dougjohn2

50% of brake wear is acceptible under CPO. I was "hit" by this as well when I purchased my LX 450 a couple years ago. I went through the identical situation with brakes. You came out better than I did though -- they paid for half of my brake job. Just get them to make up for it by fixing everything else that goes wrong ;)

not necessarily. it depends on how dramatic the change is from OEM size.

octane and O2 sensors have nothing to do with each other.

Yes, you can change tire and wheel size. You can't go smaller in wheel size than a 16" wheel (without making what I would think to be a fairly serious modification), but you can go larger. I know of someone who has 23" wheels on his LX 450 -- but he has made quite a few modifications to his truck. Tire size can go up as well, but you have to consider how much room you have in the wheel well. Without making modifications to the suspension, brake lines, etc. you'll be limited in how large you can go. What are you thinking of putting on?

VSV = Vacuum Switching Valve. Here's some info on what the VSV does: http://www.autoshop101.com/forms/h61.pdf I'd have to check the Factory Service Manual to get the exact location of the VSV on the 1FZ engine...

Make sure they don't go with that aftermarket garbage for body parts!

What's the deal Frank? One LX not enough for ya? :D BTW, I'd like to see pics of the finished 450 once you get it done. Cheers.

I'm not sure what you'd need to do for the 470...I've checked the 450 (which I have) and it's not too difficult. Here's what I found on the 450: The one on the grill is bolted on somehow. I'm not sure how you'd access that one unless you remove the grill. One the rear, the "L" is held on by automotive adhesive foam tape. A hair dryer could be used to heat it up first. Some people use dental floss -- I would use some high-test fishing line personally -- to "saw" through the adhesive between the emblem and the body. The emblem on the rear hatch has a couple posts that insert into the body...something to note as your try to remove it (I think the posts are only used to align the emblem (no nuts holding it on). Some use a heat gun as opposed to a hair dryer to heat the adhesive for removal. It's faster, but could heat stuff a little too fast or get it too hot.

If you're looking for engine modification and not exterior (i.e. body parts), anything available for a 1995 through 1997 Toyota Land Cruiser will definitely work with a 1996 or 1997 Lexus LX 450. If someone told you otherwise, they were incorrect. The two highest ticket items available (that I know of) would be either a turbo charger or a supercharger. TRD made a supercharger for the 4.5L inline 6. There are still a number of them available, although TRD is no longer manufacturing them. Just off the top of my head, I know www.tlc4x4.com and www.man-a-fre.com have them. I believe you can find one at www.sor.com. When searching, you might also want to search for 80 series Land Cruiser parts (the LX 450 is essentially an 80 series Land Cruiser with a number of upgrades). There used to be a member of this board with quite a few performance related modifications, but I think he spends most of his time on the www.ih8mud.com forum. The focus there is more along the lines of off-road discussion, but if you search for posts from a member with the id of Endless on that site, you'll find a list of some of his performance mods...he has one very nice ride. One final note -- there has been a lot of discussion regarding the benefits of some aftermarket performance parts, such as K&N air filters, certain chips and tuner plug-ins, but honestly, I'm a bit sceptical when it comes to some of those things. For example, while the K&N might be less restrictive and let in more air, it could also be letting in small dust particles which could harm the engine...

After searching, I see that my prices were a bit off... A few I came across: http://www.tlc4x4.com/2000/Parts/tlc_kazuma_supercharger.htm 00602-17620-403 1998-2002 UZJ100 $4600.00 http://www.toyotaworld.com/trdsupercharger.html 00602-17620-603 2003 Land Cruiser V8 Supercharger Application 3950.00 http://www.toyota-parts.com/Default.aspx?url=Features.aspx 00602-17620-403 Supercharger Kit - 4.7L V8 $4,562.50 Of the 3 listed, I know of tlc4x4's reputation -- they're very good to work with. I don't know of the other 2. Before going with any of these, if it were my 470, I'd check with American Toyota first to see if they have one. I order all my parts from them. I have a couple friends who have purchased their 4.7L superchargers from eBay. They had no problems to date -- sometimes deals can be found.

True, they are not being made. TRD discontinued them a for several months now -- I don't think it's quite been a year. Nothing wrong with the ones they made, but I think there were running into problems with regulations of some sort. That said, when TRD stopped making them, they did not pull the ones already distrubuted to dealerships and to aftermarket dealers. There are TRD superchargers still out there in the market. if you're interested, you could search for 100 series Land Cruiser superchargers and/or LX 470 superchargers. I think the price is somewhere between $2800 and $3500, depending on who you find it from and installation will be around $1000, depending on where you have it done. If your 470 is still under warranty (engine), you'll probably want to have the work done by either a Toyota or Lexus dealership because if installed by them, your engine warranty remains valid. Where are you located? Let me know if you're having problems locating one.

