470SNC's GX470 build

[470SNC]

How my Blue Steel build sits currently:

So after a long and much cherished 8 years with the FJ, parted her out and decided to move on to a new build. The FJ didn't go easily, spent a month tracking down factory parts, destickering the rig was a pain in the ass, and the hood decal adhesive took 8 hours of goof off and scraping it off with a plastic razor blade.



Finally tracked down a clean, well kept, garage stored 06 Lexus GX470 in the exact color I wanted (Ash Blue Mica) owned by a CEO's wife just to drive the kids to school in. I ended up trading in the FJ and getting 9 grand for it with 152k miles on the odo and lots of offroad abuse. Reason for picking a GX was for the V8, having 4 doors, and the fact all the FJ suspension would swap over so I wouldn't have to start over, but mainly it was for the V8: 280 hp, 330 lb/tq. Also planning on a lot more traveling over the US and Baja Mexico next year, so the space was a huge plus for comfortable multi day traveling trips.

Next day after purchase, went straight to the exhaust shop and had them delete the resonator and install a Magnaflow exhaust to give that V8 some breathing room and add more rumble, I'm happy with the way it turned out, not too loud and no interior drone, but still sounds like a mean V8 on WOT.

Next day after that, tracked down a contact for Method wheels in Riverside and ended up buying a set of 17"x8.5 Method Double Standards for cheap. Mounted them on stock tires for now since I will be leaving for a Zion roadtrip for gas mileage. As soon as I get back, the Icon lift from the FJ will get rebuilt along with the TC UCAs and they will be installed along with 285/70/17 Falkens. Look forward to mods to come.

Slowly deleting all the chrome off this thing. Wet sanded, Duplicolor self etching primer, and Duplicolor bedliner.





Good riddance to the ugly running boards, sliders to come



Added Lamin-X yellow fog light vinyls, then took her camping for a week in Zion Canyon, Utah





Finally got a chance to devirginize the build and did a quick run to test out her flexiness offroad. Ended up playing around and scratching the hell out of the bottom left corner of the rear bumper, whoops oh well lift needs to get back on pronto! Went up to Santiago Peak with a FJ buddy of mine, enjoy the pics!









Little minor interior mods:

Lexus CF F sport auto shift knob:



Junction Produce rear seat neck pads for sh*ts & giggles:



Also installed a full LED interior light package, it is like daylight!

Kit includes:

(2) 20 SMD Panels - Front personal map lights.

(2) 48 SMD Panels - Center and rear dome lights.

(4) 10 SMD wedge base bulbs - Door courtesy lights.



Mini mod: added WeatherTech window visors to front & rear windows. Love em!

 

[470SNC]

Here's some recent pics from my trip to the Off Camber event in Mormon Lake and Sedona, AZ. last weekend. So beautiful out there, the GX successfully did the Broken Arrow trail minus some scrapes and front bumper bruises, great and fun trail!

















About to go down Devil's Staircase, not for the weak hearted, way steeper than the pictures show







Here's some better photos from my buddy, Dennis Lloyd Photography:









This last photo shows how steep Devil's Staircase really is:

 

[470SNC]

After wheeling with the Yakima Loadwarrior, it moved around and made too much noise for my liking. I ended up selling it and getting a Rola Rack basket with extension. It is beefy, sturdy as hell, and way more low profile, happy with the switch:

 

[470SNC]

Finally got around to dropping off the coilovers to Icon for warranty of the top plates and full seal rebuild as well as replacing the lower mount bearings. Met up with Jeremy last Saturday for a mini mod day since he needed to work on his gas tank issue (Thanks Jeremy).

After a long tiring day, we got the All Pro tubular upper control arms, Icon 2.5 extended travel coilovers with reservoirs, Wheelers SuperBumps, and rear Icon 2.5 piggyback shocks installed. It took a bit to figure out how to get the electronic dampening control stuff for the front/rear shocks off so we could remove the stock coilover assembly and some trimming on the passenger side plastics for the wiper fluid reservoir and resi clearance.

