up and ready to work.
^Rednexus Jr. did a so-so vacuum job at first, but vastly improved when I offered to pay him. Well worth $4 for three hours of his time.
^I broke out the M18 framing nailer (a seldom-used tool but very handy) and used some scrap lumber to make a bin for leftover steel pieces. I had built the cart for the bandsaw and grinder earlier this year.
^I fabbed up some wheeled bases for the Yukon storage cabinets. 1.5" square tubing and Nefish adjustable casters/feet from Amazon (nearly all of my shop tools are on these casters, they are great!).
^I spent hours going through both cabinets. I had kind of done this a year ago but it needed to be re-done. Using a labelmaker helps keep things organized.
^Snagged a new air compressor on sale from Menards and paired it with a hose reel from HF. My old compressor was a 8-gallon HF horizontal that was super loud, super slow, and super hard to move. This one is drastically quieter and way more powerful. I will re-do the short hose from the compressor to the reel with some 90-degree fittings to keep it out of the door.
So, I dove in on Sunday afternoon and just finished 20 minutes ago. Nearly 3.5 days of my time to get it totally cleaned up and ready to work.
^Rednexus Jr. did a so-so vacuum job at first, but vastly improved when I offered to pay him. Well worth $4 for three hours of his time.
^I broke out the M18 framing nailer (a seldom-used tool but very handy) and used some scrap lumber to make a bin for leftover steel pieces. I had built the cart for the bandsaw and grinder earlier this year.
^I fabbed up some wheeled bases for the Yukon storage cabinets. 1.5" square tubing and Nefish adjustable casters/feet from Amazon (nearly all of my shop tools are on these casters, they are great!).
^I spent hours going through both cabinets. I had kind of done this a year ago but it needed to be re-done. Using a labelmaker helps keep things organized.
^Snagged a new air compressor on sale from Menards and paired it with a hose reel from HF. My old compressor was a 8-gallon HF horizontal that was super loud, super slow, and super hard to move. This one is drastically quieter and way more powerful. I will re-do the short hose from the compressor to the reel with some 90-degree fittings to keep it out of the door.
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- Thread starter
- #730
^All done! It feels 10x more roomy and inviting now. Literally swept the floor 3X after the vacuum and there was still crap on it. With just about everything being on casters, it's easy to move stuff out into the middle when needed.
^There is enough open room in it now to store both cars and still work around them, even with our TrailManor in the 3rd bay (where it resides unless we are using it).
Santa is gonna be impressed! Nice.
- Thread starter
- #733
I had a planned to get a lift and roll into the mortgage. Unfortunately, the whole house project went over budget so the lift was axed
. But the shop is designed around a lift (high ceilings, plus the center bay has footings in the concrete and it's wired for a lift). My GX is pretty close to done, so if I do get a lift it would be for whatever my next "big" project ends up being.My wrenching situation wasn't always so clean and organized....see my previous "shop" below. Unheated, no ceiling insulation, and getting the GX inside with 33's required deflating the tires. Oh, and water constantly came in under the back wall when it rained hard. BUT, the pegboard walls gave me lots of room to hang stuff, and I did a ton of wrenching in it for over a decade. Including dash replacement, headers, lift install, steering rack, etc. It was just suuuuper cramped.
Back when I had a garage I epoxy sealed the floor and loved how easy it was to mop and keep clean. Any plans for the floor?
- Thread starter
- #735
I had wanted to coat it during construction but the shop ended up getting used for storage while the house was being built, and then we moved into it (including setting up a tree and spending Christmas 2024 in the shop - today was our first Christmas in the house
). We'll definitely coat it in the future, with probably an epoxy coating or a solvent-based sealer. The basement floors in the house have a water-based sealer on them that we've been happy with.- Thread starter
- #736
A bit of post-Christmas electrical work has begun.