Jeeps are cool. To each their own. As for the prices of these rigs...if you really look around, you'll find that the older Lexuses, the LX 450s (like I have) and the older LX 470s are less expensive than the new Jeeps -- and more capable...so the statement of the jeeps being half the price is not necessarily true (unless you're only talking about new rigs). I can tell you that I've passed more jeeps with problems (breakage, engine probs, etc.) on the trails than broken toyotas. If you want to spend your time working on the rig, then cool...get a jeep. Again, you're really not posting anything substantial as far as an argument for why your jeep is better than my lexus. Lets see some pics of you wheeling.

Thanks for the invite. I'd love to hit Katemcy some time. As it stands right now, however, I'm booking up most of my larger trips for this year. I'm looking at Death Valley in a few weeks, then Moab...then there's the Rubicon trip (or two this summer). I don't think I'll be able to squeeze in a trip to TX this year. No worries with the various comments. I don't take comments made on forums like this seriously. Cheers.

So...what's with the latest influx of Jeeper boys on the Lexus site? A jeep forum go down somewhere? I'm willing to bet you'll see a LX 450 or two at Katemcy this March when LSLC rolls in. Give 'em a couple years and you'll start seeing LX 470s there too. Most of these rigs start their lives as mall cruisers, but they can and do wheel well...in the right hands...

I understand. However, the 470 began its life with 16" wheels, then 17" were optional, then the 18". All 3 would be considered OEM size. Sticking with the 18" wheels yours came with, unfortunately reduces your options.

It's not a Lexus vs Jeep thing. It's a driver capability/experience and vehicle outfitting thing. The only advantage the Jeep would have is that it's about 1/2 the weight of the 470. To counteract the weight disadvantage, better/larger tires with a larger footprint would help.

It's really pointless to get into a *BLEEP*ing contest with a little girl so...I'll let much of your comments pass... Any time you want to wheel with me, you're more than welcome to join. You gonna bring momma's ride or do you have a rig of your own? If they'll let you out of school long enough, join me in Moab the first week of May. I'll be the one in the black and white LX 450 -- shouldn't be too hard to find me -- at this point, I'll likely be the only 2-toned, lifted 450. I know the capabilities of the 470 quite well. If you want to go toe to toe with a debate on specs and capabilities, I'd more than welcome the challenge. If you only want to get into a name-calling contest, you'll lose my interest real fast.

market demand. more demand = more choices. Can you fit a 17 or 16 inch wheel? If so, you'll have more options.

I agree with Rookie -- have someone check it out. I would suspect the alignment is incorrect, but don't take my word for it...

He posted the same question on another Lex forum. Apparently he was having problems with tire choices for 18" wheels. Options are out there, if one looks under the right rocks...like the www.tirerack.com rock or the www.tires.com rock...

so...what makes you think this site is filled only with 18-30 year-olds? I use Mobil 1 full synth in both my LX 450s. Haven't had a need to switch back to dino. My maintenance schedule is the same with synth as it would be for dino. You're quoting Lexus engineers...what's the source for your quote? I'd like to read where Lexus engineers made that statement.

I stand by my original statement. It was poor judgement to take an ill-equiped vehicle into that mud. Wrong tires, insufficient recovery equipment...etc. I'm not saying he didn't learn something from it -- I hope he did...but it wasn't smart to do. Most 100 series and 80 series Land Cruisers (LX 470 and LX 450 respectively) that I've seen with winches have a 12k (usually Warn) mounted. The 9000k winch isn't usually strong enough to get a 3ton vehicle out of deep mud. I've watched people do this before -- unless I need to go through the stuff, I steer clear of mud. There's other ways of having fun off-road, IMHO. Water will come in through the door sills if you're in it long enough. It'll stay out if you're in for a short while, but if you're stuck in the stuff, you can count on the nasty stuff coming in.

chip, good to see you here again! I'm on the ih8mud site as norcaldoug -- are you just lurking there or have you posted there as well? glad you got your starter issues taken care of under warranty -- I took care of mine the same way. With the FSM, however, it wouldn't have been too difficult to work on (for the 450).

not the smartest thing I've ever heard anyone do, but I'm not terribly surprised. did you air down your non-mud-terrain tires before going in the mud? that might've helped. street tires do not perform well at all in mud because that's not what they're designed to do. this was no fault of the vehicle -- this was poor driver judgement.

Terry - the instructions you have are correct for a LX 470, not a LX 450. The starter on a 450 is much easier to access. No gaskets are required. Removal of the starter takes no more than 15 to 30 minutes depending on the abilities of the person removing the part.