As for the rear lift, I used a trick the GX guys found out, and put spacers between the frame and right height sensor brackets to trick the truck into thinking it is lower than it really is, and thus having the pump slightly overinflate the bags to give the rear a 1.5" lift. This is temporary to fit the 285 Cooper tires coming mid week, since I already have the rear Icon coils, just haven't ordered the airbag to coil conversion kit from MetalTech yet. So far happy with the outcome, it sits level with the front lift and has the clearance for the new tires.


Parts and tools everywhere:


All stock front suspension removed:


All Pro UCAs/Icon 2.5 extended travel coilovers w resis/Wheelers Superbumps installed with no more front sway bar:


Rear Icon 2.5 piggyback rear shocks with ride height sensor trick done:


As she sits after the front coilovers settled and the rear leveled out, 285 Cooper Discoverer ATPs arrive midweek to Discount Tire so it wont look as funny with the tiny 265 tires now:




Super happy with the lift, even more so when the rear conversion kit and tires are on, ready for Pismo!

 

[NuclearN8]

Loving your vehicle selection. Can't wait to see how the build progresses. hell of a start to it!

 

[BlackWorksInc]

Beautiful GX470 build, any particular reason you went with the GX vs. a 4th Gen with the same engine? Also are you going to have custom bumpers/tire carrier made for the vehicle? How happy was the GX when you eliminated the adjustable height and stiffness suspension? Any DTCs,warning lights, and/of adverse performance from the ABS/VSC/TRAC system?

 

[470SNC]

I ended up going with a GX because of the nicer interior and the fact I won't stick out like a sore thumb at work like I used to with my FJ plus I was always a fan of oddball builds (you dont see too many lifted lexus' around). Plus the GX V8 has a little more HP/TQ than the 4th gen 4runner companinon, definitely has some grunt with the pedal down. The plan is to have custom front and rear bumper with swing outs made down the line.

The dampening control delete didn't cause any lights. Once I get rid of the rear airbags you simply pull one fuse for the whole system lights to turn off, easy peasy. The Lexus VSC is slightly more touchy than the Toyota counterpart, so in AZ offroading, i just pulled the trac control plug from the brake booster in the engine bay and it worked like a charm. I plan on wiring in a switch so I can do it on the fly.

 

[470SNC]

My 285/70/17 Cooper Discoverer ATPs finally came in yesterday, so quick trip to America's Tire and they are mounted! First impressions are these are a very aggressive all terrain, way more so than my old Falkens and they are pretty tall for a 285. Right now as she sits, the top of the seat base comes up to me mid chest and I'm 6'-0" tall. Very smooth on the road with little noise, and a little minor rubbing at the front of the wheel on the fender lining which will get trimmed. About an inch or two of clearance at the body mount so that worked out perfect, no body mount chop for me! Overall, super stoked on the way it looks, Bud Builts and sliders next!

 

[chmura]

Sweet rig!

I see that you are in Anaheim, I live in Fullerton.

Hope to see you around!

I went on a camping trip with Dennis few months ago. Think he's the same person you know.

 

[470SNC]

haha nice I know Dennis as well, awesome we'll have to go wheelin soon!

 

[470SNC]

Finally, the Metaltech rear airbag to coil conversion kit came in, picked up FJ rear rubber spring isolators from my buddy at Toyota of Orange, and installed the conversion kit along with Icon rear coils on Saturday morning. The process was pretty quick not too long, maybe a couple of hours. After we figured out how to access the airbag top retaining clips and removing the air lines, the rest of the install was very similar to a typical FJ rear spring install. Since the GX rear axle is pretty much a FJ/4runner axle minus the spring perches, the conversion kit comes with metal bolt on perches to where the airbag mounts to the axle, as well as a rubber spring stop for the bottom of the spring to sit on. All in all, an easy kit although Metaltech included some kind of tool which was a copper spring with no instructions on how to use it or where its used for which I thought odd.