^After having more MAF problems with my rig, I determined it was the MAF connector associated with the Hewitt bypass. I'd get wonky MAF readings and fuel trims that would correct themselves after plugging/unplugging the Hewitt MAF connector from the MAF. So, I built my own SAIS bypass using this build document from Tundarsolutions.com. The whole bypass cleanly unplugs from the engine harness using a Deutsch connector that I had previously spliced on to the engine harness. I used a waterproof Hella relay, but accidently bought a 24V relay so the bypass did not work at first. I have a cheapo 12V relay in it until a 12V Hella relay shows up in the mail. So far this seems to work well. I have stable MAF readings and the IAT shows 32 degrees when the relay is energized (despite it being 65 degrees in my shop). But, I'm still going to build a spare harness and keep it in the rig in case I have MAF issues again in the future.
^MAF harness installed. If anyone is interested in one of these, PM me and I'd be happy to build one. You'd still need to splice a female Deutsch connector onto the OEM MAF harness and run a couple wires to the fusebox. But, this is much cleaner than the Hewitt kit which is non-serviceable and leads to MAF issues due to the two additional plugs added into the MAF harness, which include open, un-protected soldered joints.
^And it's alive! Worked as soon as I plugged it in! Unlike the PX6 I don't have to wait 30-60 seconds for it to boot up, and it's sending full air down to the floor vents.
^After having more MAF problems with my rig, I determined it was the MAF connector associated with the Hewitt bypass. I'd get wonky MAF readings and fuel trims that would correct themselves after plugging/unplugging the Hewitt MAF connector from the MAF. So, I built my own SAIS bypass using this build document from Tundarsolutions.com. The whole bypass cleanly unplugs from the engine harness using a Deutsch connector that I had previously spliced on to the engine harness. I used a waterproof Hella relay, but accidently bought a 24V relay so the bypass did not work at first. I have a cheapo 12V relay in it until a 12V Hella relay shows up in the mail. So far this seems to work well. I have stable MAF readings and the IAT shows 32 degrees when the relay is energized (despite it being 65 degrees in my shop). But, I'm still going to build a spare harness and keep it in the rig in case I have MAF issues again in the future.
^MAF harness installed. If anyone is interested in one of these, PM me and I'd be happy to build one. You'd still need to splice a female Deutsch connector onto the OEM MAF harness and run a couple wires to the fusebox. But, this is much cleaner than the Hewitt kit which is non-serviceable and leads to MAF issues due to the two additional plugs added into the MAF harness, which include open, un-protected soldered joints.
^And it's alive! Worked as soon as I plugged it in! Unlike the PX6 I don't have to wait 30-60 seconds for it to boot up, and it's sending full air down to the floor vents.
- Thread starter
- #737
End of Day update.
^Got the non-nav HVAC controls in and working. I spent most of the day separating/extending the harness and tapping into the ashtray light for the button lights. I took my time and checked my work often so everything worked upon plug-in. Half the backlight bulbs on the 773 unit were burned out, so I swapped over all of the 771 bulbs (none of which were burnt out), as well as the plastic housing on the 773 unit that was damaged by the salvage yard.
^The Prado 120 HVAC control bezel fit perfectly, along with the early-model radio brackets (the only difference is how the radio mounts, so these should work for any non-nav conversion where an aftermarket head unit is used). I started getting the wires organized to install the Joying. This required re-routing the USB wires and my wireless Android Auto dongle. I'll also be able to re-use the backup camera wiring and reverse trigger wire from the PX6.
One of the main harness stubs (secured with a bolt below the driver's TEMP button) had a hard plastic sheathing and wouldn't work with the non-nav radio brackets, so I pulled it out, removed the plastic sheathing, and wrapped it in tape.
^The separated and extended HVAC control harness. I taped the wires for each plug separately as I pulled them out, and then taped up the extended wires. Then, I taped all 4 sets of wires together. This part was very tedious and used about 2 rolls of 3M Super 33 electrical tape. I would have preferred to avoid this completely by just cutting off and extending all 3 HVAC plugs, thereby leaving the main harness intact. But, I didn't have enough 22-26 ga butt splice connectors to do that, and no one stocks them locally. So, I sliced open the main harness instead, and will re-secure it tomorrow.
