RXREY Posted January 11, 2008 Share Posted January 11, 2008 You are too kind Tom...just say it...they are UGLY! Rey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gryphon Posted January 12, 2008 Share Posted January 12, 2008 You are too kind Tom...just say it...they are UGLY! Rey I reserve the word "ugly" for Michael Moore. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoN Posted January 13, 2008 Author Share Posted January 13, 2008 You are too kind Tom...just say it...they are UGLY! Rey I reserve the word "ugly" for Michael Moore. Tom second that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoN Posted January 14, 2008 Author Share Posted January 14, 2008 Ok, started taking apart the kit I recieved in the mail, apparently it is made by WAAG and I was reviewing the instructions... The support bars attatch directly to the frame, right to the soild bumper mounts, you must remove the bumper and styrofoam bumper cover and the metal bumper itself. The support mounts then are bolted directly to the frame, at which point you replace the metal bumper where it was previously bolted in, ontop of the mounts (which are 1/4" thick). The mounts stick out on the bottom and the top, part of the top mounts protruding from the bumper near the radiator, with the upper support mounts are bolted on later once the bumper is reconnected. Now Rey, I believe you said it was impossible for the upper support mounts to fit on the RX, Judging by the bumper and such I'm not able to tell yet if they will clear or not, but i'm fully prepared to cut a hole in my bumper to have them fit properly. I have posted an image of the grill mounted on an RX330, if you can't see, the lower mounts are the same on all vehicles Also posted is the grill guard for the RX400h, as you can see the bumper is different than the RX330, as there are two openings opposed to one, and the grill in the hood is bigger and wider than the RX330 Grill. The only problem I can forsee is the upper support mounts sticking out of the bumper connecting to the top of the grill guard might not fit under the hood, if that is a problem but if not we should be good to go. I will start taking apart the factory bumper and getting the mounts ready for later in the week, updates to come and I will promise to take pics during my install and of my other mods I currently have done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RXREY Posted January 14, 2008 Share Posted January 14, 2008 Great info and now I'm curious to see all that you are going to do! I am looking into getting lowering springs from Eibach. Are you possibly considering lowering yours? The Eibach lowering kit seems to be the best around and isn't supposed to affect the ride but I need to get an objective opinion. Anyway, have fun and keep me/all of us posted. Rey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoN Posted January 14, 2008 Author Share Posted January 14, 2008 Great info and now I'm curious to see all that you are going to do! I am looking into getting lowering springs from Eibach. Are you possibly considering lowering yours? The Eibach lowering kit seems to be the best around and isn't supposed to affect the ride but I need to get an objective opinion. Anyway, have fun and keep me/all of us posted. Rey I would love to, however I would most likely lose my warranty which is something that i can't afford! :( check back to me in a couple of years and i'll be up for lowering my car. I'm probably going to head the bigger wheel/smaller sidewall/high perf tire route to fix the "boat like" handling with the RX400h Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoN Posted January 15, 2008 Author Share Posted January 15, 2008 Hey tonight I will start taking apart the bumper and mounting everything together, pics to come! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoN Posted January 16, 2008 Author Share Posted January 16, 2008 Guys, Started working on the grill guard install last night, wasn't too tough to uninstall the factory bumper, however ran into a slight problem when the second radiator, which I believe is a A/C Condenser or something, I had to bend the pipe back to fit the mounting bracket, I took detailed pictures of my findings and was able to mount the brackets ok. I'm still in the process of putting together the ramming guard itself, but I will try and get it mounted up tonight and put everything back together. Note, have two empty gallon jugs ready because when you try and disassemble the factory bumper the headlamp washer fluid will drain out automatically!! ugh. Other than that the hardest part was getting the mounts to bolt up correctly and align them. I kind of cheated and used a air compressor gun to tighten them, but everything is secure and i'm now ready to mount the upper support mounts that extend from the radiator up to the top of the ramming guard and bolt it securely into place. Then just replace the bumper and I'll be back on the road! Not too bad but I will summarize this when finished upon steps that you should plan on taking to avoid the problems I ran into Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoN Posted January 17, 2008 Author Share Posted January 17, 2008 Update... I'm almost done installing the gill guard, I worked on assembling the guard itself, which took almost an hour to get tightened and aligned correctly. I then mounted the grill on the lower mounts with the bumper off and everything looked ok, centered it and took it back off. I then reinstalled all the fog lamp connections, headlamp washer fluid connections, and the styrofoam bumper protector. I then screwed in the two mounts on either end of the bumper near the wheel wells and connected the three mounts near the radiator with the push-on clips. After re-assembling the bumper I then mounted the grill guard back onto the front with only the four lower support bolts connected. I went to install the upper support assembly and ran into the problem rey mentioned... the front grill is different and it doesn't allow for the room to properly mount the supports, however, I plan on heading to home depot tonight, purcahsing a 2" long bolt 3/8" thick, and a ton of washers, so theoretically it will be clamped down tight but just mount an inch and a half higher (the clearance that it really needs) arg im going