Ready to install:


All mounted up:


Better view of the conversion kit at axle:


All in all, a way better and smoother ride than the overinflated airbag trick I was using to lift the rear, now she's ready to hit some dirt!

 

[470SNC]

A little write up on the rear Metaltech conversion kit and coil spring install for you GX and 4runner guys with rear airbags, since I haven't found one:

1)Loosen lugs on rear wheels
2)Get the tallest jack and jack stands you can
3)Jack up by center rear axle diff pumpkin as high as you can and set jack stands on frame rails in front of rear lower link mounts and take off wheels
4)Undo top and lower shock bolts/unclip dampening control plug on shock, and top sway bar link bolts (both sides)
5)Easier to take off rear shock completely IMO but you can leave it on with the bottom mount bolt still attached
6)Near where the top shock bolt mounts, take a flashlight and look between the frame rail and the fenderwell metal, at the top of the airbag mount area, you will see a metal clip with a L tab. Take a long screwdriver and mallet and hit at the tab part, this will dislodge the airbag retainer clip (do for both sides)
7)This is the tricky part, at the top of the airbag mount, you will see the air lines going into a 90 degree elbow at the top of the airbag. First is a protective cover which you just engage the tabs to slide off. Next, you will see the metal 90 degree elbow and the air line, in the metal elbow there are two tiny holes on either side of the air line, where you can use long nose pliers to engage both tabs to release the air line. If you don't plan on going back to stock, you can just cut the air lines and delete them all the way back to the compressor.
8)The airbag will deflate once the air lines are off, deflate them all the way and they should pop out of the lower mount.
9)The axle should be fully drooped, take jack to opposite side lower shock mount and jack up till the axle is fully articulated to one side
10)Start with the side with more clearance, take top rubber spring isolator, slip into top of spring coil, and take just the rubber spring collar from the conversion kit and fit it to the bottom of the coil.
11)Slide in the whole coil assembly with rubber pieces onto axle. Take the metal bolt on spring perch from the conversion kit and slide it within the coil to mount, fit bolt and nut and tighten down.
12)Do vice versa on opposite side
13)Once coils and mounts are in, remount rear shocks and upper sway bar mount bolt

Just like that, you're done, its easily doable if you've wrenched on anything before.

 

[chmura]

Looking good!

You should start a build thread on the Toyota 120 Platforms Forum - Powered by vBulletin forum! Also there is GX470 section at clublexus.com, but that section is pretty dead.

 

[470SNC]

Finally threw on my Ricochet LCA skids I got from Miguel a while back that have been sitting forever, love that this platform has so many interchangable bolt on parts with the FJ/4runner, makes life easier. Cant wait to get the matching BudBuilt skids for the belly.

 

[anotherrunner83]

you have built one bad-ass vehicle. well done.

 

[470SNC]

thank you! this is just the beginning of this build, got big plans for her

 

[eviele]

I love this build. It makes me regret not looking more closely at a used GX470.
Well done. Can't wait to see what else you do.

 

[t-man]

Sub'd! This looks interesting! :girl:

 

[470SNC]

Just got back from my annual Pismo trip for the Turf N Surf 2014 event. The GX did amazing in the dunes with the Icon suspension and the v8 power compared to my FJ. The GX kept pulling where the FJ powerband would usually top out. The Wheelers superbumps did a great job of keeping the tires from rubbing the fender liners when bottoming out due to the extended travel Icons, they barely touched a small spot on the liner at full tuck. Got around everywhere in the dunes with the Cooper tires aired down to 15 psi, awesome trip, had a blast!

Base camp for the weekend:


Foggy runs in the dunes this year:


My awesome 70s retro temporary CB for the weekend, worked amazing, old tech rules:


Some of the weekends dune crew:

 

[470SNC]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=506UDDQk5Uc

Short clip of some GX fun in the dunes, that v8 rumble!