- Thread starter
- #21
I know I know ... You're not gonna let me live in peace with the wifeExcellent dude!!!
Swing by any time so we can start spending some (your) money in additions.
TRVLNTZ - My LX470 Build (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter unleashd
- Start date
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ooops, missed this was a Lexus.
Congrats! Your LX may need a tune up, or you just may need to get used to life in the slow lane! 
You should also inspect those pesky heater tees at the back of the engine. If they’re weeping, replace. If they’ve never been replaced, replace. If it’s been more than 75k miles or so, replace!
You should also inspect those pesky heater tees at the back of the engine. If they’re weeping, replace. If they’ve never been replaced, replace. If it’s been more than 75k miles or so, replace!
- Thread starter
- #24
Thanks for the pointer. I will add this to my to-do list.Congrats! Your LX may need a tune up, or you just may need to get used to life in the slow lane!
You should also inspect those pesky heater tees at the back of the engine. If they’re weeping, replace. If they’ve never been replaced, replace. If it’s been more than 75k miles or so, replace!
D21FJ60
#LiveLaughLove.
Best colour combo for those. Good find !
- Thread starter
- #26
There is a lot paint peeling. Chrome paint is flaking and peels off easily. What has everybody done?
- Thread starter
- #27
This truck is coming along nicely, one step at a time. Adding some progress pictures from over the past few months to keep the thread updated.
Tundra 18" wheels, 1.5" spacers
New LCD panel and Grom vLine v2 installed
Transfer case shift lever extension
AHC leak lead to a switch to LC suspension
No more AHC lights after disconnecting the AHC ECU under the dash.
Front sway bar end links replaced.
Tundra 18" wheels, 1.5" spacers
New LCD panel and Grom vLine v2 installed
Transfer case shift lever extension
AHC leak lead to a switch to LC suspension
No more AHC lights after disconnecting the AHC ECU under the dash.
Front sway bar end links replaced.
- Thread starter
- #28
Keeping up with my build/update/maintenance log
May 23, 2021
Started to baseline my recently purchased (March '21) 2001 LX470. It came with service records until about 5 yrs back when the PO stopped using the dealership for service. So, I figured a baselining was needed.
June 5, 2021
Finished installing a replacement LCD and the GROM vLine in the LX. Took a few tries to get the ribbon cable seated behind the LCD panel. BT audio quality is awesome with the GROM. Just have to figure out how to get the phone calls to go through this unit and also get some more apps installed.
09/01/21 - Update after using this system for a couple of months. While BT streaming is good, I've had several issues with this unit. Carplay and voice calls are not functioning. The GPS is lagging and spotty. BT keeps dropping connection almost every 4-5 minutes and reconnecting. Worked with GROM customer support and after several factory resets and the latest GROM update as of last week, the situation has improved slightly. BT seems to be stable and not dropping connections as often, Carplay works in wired and wireless mode. GPS is still bad. And, I still am unable to use the voice calling through BT as the person on the other end is unable to hear me. GROM is sending a replacement mic. Hopefully that will remedy the situation.
before & after pictures
May 23, 2021
Started to baseline my recently purchased (March '21) 2001 LX470. It came with service records until about 5 yrs back when the PO stopped using the dealership for service. So, I figured a baselining was needed.
- Replaced the Engine Oil
- Replaced all the air filters - Cabin & Engine
- Washed up the engine bay in preparation for some more work in the upcoming week. Waiting on parts & materials
- Change out spark plugs.
- Considering replacing coil packs as well. Should I?
- Timing belt replacement - AISIN TKT021 on the way
- Replace Fan belt
- AHC Flush
- Transmission oil flush
- Diff oil flush
- Removed the engine skid plate, cleaned the rust and painted the inside with engine enamel paint (09/01/21 - This piece is going to need more cleaning and painting)
June 5, 2021
Finished installing a replacement LCD and the GROM vLine in the LX. Took a few tries to get the ribbon cable seated behind the LCD panel. BT audio quality is awesome with the GROM. Just have to figure out how to get the phone calls to go through this unit and also get some more apps installed.
