TWT -- The Wrenching Thread (7 Viewers)

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I can’t speak on the sniper. Supply shortages deferred me from waiting the 6-8 weeks. I can 2nd everything Del is saying about EFI. I just finished a Howell kit and it feels like I did a motor swap. It’s woken the 2F up.
So if any of you were thinking about purchasing and installing a sniper 2300 efi system in your carb rig.

Do it!!

The efi took some troubleshooting to get it going right but it now it is running amazing.

The problem I was having was not the efi system. Garret came by yesterday and found the fuel line connection at the tank just loose enough that it was sucking in air. This was leading to the way not being able to get enough fuel and or too much air and kept messing it and not running correctly when idling.

We ran the truck yesterday and it drove perfect.

I drove it today and the performance is ridiculous. I have 4:88 gears with 35s on the truck and the little 22r does not care. It doesn’t stumble or run out power at any point. The second you press the gas pedal it delivers with zero issue.
And the best part is that it seems to keep running better and better the more I run it.

I can’t express how happy I am and so glad that I went against my instinct and bought and installed the sniper.
 
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Fixed it!
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Finally wired up the lights in my ARB rear bumper. When I pulled the taillights to get to the wires, I found most of the bulbs were from 'Japan'. Are these OEM from new? 25 years and 270k miles?!? I know the china replacements from Advance have trouble lasting 25 days...
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No real wrenching. But I did pick up a 5.3 vortec with 61k miles.

This will be going into my 89 fj62.
One more piece to add to the parts collection.

I currently have a total of $100 invested in this
 
Lots of sweaty wrenching this week in the Sauna, I mean garage...

Repaired a broke wire in my TRD SC jumper harness, replaced my TPS and calibrated it, cleaned the MAF sensor, replaced EGR modulator & installed a new booster, master cylinder & LSPV.

The old one was seized and not allowing fluid to the rear calipers.

Lost about 10lbs of water weight too!
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That's a definite improvement over the chain...
 
Good afternoon cruisers, I could use some feed on the best order to do the following projects for my '97 LX450:
  • Gut interior (window seal leak happened when I was out of town for a few months and I had mildew growing on the interior. Leak now repaired but it still smells pretty musty and I'd like to get a look at the floorboards to see if I have any rust from all the water that sat in the front passenger area. And then obviously repair the rust if it's there)
  • Redo interior (new carpet, re-cover front seats, add DIY drawers with sleep platform, updated double DIN unit with Apple Carplay and backup camera, possibly plastic spray paint some of the interior plastic, whatever other fun modifications I can think of or find)
  • Touch up or possibly even completely repaint the entire vehicle. It lived outside for a long time and the hood especially is looking pretty rough
The following are grouped together because I think I’ll need heavy springs on the OME suspension for the new bumpers, but I think it’s probably unwise to have the heavy springs installed without the added weight because of impacts to the ride and steering
  • OME 2.5 inch lift kit
  • New ARB front bumper and winch
  • Rear bumper with swing out tire carrier (exact TBD)
  • Lower profile roof rack (I currently have a cheapish Yakima safari basket and I miiiiight be able to squeeze in the garage with a lower profile rack)
And then possibly ARB lockers front and rear

I was thinking the right order would be:
  1. Gut interior
  2. Touch up or repaint
  3. Bumpers, OME 2.5 inch lift, roof rack
  4. Put in new interior and head unit/backup camera
  5. ARB lockers front and rear
The ARB lockers will be expensive even without labor, which I don’t really have the capability to do in my driveway or home garage (or even in a well equipped shop if I'm being totally honest without spending too much of my finite free team watching videos and reading manuals, and even then I'm afraid I might screw something up). For the level of wheeling I do, I’m not really sure I totally need lockers, plus like I said, it would cost a pretty penny. I’m also expecting to spend a few thousand on the previous 4 steps, so even if I decide to do the lockers eventually, it would be nice to do the lockers later. I guess I want to hear if there's a significant labor/cost savings if I get an installer to do the lockers at the same time as the suspension lift. I don't anticipate significant savings by grouping lockers with the lift, but curious if some of you might disagree.
 