to get this right even if it requires a simple solution like that, no cutting or welding involved!!! I'll display pics of the problem/situation and how I plan to address this with all the necessary parts for anyone else attempting to complete this install. After these upper support mounts are installed all that I must worry about is closing the hood and making sure it has enough clearance, which I don't forsee being a problem. Hopefully by tonight this will all be completed and i'll be on my way happily running over stuff and ramming cones/highway barricades :-p more updates to come tomorrow hopefully with pics if I have time to upload them, thanks for all the support thus so far Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LexKid630 Posted January 17, 2008 Share Posted January 17, 2008 Why did you take apart your bumper on the 400h? The grill guard for the 330/350/400h is the same and fits all of them without modification. The guard i have on my 350 now used to be on my 330, then on my 400h when i had it. The dealer put it on for me each time but didn't inform me of any mod problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoN Posted January 18, 2008 Author Share Posted January 18, 2008 Why did you take apart your bumper on the 400h? The grill guard for the 330/350/400h is the same and fits all of them without modification. The guard i have on my 350 now used to be on my 330, then on my 400h when i had it. The dealer put it on for me each time but didn't inform me of any mod problems. the upper mounting support bars don't fit... the rx400h has a different front bumper than the rx330. WAAG makes a separate kit for the rx400h Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoN Posted January 18, 2008 Author Share Posted January 18, 2008 Its finally done!!!!!!!!!! I will post up a step by step writeup on how to install the bumper guard, but the biggest pain in the !Removed! was reinstalling the front bumper, as I proceeded to take apart all of the undercarriage from the wheel wells, which was NOT necessary, only the two screws that lock it into the fender on the edge of the bumper, which I will highlight in my writeup. As for the problem that I ran into with the upper support mounts (Rey's problem), my "mass washers and longer bolts solution" worked like a charm, I puchased 2" long 3/8" thick screws, loaded them up with approx 20 washers each and bolted them down to create a now-solid 1.75" mounting gap (the washers almost act like spacers) to compensate for the taller RX400h bumper. This worked out perfectly, and the bumper doesn't shake at all from what I can tell. I did cheat and use an air compressor gun to tighten the lower support bolts, but we'll see once I hit the highway as this has been known to vibrate over 70mph. <_< Its nice knowing I have this big barrier in front of me, I don't have to worry anymore about my precious baby accidentally making contact with a parking pole or a stationary object of some sort. Just a piece of mind, but it helps. I'm still deciding on the rear bumper guard, although its ugly as hell i'm not sure what i'm going to do about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoN Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 Before I started, here is the picture of the front of my car, Here is the picture of my heater keeping me warm working in the garage during the install! two of these things are much better than typical stationary space heaters. Yes, its a Hybrid Teaser pics of the Supra and the other cars in the garage Starting to disassemble the front bumper... Bolts under the front fender, ONLY disconnect this silver one you can barely see, and the bolt closest to the front of the bumper on the fender well edge, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoN Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 Just took off the front bumper, next comes the styrofoam ***Note, watch out when you remove the headlamp washer line, it drains all the washer fluid!! have at least two gallon jugs ready to catch the excess fluid as you can see a bunch dripped on my towels ugh Everything off except the front metal bumper itself, air gun, compressor, allen keys, screwdrivers, etc Close up of the front bumper, you must unbolt these three bolts, mount the grill guard support ontop of the front bumper mounts, then replace the metal front bumper back where it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoN Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 Metal Front bumper disassembled With the grill guard mounts ready to be bolted down Everything bolted back together, sorry I forgot to take pics (my friend never came over to help me) in between, but all you have to do is bolt the bumper back onto the front and mount the grill guard itself and tighten the bottom bolts, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoN Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 Here are the upper support mounts, I bought about (20 washers per screw) and purchased 2" long screws to bolt up the upper support mounts to the grill guard, since the RX400h bumper is taller than the RX330 bumper, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoN Posted January 21, 2008 Author Share Posted January 21, 2008 Here are the lower support mounts Here is another problem, along the lower passenger side of the grill guard, the lower support mounts, run into the A/C Condenser lines, you must bend these lines in order to make the Grill guard fit, as you can see mine almost rubs up against it, dangerous I know, but i'll be ok The Finished Product Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RXREY Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Wow, I'm exhausted just looking at all of that work! Great job...now go and have a rest! BTW...How many cars do you have?! Sheesh! Take care, Rey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeoN Posted January 22, 2008 Author Share Posted January 22, 2008 Wow, I'm exhausted just looking at all of that work! Great job...now go and have a rest! BTW...How many cars do you have?! Sheesh! Take care, Rey lol no comment, those aren't mine (my parents cars') but we've got my sisters car outside as well lol (she has a Rx330) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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