09/01/21 - Update after using this system for a couple of months. While BT streaming is good, I've had several issues with this unit. Carplay and voice calls are not functioning. The GPS is lagging and spotty. BT keeps dropping connection almost every 4-5 minutes and reconnecting. Worked with GROM customer support and after several factory resets and the latest GROM update as of last week, the situation has improved slightly. BT seems to be stable and not dropping connections as often, Carplay works in wired and wireless mode. GPS is still bad. And, I still am unable to use the voice calling through BT as the person on the other end is unable to hear me. GROM is sending a replacement mic. Hopefully that will remedy the situation.
before & after pictures
- Thread starter
- #29
July 24, 2021
Last weekend, the truck leaked all the AHC fluid after developing a leak in a fitting near the rear passenger side. After doing some research on saving the AHC or not, I decided to go with a conventional LC setup and get rid of the AHC. Primary reasoning to go this route was to avoid having another such failure while on the 12K mile road trip planned for next year(more on that later). I bought the LC springs and TBs from FBM. Shocks were ordered from McGeorge along with all the required hardware. I went with Toyota OEM shocks for the LC. Thankful to both the sellers for sending the parts quickly.
Met with a friend at his garage this morning to work on this. I was expecting to see some carnage from rusted parts, but was hopeful to save the AHC components as much as I could. Within the first few minutes, we both were conclusive that the rear AHC componenents were not worth saving - Shocks, AHC lines, nuts & bolts were rusted pretty bad. After that it was an easy decision on what tools were needed, starting with a Sawzall and graduating to a plasma cutter.
The plasma cutter made things go bye bye quickly
The rear end of the torsion bars were stuck(more like rust welded) into the adjusters and were not coming out after going at them with a hammer and and air hammer. So, we cut the ends off the TBs, cut a hold on the end caps and them hammered the ends out of the adjusters. LX TBs were replaced with LC TBs.
After 6 hours, the LX is back on its feet with a renewed suspension setup. Currently sitting at almost the same height as before. But, there is still some more adjustment remaining to lift the LX some more. Current measurements from the center of the axle to the bottom of the fender is 19" on the front and 20.5" in the rear. I do have about 150-200lbs of stuff in the trunk area with the drawer system filled.
Pulled off the panel below the steering to access the AHC ECU to disable it after gutting the AHC. No more idiot lights in the dash.
While in there, I saw a few unused connectors and a mystery component in the pictures below. Can someone shed some light on what these are for?
Last weekend, the truck leaked all the AHC fluid after developing a leak in a fitting near the rear passenger side. After doing some research on saving the AHC or not, I decided to go with a conventional LC setup and get rid of the AHC. Primary reasoning to go this route was to avoid having another such failure while on the 12K mile road trip planned for next year(more on that later). I bought the LC springs and TBs from FBM. Shocks were ordered from McGeorge along with all the required hardware. I went with Toyota OEM shocks for the LC. Thankful to both the sellers for sending the parts quickly.
Met with a friend at his garage this morning to work on this. I was expecting to see some carnage from rusted parts, but was hopeful to save the AHC components as much as I could. Within the first few minutes, we both were conclusive that the rear AHC componenents were not worth saving - Shocks, AHC lines, nuts & bolts were rusted pretty bad. After that it was an easy decision on what tools were needed, starting with a Sawzall and graduating to a plasma cutter.
The plasma cutter made things go bye bye quickly
The rear end of the torsion bars were stuck(more like rust welded) into the adjusters and were not coming out after going at them with a hammer and and air hammer. So, we cut the ends off the TBs, cut a hold on the end caps and them hammered the ends out of the adjusters. LX TBs were replaced with LC TBs.
After 6 hours, the LX is back on its feet with a renewed suspension setup. Currently sitting at almost the same height as before. But, there is still some more adjustment remaining to lift the LX some more. Current measurements from the center of the axle to the bottom of the fender is 19" on the front and 20.5" in the rear. I do have about 150-200lbs of stuff in the trunk area with the drawer system filled.
Pulled off the panel below the steering to access the AHC ECU to disable it after gutting the AHC. No more idiot lights in the dash.
While in there, I saw a few unused connectors and a mystery component in the pictures below. Can someone shed some light on what these are for?
- Thread starter
- #30
Aug 15, 2021
Got the LX back from the shop after some much needed TLC
- Doug Thorley Headers with all new hardware
- Replaced all coolant hoses (fore & aft of engine) along with new Ts
- Coolant drained and replaced with Toyota Red
- Timing belt, water pump, bearings - Aisin kit & OEM Thermostat
- Denso spark plugs
Sep 1, 2021
Unwrapped some packages immediately after they were delivered. Disappointed that one important component was missed out in the shipping
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-93CSWBw/0/40b70b6b/X2/i-93CSWBw-X2.jpg[/IMG
][IMG]https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-gVWrTHZ/0/c41be2f4/X2/i-gVWrTHZ-X2.jpg
Sep 2, 2021
Ordered and received a combination (L&R) set of rear antenna/light mounts from YodaTeq yesterday. The finish of the product is great. I mocked it up and felt that the coax was a bit too 'touchy' on the paint. I'll be ordering a right angle PL259 connector to get it away from the body and avoid paint damage.
