ZER0's LX470 Honeymoon Build (1 Viewer)

[Zer0zg]

Hey everyone,

I recently started a thread on an AHC question on my new truck, but I figured a proper intro thread was in order.

I am an engineer and lifetime car guy who spent most of my time in the sports car/motorcycle world. I am in the difficult predicament of being a car guy in NYC, with all of parking and wrenching hurdles that brings. Most of the past 15 years or so I've wrenched on rusty Datsuns, a Miata and a whole range of naked bikes. I finally got fed up with my unreliable VW GTI daily driver and decided I needed something bigger, more dependable and more capable of handling the boulder-sized potholes in NYC. Driving in Brooklyn might as well be rock crawling.

I used to have a shared workshop in the South Bronx where my friends and I would wrench on our projects together in the evenings, but we sadly lost that space a few years back. I have a small workshop in the Brooklyn Navy Yard these days, but it is made out of shipping containers, and I can really only work on motorcycles there. All the car work I do these days is in a parking space under the Brooklyn Queens Expressway... I miss the old place, built my VQ35 powered 240z there.

Having given up on my VW, I decided to build something to serve as an awesome daily here in NYC, but also could be my fiancee's and my home for our honeymoon in August. We are planning a road trip across the country to hit a bunch of the state and national parks, as well as anywhere else beautiful and wild. We're thinking 75% camping and 25% hotels, so we wanted something tough and big enough for us, our stuff and our doggo to spend a few weeks in. The last major stop of this road trip will likely be our third visit to Burning Man in NV, an event we've flown to in the past.

And so I landed on the LC/LX, and started my search. Most of the NYC cars are beat to hell, so I ended up finding a clean one in PA that was at a deep discount due to non-op AHC in limp mode. It's an '04 LX with 180k that was mostly serviced at the dealer. It has a clean body and spotless interior, with some rusty components underneath, but nothing that looks structural. I picked it up a little over a week ago, drove it home on the bumpstops, and with your help and Techstream, isolated the AHC problem to a slow leak in a rear shock hydraulic hose, which is on the way now. Other items I've noticed as I've put a few miles on the truck are:

• Intermittently seized front caliper(replaced 1/5/19)
• Exhaust leak in header and a couple pinholes downstream
• PS front door lock actuator on it's way out
• Some of the ML speakers sound blown
• Possible power steering issue, but that appears to have resolved itself, I'll flush the fluid anyway.

Other than that, my list to prep the car for our honeymoon is as follows(and I am open to suggestions for more !):

• Timing belt(unsure of last change)
• Good street/light offroad tires(open to recs here)
• Remove dented step rails and possibly install sliders
• Pads, rotors, bearings all around
• AHC fluid flush, possibly preventative globe replacement
• New rear springs or spacer, crank TB's
• Canavie head unit (if I can be convinced it will drive the ML system)
• Roof Rack/storage

I'm excited to join the club, and I know I'll be learning a bunch from you all in the coming months. Thanks!

 

[MongooseGA]

Welcome. Is that the galactic gray? Looks like mine when I bought it.


You're on a good track. For mostly on road tires that can handle some off-roading, I was pretty happy with the Yokohama Geolanders that came on another LX I used to have. They didn't look obnoxiously off-roady but they performed well for what I took my stock truck into. Rode well, wore well, etc.

 

[smartparts]

Looks like I got the last decent LX out of NYC, tho mine has a fair bit of rust. Be excited to see how the headunit install goes. Thinking about doing it on mine.

 

[Zer0zg]

So I finally got around to doing the rear AHC line that was leaking. Took me 6 hours to get it out, but it's finally done. That is definitely a component that was installed on the frame before the body is attached...

The next item on the list is the exhaust header leak. The sound doesn't really bother me, but it's leaking badly enough that there is some significant exhaust smell when the heat is on. I know this can be a big job, especially on rust belt vehicles. I'm a bit on the fence on what the best way to tackle this is.

The lazy part of me wants to just try to slap some high temp JB weld on there. I haven't pulled the heat shield yet to see exactly where the leak is. I know I should pull the header and do it right, but between the rust and accessibility I'm dreading it. Part of me also wonders that if I'm going through the the trouble of replacing the headers, I should just upgrade to the DT headers, but it seems like they might make the job even harder as they look bigger.

 

[Zer0zg]

Attempted to do the Doug Thorley header install this weekend, broke one cat bolt and rounded off one manifold bolt. I decided the hardware is too rusty to attempt without a garage(I park on the street and have to move my car for street sweeping every other day). I didn’t want to put the car in an undriveable state.

On the plus side, I did use the opportunity to replace the drivers front AHC line which was also starting to weep a bit. Had to do some serious gymnastics to get the new one in there without removing anything, but it’s in. Unless I find a place to properly work on it, I'm probably gonna have to bring it to a shop to do the headers, and might have them do the timing belt while they’re in there. I hate admitting defeat, but rusty bolts are impossible to deal with on your back under the Brooklyn Queens Expressway. If anyone knows a good shop within a drive of NYC let me know!

 

[Zer0zg]

Only a year later, but I finally got the DT headers installed. Gave it to a buddy's shop and told them to take their time if it saved on cost. A month later got it back... They had to torch off every drivers side bolt. That said, the car feels great, smells great and is so nice and quiet now. Stoked to finally have this done.

Next on the list is refoaming the speakers, timing belt, and the tesla style headunit whenever production ramps up from coronavirus.