The Whiskey Works 2003 LX470 Expo Build

[TheWhiskeyWorks]

That side shot after the detail - man really looks clean.

What are your plans to compensate for the weight of the rear bumper and the ahc ? You didn't happen to grab a set of slee rear spring spacers while you were there ?

Love the immediate progress.

Favorite line in your opening thread was that you bought this as a family vehicle for the new baby (congrats!) - no you didn't ! That's just what you told your wife so you could get an awesome lx.

Great job - thanks for sharing.

Yeah, the detailer did an amazing job. I haven't decided on what I'm going to do to compensate when loaded down in the rear. I will probably end up with some spring spacers to get my AHC pressures inline and eventually end up with airbags. I want to keep the the AHC going for as long as the truck is a DD since I actually kind of love it.

As far as the kid comment, haha, yeah kinda. Although here is a picture of my current Tacoma (that I'm selling to pay for the LX). I've put a ton of time and work into it, but I'm happy with the decision to make the move over to the Land Cruiser platform. I see a long line of them in my future.

 

[TheWhiskeyWorks]

Few more things I did to the interior. Before I even flew out to get the truck I ordered a set of Weathertechs (front and rear). Soon after getting the truck I ordered a full set of interior LED's from Pfran. These two upgrades are, in my opinion, two of the easiest and best value upgrades for the interior of a truck. I also ordered up some Leatherique and got to work getting the leather fixed up. I don't think I let the truck heat up enough with the Leatherique applied, so I didn't get the miracle results that some people speak of, but it did help a lot and I'll go ahead and do a second application at some point soon.

 

[TheWhiskeyWorks]

On to maintenance. Here are the things I've knocked off the list so far.

- Oil change/took a sample for Blackstone Labs (still need to send it off)
- Change AHC fluid
- Replace cabin air filter
- Change front and rear diff fluid with Valvoline HP 80w90
- Change Tcase fluid with Mobile 1 synthetic LS 75w90
- Replace fuel filter
- ATF flush with Valvoline Maxlife Synthetic

Before I purchased the truck, the timing belt/water pump was done, the coolant was changed, and the air filter was changed, so I'm all good there. Next few things on the list are:

- Spark plugs, which are sitting in the garage waiting for install
- New antenna mast, also sitting in the garage
- Brakes need work
- Repack spindle bearings
- Clean TB and MAF

I'm sure I'll find other things to add to the list.

--------------

When I did the Transmission Flush I used a mixture of the following 3 threads as instruction.

A343F Fill Procedure?
WS ATF Flush Procedure
Picking up an 07 UZJ on Monday

One thing that I found that wasn't clear to me before getting into this was that there *is* a factory gasket, at least for the 5-speed 2003+ trucks. Part number is 35168-60010 (I got it from Toyota). This makes dropping and reinstalling the trans pan MUCH easier than it would be if you had to scrape off the old FIPG and reapply. Overall the full flush was pretty easy. I went through 16 quarts of fluid to get it done.

New gasket.

Pan Dropped. Everything looked good, just some generalized metal paste attached to the magnets.

Old Trans gasket.

All cleaned up.

New gasket in place, ready for reinstall.

 

[Trist]

Sweet rig, I look forward to seeing it progress into an even nicer LX!

 

[mgoblue]

The Leatherique really needs to bake, I've done it on a couple older BMW's of mine and I've found that a hot day is key. Love the color and build so far.

 

[2001LC]

Interesting they now have a factory gasket. The FIPG alone works so well, I wonder why Toyota added a gasket.

 

[lrowe_csp]

Did the Duratrac's balance okay for you?

 

[TheWhiskeyWorks]

Interesting they now have a factory gasket. The FIPG alone works so well, I wonder why Toyota added a gasket.

Not sure why they switched, but sure glad they did. Applying FIPG is easy enough, but removing that s*** sucks.

Did the Duratrac's balance okay for you?

I dropped the truck off to have the tires mounted and installed, so I don't know how much weight they took. I did ask the tech and he said they balanced fine, for whatever that is worth.