Having a shop take your axles apart and pulling your thirds to add arb lockers will be twice as expensive. Yeah recommend you pull the thirds yourself and drop them off to have the lockers installed.

This is how I would do it.
Pull the interior
Paint and body
Replace interior
Order bumpers , roof rack, etc install as you buy them.
Install lift
Rebuild your axles - tear them apart and drop off thirds at ECGS
Get the thirds back and finish rebuilding axles.
 
Good afternoon cruisers, I could use some feed on the best order to do the following projects for my '97 LX450:
  • Gut interior (window seal leak happened when I was out of town for a few months and I had mildew growing on the interior. Leak now repaired but it still smells pretty musty and I'd like to get a look at the floorboards to see if I have any rust from all the water that sat in the front passenger area. And then obviously repair the rust if it's there)
  • Redo interior (new carpet, re-cover front seats, add DIY drawers with sleep platform, updated double DIN unit with Apple Carplay and backup camera, possibly plastic spray paint some of the interior plastic, whatever other fun modifications I can think of or find)
  • Touch up or possibly even completely repaint the entire vehicle. It lived outside for a long time and the hood especially is looking pretty rough
The following are grouped together because I think I’ll need heavy springs on the OME suspension for the new bumpers, but I think it’s probably unwise to have the heavy springs installed without the added weight because of impacts to the ride and steering
  • OME 2.5 inch lift kit
  • New ARB front bumper and winch
  • Rear bumper with swing out tire carrier (exact TBD)
  • Lower profile roof rack (I currently have a cheapish Yakima safari basket and I miiiiight be able to squeeze in the garage with a lower profile rack)
And then possibly ARB lockers front and rear

I was thinking the right order would be:
  1. Gut interior
  2. Touch up or repaint
  3. Bumpers, OME 2.5 inch lift, roof rack
  4. Put in new interior and head unit/backup camera
  5. ARB lockers front and rear
The ARB lockers will be expensive even without labor, which I don’t really have the capability to do in my driveway or home garage (or even in a well equipped shop if I'm being totally honest without spending too much of my finite free team watching videos and reading manuals, and even then I'm afraid I might screw something up). For the level of wheeling I do, I’m not really sure I totally need lockers, plus like I said, it would cost a pretty penny. I’m also expecting to spend a few thousand on the previous 4 steps, so even if I decide to do the lockers eventually, it would be nice to do the lockers later. I guess I want to hear if there's a significant labor/cost savings if I get an installer to do the lockers at the same time as the suspension lift. I don't anticipate significant savings by grouping lockers with the lift, but curious if some of you might disagree.
If you don't think you will need lockers then don't do them for now. If you wheel the truck and find out you do want lockers do it at that time.
You can do the lift first or the bumpers.... personally i'd do the lift first
If you are doing bigger tires and then want to regear your axles afterwards rethink the lockers at that point as it will save on labor having the gears and locker installed in the third at the same time.
Like Del said pull the thirds and drop them off to be done and it will also save a lot.
 
If you don't think you will need lockers then don't do them for now. If you wheel the truck and find out you do want lockers do it at that time.
You can do the lift first or the bumpers.... personally i'd do the lift first
If you are doing bigger tires and then want to regear your axles afterwards rethink the lockers at that point as it will save on labor having the gears and locker installed in the third at the same time.
Like Del said pull the thirds and drop them off to be done and it will also save a lot.

I was reading about tire sizes for quite awhile yesterday. I still have a lot of tread on my BFG KO 285 75R16, so after reading about regearing for 35s, I'm thinking I should just wear out my current set and then rethink tire size, lockers, and gears when that time comes. I wouldn't mind going up a little bit in size, but no more than the 315 75R16. Given that my LX450 is not my daily driver or the vehicle I typically use on long road trips, it should be a nice long break between these big projects and the differentials.

The soft LX springs are sagging like an old lady whenever I have much weight in the truck, and I would probably get a shop to do the lift. Even my corporate douche self should be able to install the bumpers myself, as long as I don't get a rear bumper that requires any welding.
 

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