Stage 1 Build Begun

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The big girl is looking good. As for making the front react a little better I found having a dis-connectable front sway bar did help with getting the front end to react better with the back. My bus at the moment is 3" lifted with a 4" shock (I am using heavy dudty dobinson's coils [spring company here in australia] front and rear and old man emu shocks) and find it works really well but i am wishing i had gone for a slightly longer shock but not really necessary. I also extended my rear sway bar mounts to bring it back to standard geometry and that probably helped.

And here is the standard poser shot of the old girl at close to full flex
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Thanks, That looks about the same as mine, I found offroad in real life scenarios (ie not on an RTI ramp) it performs wonderfully with both swaybars installed. Just goes against everything I knew from the Jeep world as none of my Jeeps performed worth a damn with swaybars intact.
 
Thanks, That looks about the same as mine, I found offroad in real life scenarios (ie not on an RTI ramp) it performs wonderfully with both swaybars installed. Just goes against everything I knew from the Jeep world as none of my Jeeps performed worth a damn with swaybars intact.
 
Anxiously awaiting arrival of my new bumpers from DC Fab that shipped Friday. They are going direct to my buddies shop for coating along with the sliders and all 5 wheels. Was going to paint bumpers and sliders but worked a barter with a friend that does powder and it makes way more sense then spending a weekend taping off my garage and fuming up the place. All the parts will be a grey that appears to be a close match to the factory ua31 paint code of the LX450 clading/flares. http://www.prismaticpowders.com/colors/PMB-2853/GALAXY-GREY-II/

If anyone has a known powder from Prismatic or other vendor that matches ua31 please chime in!

VSV didnt fix P0401, ordered modulator off ebay (arrived today). I know I should just diagnose it but for the combined $35 in parts... time is at a premium.

Received the double rear cupholder from https://www.etsy.com/listing/212364...older-for-91-97-toyota?ref=shop_home_active_3

Sourced some used Lx450 caps that will be cleaned up and sprayed with a satin black to contrast the freshly powder grey wheels. Any ideas here for "painting"? the Lexus L in a silver/grey? Maybe just a brush and jar of touchup ua31, then satin clear over them?

While the wheels are off and dismounted I have arranged the sale of my MT/Rs and am beating my head against the wall to figure out what to replace them with.
 
Which modulator did you buy and please update if it works!
 
Which modulator did you buy and please update if it works!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0083H5RDM/ref=sr_ph?ie=UTF8&qid=1422412342&sr=1&keywords=egr+modulator

This is the one I bought, super cheap price tag and cheap feeling compared to OEM. I'll update in the next couple days if it keeps light off! But after disassembly and examination of my original I doubt it was the problem... Assuming real diagnosis is in my near future because I'm not throwing a $200 EGR valve or temp sender at it without knowing for sure.
 
Soooo PO401 is alive and well... but this time it took about a week of driving on and off to come back (id say 10 plus drive cycles) where as before it was on within 3 cycles every time. So to say the modulator didn't change something wouldn't be true, but it definitely wasn't the end all fix. In other news I am trying to pick out powder based on some samples, bumper shipment was delayed due to back ordered fuel pump for transfer tank. Still haven't pulled the trigger on tires figure I need to as soon as the powder ships to stay on schedule.
 
Well lots has happened and my truck is on its way out west for my wedding. I leave Thursday and with any luck will have the truck back in my possession by Friday Afternoon! Super nervous... One of my awesome friends and his family are driving it to Oregon to save me the time away from work as I'll already be gone about a month. (Based on his comments so far I would expect to see him on this forum in the coming months ;)

But on to what you guys care about, I will apologize for the lack of pictures ahead of time. There will be a few more and some action shots coming after the trip out west but for now just a few of the "finished" product and a couple random shots along the way.

Installed Slee Caster Plates and drivability is SOOOOOO much better thanks to the guys at SLEE pointing me in the right direction.

Bumpers came in as expected from DC Fab and they are impressive. Fit was good and needed minor adjustments with a sledge hammer. Dallas and the guys out there really know how to put out a quality product and I feel bad for any other vehicle or animal my 80 might ever come in contact with. Winch tucked right in and ease of access to free spool lever is great. Included fog lights are a nice touch but not real great (one is already water logged from just rain) Warn hawse fairlead was much appreciated as at this time I switched to synthetic rope also! Rear swingouts are awkward to latch/unlatch but you are certain they are not coming unlatched accidentally.

I ended up painting the bumpers with UA31 paint match grey rattle can from www.automotivetouchup.com/ It saved me some precious time and money, but I have already decided to powder coat them both when it comes time to monstaline the truck next year. During the downtime for work I did have the sliders powdercoated black and they turned out great. I'll also be coming up with some sort of polishing/sealing of the Aluminum Fuel Transfer Tank...

And while I'm talking about it, what a great investment this is. The tank has its own little pump and hose with shutoff, out of fuel on your ATV or lawnmower just pull it over and fill it up. No messing with cans and spouts and holding them up just plug in the included harness to your trailer wiring and switch the marker lights on. It's awesome and has saved me countless trips to fill gas cans for at home and saved my buddy a call to AAA. I will say the pump is rather slow and I wouldn't mind trying to boost up the GPM but in a pinch its well worth the wait.
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If there is one thing I wish I photographed it would be the depth of work completed inside the cruiser... I pulled all seats ran 0 guage on a 150amp breaker back to this distribution block mounted behind the 2nd row seat on a flip down panel off my platform
http://www.amazon.com/Link-SFAGUFB-...sbs_422_8?ie=UTF8&refRID=0Q7BGA9G10JKT22F194N

Everything is switched with flush mount switches in center console and fridge is on a relay. I promise to get pics and answer any questions on this when I get home. In my opinion it turned out wonderfully and gave me the flexibility to add anything I want in the future with the 0 guage all the way in the back.

Power inverter was mounted in center console with Romex used to wire up a combo usb/ac outlet facing second row where cd changer used to be and another just inside the rear hatch on Drivers Side. AC outlets with built in USB ports are AWESOME and I plan to put a few in my house after putting these in the truck.

Fridge is so cool and having it on last months trip to the INDY 500 was great, and having it while grocery shopping then running around town even better. For those considering a fridge the INDEL-B is a great value and I got mine here it will keep frozen in 90 degree heat. http://www.equipt1.com/item/travel-box-50-liter-fridge-freezer

Stereo is Kenwood DNX-571 with Garmin NAV, after speaking with Kenwood and Garmin I am incredibly disappointed with the inability to plan a trip on a PC and upload it to the unit like you can with a cheap dash-mount GPS. It is good for turn by turn, the bluetooth is finicky but I haven't found anything bluetooth that isn't. The control you have over sound is by far superior to anything else I have ever owned. Cross-over is very intuitive. Sound is excellent from CD and fair from bluetooth or USB jump drive. FM reception is poor but to be fair I should get a new antenna. 4x Cheap Pioneer TS-G1643R's sound better than stock but will soon be replaced by something a little more resilient as I'm already getting a crackle out of one of the rears. Alpine mono block powering 12" L5 in a very small box is not ideal. The sub runs out of air in a hurry. I'm going to move to a cheap 10" sub in a dimensionally correct box. But I had the L5 and the box.

Puma mounted on @LandCruiserPhil mount is awesome! Used it to adjust air in tires and fill up air mattresses and am impressed by what the little guy will put out. Even ran a die grinder for a few seconds at a time.
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