 

[TheWhiskeyWorks]

The Leatherique really needs to bake, I've done it on a couple older BMW's of mine and I've found that a hot day is key. Love the color and build so far.

I'm going to reapply and throw a mr heater in the truck to get it hot in there. Hopefully that'll do the trick. The detailer that I went to said the same thing about the Leatherique. It basically doesn't work unless you get it toasty.

 

[tpatrickmc]

I’m sure many of you can relate to my story. I drove and loved Toyota Trucks for years, but as I got married and my wife got pregnant it was time to start looking for something with a little more space. After looking around at the market, I decided I could probably pick up a 100 series and throw a little money into it for about the same price as I was planning on selling the Tacoma for.

I spent about 3 months looking around, and about 1 month really looking hard for the perfect truck. I was hoping to find something cherry and dealer maintained for a decent deal, but nothing was really coming up. I eventually came across a for sale thread on MUD from a guy looking to sell his 2003 LX470 with 130k miles.

The pictures weren’t very good, there wasn’t much in terms of maintenance history, and overall the truck was far from perfect condition, but it just had the timing belt done, it was mostly rust free, and the price was too good to pass up. I decided to roll the dice, knowing the truck would need a lot more work than I was originally planning, but that I would have the extra funds to do it up right.

I did the deal and flew from Southern California to Denver, picked up the truck, made a pit stop at slee, and then headed on home.

Here are a few photos of the truck when it was for sale:

View attachment 1188195
View attachment 1188196

Photos of it at Slee

View attachment 1188197
View attachment 1188198
View attachment 1188200

That's a rear bumper, slider steps, 3 nato jerry cans and some other small misc. items. Could have easily squeezed a Blueberry in there too, but they were OOS.

I’m sure many of you can relate to my story. I drove and loved Toyota Trucks for years, but as I got married and my wife got pregnant it was time to start looking for something with a little more space. After looking around at the market, I decided I could probably pick up a 100 series and throw a little money into it for about the same price as I was planning on selling the Tacoma for.

I spent about 3 months looking around, and about 1 month really looking hard for the perfect truck. I was hoping to find something cherry and dealer maintained for a decent deal, but nothing was really coming up. I eventually came across a for sale thread on MUD from a guy looking to sell his 2003 LX470 with 130k miles.

The pictures weren’t very good, there wasn’t much in terms of maintenance history, and overall the truck was far from perfect condition, but it just had the timing belt done, it was mostly rust free, and the price was too good to pass up. I decided to roll the dice, knowing the truck would need a lot more work than I was originally planning, but that I would have the extra funds to do it up right.

I did the deal and flew from Southern California to Denver, picked up the truck, made a pit stop at slee, and then headed on home.

Here are a few photos of the truck when it was for sale:

View attachment 1188195
View attachment 1188196

Photos of it at Slee

View attachment 1188197
View attachment 1188198
View attachment 1188200

That's a rear bumper, slider steps, 3 nato jerry cans and some other small misc. items. Could have easily squeezed a Blueberry in there too, but they were OOS.

Sounds like you and I ended up with in this club via similar circumstances! I've always wanted a LC, and when we found out we were expecting our first child (Jan 2015) we knew our Civic and Camry stable wasn't going to cut it (partly because we already have a 125# dog that takes up a whole back seat) ...so this was the perfect time to do my searching and ended up with a 2003 LC from AZ. Perfect condition and less than 100k on the odo. Baby girl arrived in October and the Land Cruiser has been awesome for the whole family so far.

I am expecting delivery of the same Slee rear bumper next week, and went with the Dissent front bumper which will be a while but should prove worth the wait. I went with Crusin Off Road sliders - which are being built and should ship out by end of month.

Love the build here - enjoy!!!

 

[TheWhiskeyWorks]

I went back and forth on how exactly how I wanted to handle the battery situation. I have plans to add lights, a winch, fridge, et cetera so I wanted to make sure I had enough juice when offroading/camping. I really like the idea of a dual battery system, but to do it right you figure you've got $250-300 for each battery, plus a battery management system, a second battery tray, wiring.... All told you can easily be in for $1000. Now if money wasn't an object then no problem, but I'm trying to be smart about where to put my mod money. I decided to take the less badass (less fun, less money) approach which is a single AGM battery with an antigravity jump pack as backup.