Then it was time to get the IM bumper installed. Taking off the stock bumper was pretty easy. The IM bumper mounting is not too hard either, except lining up and keeping the crush tube standing while working on a slanted driveway Got distracted with work work and some other things. So, I couldn't finish up last night. Should be able to get this aligned and finished up today. I will be retaining the factory recovery points for now and at a later time, I might switch over to something more 'beefier'. Found some small areas of surface rust behind the bumper. So, cleaned them up and sprayed some engine enamel paint that I had laying around. While I was going slow with this, there was an unfortunate casualty with the trim piece in between the headlights
Got the LX back from the shop after some much needed TLC
- Doug Thorley Headers with all new hardware
- Replaced all coolant hoses (fore & aft of engine) along with new Ts
- Coolant drained and replaced with Toyota Red
- Timing belt, water pump, bearings - Aisin kit & OEM Thermostat
- Denso spark plugs
Sep 1, 2021
Unwrapped some packages immediately after they were delivered. Disappointed that one important component was missed out in the shipping
https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-93CSWBw/0/40b70b6b/X2/i-93CSWBw-X2.jpg[/IMG
][IMG]https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-gVWrTHZ/0/c41be2f4/X2/i-gVWrTHZ-X2.jpg
Sep 2, 2021
Ordered and received a combination (L&R) set of rear antenna/light mounts from YodaTeq yesterday. The finish of the product is great. I mocked it up and felt that the coax was a bit too 'touchy' on the paint. I'll be ordering a right angle PL259 connector to get it away from the body and avoid paint damage.
Then it was time to get the IM bumper installed. Taking off the stock bumper was pretty easy. The IM bumper mounting is not too hard either, except lining up and keeping the crush tube standing while working on a slanted driveway
Got distracted with work work and some other things. So, I couldn't finish up last night. Should be able to get this aligned and finished up today. I will be retaining the factory recovery points for now and at a later time, I might switch over to something more 'beefier'. Found some small areas of surface rust behind the bumper. So, cleaned them up and sprayed some engine enamel paint that I had laying around. While I was going slow with this, there was an unfortunate casualty with the trim piece in between the headlights 
- Thread starter
- #31
Sep 3, 2021
Finished up the IM Front bumper install . Thanks a bunch to @rrc swb for swinging by and helping with the mounting/alignment. It definitely helped to speed things up. Ended up painting the recovery hooks in tractor red. I also threw on an old set of PIAA LED spots that were on my TJ. I'll use the IM wiring kit to hook them up. I have to do some fine adjustments to the alignment on the passenger side. It looks slight off (~5mm) and probably so due to the dings on that fender flare.
Impressions so far....
- The bumper is well made, giving the truck a tough guy look
- Overall, the install was very simple, except for the tricky crush tube that goes inside the chassis
- The M14x100mm bolt for the passenger side doesn't allow to discard the factory hook. I am not a big fan of that hook hanging so low and peeking out from under the bumper. I've ordered a new set of bolts from McMaster Carr and will replace it later.
- The road noise level inside the cab has definitely gone up, way up. With the Cooper ATs, I had some increased road noise from the Michelins that came with the LX. Over the past few months, my ears were tuned to that. This noise level will take a few more days to get used to.
- The long bolts going through the chassis and crush tube are at least 20mm too long. They stick out quite a bit. If they end up being a problem, I'll trim them later.
- The front definitely sags quite a bit on the conventional LC suspension using OEM LC shocks. I plan to install the IM Stage 1 setup with Foam Cell Pro shocks this weekend and will adjust the TBs to level out the LX.
- As expected, the turn signals are hyper flashing. Replacement flasher unit is on the way.
- Fog lights wired to the factory circuit are pretty bright. I might switch to HIDs when retrofitting the headlights.
Finished up the IM Front bumper install . Thanks a bunch to @rrc swb for swinging by and helping with the mounting/alignment. It definitely helped to speed things up. Ended up painting the recovery hooks in tractor red. I also threw on an old set of PIAA LED spots that were on my TJ. I'll use the IM wiring kit to hook them up. I have to do some fine adjustments to the alignment on the passenger side. It looks slight off (~5mm) and probably so due to the dings on that fender flare.