Wiring it definitely my forte. Kind of funny how I can focus and spend all day on wiring - getting it near-perfect where it works on the first time - yet simpler things like framing with wood are a lot harder for me to get near-perfect.
^Got the non-nav HVAC controls in and working. I spent most of the day separating/extending the harness and tapping into the ashtray light for the button lights. I took my time and checked my work often so everything worked upon plug-in. Half the backlight bulbs on the 773 unit were burned out, so I swapped over all of the 771 bulbs (none of which were burnt out), as well as the plastic housing on the 773 unit that was damaged by the salvage yard.
^The Prado 120 HVAC control bezel fit perfectly, along with the early-model radio brackets (the only difference is how the radio mounts, so these should work for any non-nav conversion where an aftermarket head unit is used). I started getting the wires organized to install the Joying. This required re-routing the USB wires and my wireless Android Auto dongle. I'll also be able to re-use the backup camera wiring and reverse trigger wire from the PX6.
One of the main harness stubs (secured with a bolt below the driver's TEMP button) had a hard plastic sheathing and wouldn't work with the non-nav radio brackets, so I pulled it out, removed the plastic sheathing, and wrapped it in tape.
^The separated and extended HVAC control harness. I taped the wires for each plug separately as I pulled them out, and then taped up the extended wires. Then, I taped all 4 sets of wires together. This part was very tedious and used about 2 rolls of 3M Super 33 electrical tape. I would have preferred to avoid this completely by just cutting off and extending all 3 HVAC plugs, thereby leaving the main harness intact. But, I didn't have enough 22-26 ga butt splice connectors to do that, and no one stocks them locally. So, I sliced open the main harness instead, and will re-secure it tomorrow.
Wiring it definitely my forte. Kind of funny how I can focus and spend all day on wiring - getting it near-perfect where it works on the first time - yet simpler things like framing with wood are a lot harder for me to get near-perfect
.
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Seems I'm not alone.Wiring it definitely my forte. Kind of funny how I can focus and spend all day on wiring - getting it near-perfect where it works on the first time - yet simpler things like framing with wood are a lot harder for me to get near-perfect
- Thread starter
- #739
And it's alive! It didn't boot on the first key cycle but booted right up on the second. Speakers work great (I have bass again!) as does Android Auto, the GPS, the backup camera (I had to flip though the various input types to find one that works), as does the mic. I'm thinking my previous issues (no bass, no mic for calls) were the PX6 being a piece of junk. I already like the Joying much more, it has a nice simple interface and appears to boot quick. I just now need to get the steering wheel buttons working, hard-mount the mic on the combination meter bezel, and then put everything back together.
Regarding mounting, I had to drill one hole in each radio bracket to mount the Joying's brain box with all 4 scrwews I also took the time to organize the wiring. This included separating out everything un-used (both from the Lexus and the Joying) and covering those connectors with tape. So when I inevitably pull this out again for some reason, it will be easy to re-install and I won't be wondering which connectors are used and which aren't.
I re-used the GPS antenna from the PX6 but installed the new Joying 5G/WiFi antenna. I'm not running a SIM card in the unit - if I need mobile WiFi I'll use a hot spot on my phone. Mobile maps and music will be ran though Android Auto, and I'll download offline map tiles for wheeling via BackCountry Navigator.
Regarding mounting, I had to drill one hole in each radio bracket to mount the Joying's brain box with all 4 scrwews I also took the time to organize the wiring. This included separating out everything un-used (both from the Lexus and the Joying) and covering those connectors with tape. So when I inevitably pull this out again for some reason, it will be easy to re-install and I won't be wondering which connectors are used and which aren't.
I re-used the GPS antenna from the PX6 but installed the new Joying 5G/WiFi antenna. I'm not running a SIM card in the unit - if I need mobile WiFi I'll use a hot spot on my phone. Mobile maps and music will be ran though Android Auto, and I'll download offline map tiles for wheeling via BackCountry Navigator.
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