I had always figured when it was time to get an upgraded battery I would go with the Sears DH Group 31 that everyone seems to like. Unfortunately, you can't get the great deals you used to be able to get on them, it seems a lot of people are having less luck with them these days, and lastly they seem to be in the process of discontinuing them.

After researching alternatives a bit, a decided on this battery, a Batteries Plus X2 Power Premium 27F AGM battery with 930 CCA and 195 min reserve capacity. These are similar specs to the DH battery, but it comes with a full 5 year replacement warranty and is a direct fit for our trucks. It is a private label Northstar battery which I believe is made in America. I got it for $305 minus 10% discount and a $30 rebate, so after taxes and rebate I'm looking at $265 OTD.

Bolting it in was easy enough. The battery did seem to be a little taller than stock, so I had to use a little force to tighten down the battery hold down, but it was minor enough and conformed to the top of the battery perfectly.

Now all that's left is to order a Antigravity XP-10 to keep in the truck.

Btw, here's a really good battery post in the 80 series section that I found useful. I recommend going through the FAQ over there as they have a lot of really good info, some of which works for the 100 series.

Battery Information

 

[TheWhiskeyWorks]

Sounds like you and I ended up with in this club via similar circumstances! I've always wanted a LC, and when we found out we were expecting our first child (Jan 2015) we knew our Civic and Camry stable wasn't going to cut it (partly because we already have a 125# dog that takes up a whole back seat) ...so this was the perfect time to do my searching and ended up with a 2003 LC from AZ. Perfect condition and less than 100k on the odo. Baby girl arrived in October and the Land Cruiser has been awesome for the whole family so far.

I am expecting delivery of the same Slee rear bumper next week, and went with the Dissent front bumper which will be a while but should prove worth the wait. I went with Crusin Off Road sliders - which are being built and should ship out by end of month.

Love the build here - enjoy!!!

Congrats on your baby girl and new cruiser man. My son was born in October as well, just a few weeks after I got the LX. I hope you find the time to start a build thread once all of the fun starts to arrive.

 

[TheWhiskeyWorks]

The "chrome" trim piece surrounding the shifter looked like garbage and it's been bothering me since I purchased the truck. Fortunately, it is a separate piece that can be ordered from Toyota on it's own. Well worth the $30ish.

New vs old.

The little screw holding one of my keys together went missing the other day, so I went ahead and ordered a new one for Toyota. One of these days I'm going to swap out the OEM key cases, but for the time being this will keep the key from flexing every time I start the truck. Here is the part number for anyone who may need it.

 

[TheWhiskeyWorks]

Install of Slee AHC over ride:

I wanted the ability to control AHC, so I picked up an over ride module when I was at Slee. The install is pretty easy, although you have to dig pretty deep into the dash to access the suspension control module. If you kicked the firewall with your right foot while sitting in the driver seat, that would get you pretty close to where the plug is.

All lower trim must be removed, including the heating/AC ducting. Once you have access, clip a couple wires and wire everything up. I had to lengthen the over ride modules stock wiring a little to get it to reach the switch blank I wanted to use. Once that's done, I wired power and ground up to the cigarette lighter socket (switched power). Those wires also needed to be lengthened.

To modify the switch blank, I removed a bunch of material to give be a smooth(ish) surface. I then use a "C" drill (.2420) and a #11 drill (.1910) to make the two necessary holes. I was originally going to epoxy the switch into the switch blank, but by using the perfect sized drill bits I got a snug fit with no movement.

I cleaned up the holes with some fit grit sandpaper after this photo was taken.

All mounted up. Looks pretty good. I'd like to find a clean way to label it and make it look even more factory. From removing all the material at the back of the switch blank, it doesn't fit into the dash very tight anymore. It should be fine, but if it's an issue I'll have to figure out a way to secure it better.

Everything works as advertised. I'm a fan the additional control.

 

[TheWhiskeyWorks]

Modifying for the rock sliders:

After installing the rock sliders, I had clearance issues with the secondary plastic "skid plate" and two of the covers for the AHC globe plugs.