Impressions so far....
- The bumper is well made, giving the truck a tough guy look
- Overall, the install was very simple, except for the tricky crush tube that goes inside the chassis
- The M14x100mm bolt for the passenger side doesn't allow to discard the factory hook. I am not a big fan of that hook hanging so low and peeking out from under the bumper. I've ordered a new set of bolts from McMaster Carr and will replace it later.
- The road noise level inside the cab has definitely gone up, way up. With the Cooper ATs, I had some increased road noise from the Michelins that came with the LX. Over the past few months, my ears were tuned to that. This noise level will take a few more days to get used to.
- The long bolts going through the chassis and crush tube are at least 20mm too long. They stick out quite a bit. If they end up being a problem, I'll trim them later.
- The front definitely sags quite a bit on the conventional LC suspension using OEM LC shocks. I plan to install the IM Stage 1 setup with Foam Cell Pro shocks this weekend and will adjust the TBs to level out the LX.
- As expected, the turn signals are hyper flashing. Replacement flasher unit is on the way.
- Fog lights wired to the factory circuit are pretty bright. I might switch to HIDs when retrofitting the headlights.
- Thread starter
- #32
Sep 9, 2021 - Finished up the IronMan stage 1 suspension.
Last edited:
Looks great like that, what a difference in such a short period of time!! Keep up the great work!
- Thread starter
- #35
Updates in the last month....
Added some lighting for the undercarriage
Added a Scanguage mount from @BenCC
Installed Metal Tech Sliders. Bought them in raw metal. 2 coats of primer, 3 coats of truck bed paint.
Picked up a 84x56 Rhino rack Pioneer Platform rack - Package deal included an awning, fuel can carrier, solar panel, hi-lift jack and shovel holder.
Had the truck undercarriage coated in Lanolin based product.
Added some lighting for the undercarriage
Added a Scanguage mount from @BenCC
Installed Metal Tech Sliders. Bought them in raw metal. 2 coats of primer, 3 coats of truck bed paint.
Picked up a 84x56 Rhino rack Pioneer Platform rack - Package deal included an awning, fuel can carrier, solar panel, hi-lift jack and shovel holder.
Had the truck undercarriage coated in Lanolin based product.
- Thread starter
- #36
Oct 12, 2021
Picked up a Rhino rack roof rack today. This is the largest size, I think, 84"x56". PO had them mounted on an Excursion. Package deal for rack, awning, Dual jerry can mount, Solar panel, Hi-lift & shovel mount. The size is perfect, IMO. Used heavy duty zip ties to secure it temporarily to bring it home. New mounting feet are on order. The front of the rack comes up just a little past the sunroof. The rear clears the whale tail by about 3" when it is fully opened.
Oct 31, 2021
Finally got the Rhino rack mounted today!! Thanks to @FxFormat @rrc swb @Eighteen11R for help, advice, directions etc.
Nov 10, 2021
I ditched the idea of building up an M116A3 trailer and instead picked up an already built up M416 for my planned expeditions. The new-to-me trailer already has a 3 person tent, 8x8 awning, covered room as well as another room with mosquito nets, 100W Renogy solar panel, Solar charge controller, 2x AGM batteries, 360* lighting, ARB Elements fridge/freezer, Propane tanks etc. This was custom built by the PO himself that drives a 2012 FJ Cruiser. '
Picked up a Rhino rack roof rack today. This is the largest size, I think, 84"x56". PO had them mounted on an Excursion. Package deal for rack, awning, Dual jerry can mount, Solar panel, Hi-lift & shovel mount. The size is perfect, IMO. Used heavy duty zip ties to secure it temporarily to bring it home. New mounting feet are on order. The front of the rack comes up just a little past the sunroof. The rear clears the whale tail by about 3" when it is fully opened.
Oct 31, 2021
Finally got the Rhino rack mounted today!! Thanks to @FxFormat @rrc swb @Eighteen11R for help, advice, directions etc.
Nov 10, 2021
I ditched the idea of building up an M116A3 trailer and instead picked up an already built up M416 for my planned expeditions. The new-to-me trailer already has a 3 person tent, 8x8 awning, covered room as well as another room with mosquito nets, 100W Renogy solar panel, Solar charge controller, 2x AGM batteries, 360* lighting, ARB Elements fridge/freezer, Propane tanks etc. This was custom built by the PO himself that drives a 2012 FJ Cruiser. '