Here you can see the interference I was having with the plug cover

I decided to just cutoff the tip, leaving me with only one bolt holding the cover on, but still with plenty of protection for the plug.

Before/After

Looks good enough to me. It's still tight, not going anywhere.

Here is the before and after of the skid plate. The "arms" were hitting the rock slider brackets, so off they came. Didn't really seem to lose any protection from removing them, and the cover is still mounted solid.

I would like to install some proper skid plates at some point, but for now this will have to do.

 

[m3roar]

Looks great! I need to get on my armor game and get some sliders and bumpers. I did things differently than you. I have Slee rip out the AHC and put in a OME Medium 2.5 w/ UCA. It's definitely not as soft but the body roll is way less also. It was a very favorable trade in my opinion.

 

[TheWhiskeyWorks]

I actually really like the AHC. After DDing a Tacoma on 35's with almost 100% aftermarket (and $$$$) suspension, I'm liking having something OEM and so versatile. I also drive my 92 year old grandmother around all the time, so not having to get a stool out in order for her to get into my truck is a big bonus for both of us. My only real concern is the how the system reacts when the truck is really loaded down, as I know that can be an issue. First offroad adventure scheduled for this weekend (weather permiting). Hopefully I'm still a fan after that.

Did you not find the comfort-sport settings helpful? I feel like I can eliminate some of the body roll by setting it to sport... although to be fair, she's a fat bitch either way, no getting around that.

 

[woofa68]

I went back and forth on how exactly how I wanted to handle the battery situation. I have plans to add lights, a winch, fridge, et cetera so I wanted to make sure I had enough juice when offroading/camping. I really like the idea of a dual battery system, but to do it right you figure you've got $250-300 for each battery, plus a battery management system, a second battery tray, wiring.... All told you can easily be in for $1000. Now if money wasn't an object then no problem, but I'm trying to be smart about where to put my mod money. I decided to take the less badass (less fun, less money) approach which is a single AGM battery with an antigravity jump pack as backup.

I had always figured when it was time to get an upgraded battery I would go with the Sears DH Group 31 that everyone seems to like. Unfortunately, you can't get the great deals you used to be able to get on them, it seems a lot of people are having less luck with them these days, and lastly they seem to be in the process of discontinuing them.

After researching alternatives a bit, a decided on this battery, a Batteries Plus X2 Power Premium 27F AGM battery with 930 CCA and 195 min reserve capacity. These are similar specs to the DH battery, but it comes with a full 5 year replacement warranty and is a direct fit for our trucks. It is a private label Northstar battery which I believe is made in America. I got it for $305 minus 10% discount and a $30 rebate, so after taxes and rebate I'm looking at $265 OTD.

Bolting it in was easy enough. The battery did seem to be a little taller than stock, so I had to use a little force to tighten down the battery hold down, but it was minor enough and conformed to the top of the battery perfectly.

View attachment 1191298
View attachment 1191299

Now all that's left is to order a Antigravity XP-10 to keep in the truck.

Btw, here's a really good battery post in the 80 series section that I found useful. I recommend going through the FAQ over there as they have a lot of really good info, some of which works for the 100 series.

Battery Information

Put a solar panel on the roof and regulator in the boot problem solved. If you are putting drawers in the boot add your second/third battery in the wings of the drawers and put your regulator in there to

 

[TheWhiskeyWorks]

I will be adding solar at some point to help keep the battery charged for camping trips. The current plan, though, is to avoid having to install the second/third battery unless I feel the need arises. One big battery, solar deployed when camping, and a jump pack... I really think that should be sufficient for my needs.

As with anything though, we'll see.

 

[woofa68]

I will be adding solar at some point to help keep the battery charged for camping trips. The current plan, though, is to avoid having to install the second/third battery unless I feel the need arises. One big battery, solar deployed when camping, and a jump pack... I really think that should be sufficient for my needs.

As with anything though, we'll see.

Check out my post Kimberly Kakadu 2005 and see solar setup bolted to roof bars and battery's in boot permanently in place shopping camping what ever battery always charging