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this post makes me smile. i got my first LS400 when i was 17 too! (see pic below) i walked everywhere, saved and worked my *** off for over a year to get mine mowing yards and flipping burgers. lucky to live in the age you are in man! no such thing as an $800 LS400 back in 2001! mine was close to 5 grand and that was a screaming deal even back then. 1990 with cracked seats, faded paint and 172k on it. only regret is that i wish i had waited a little longer before experiencing the LS400. it spoiled me and everything else came second. today im almost 35 and still driving LS400s. my first one is long long gone but wish i still had it. it was special and its the one i learned on. gave me 8 years of driving and memories.
you are making the right move. yes, the car you just got is pretty rough but when theirs a will theirs a way! use this car to learn on and in a year or so save up enough where you can get a really decent one. use this one to make your mistakes with. rip it to pieces, rebuild it, cut your fingers, bash your knuckles and burn your arms on this one! that way when you get a really nice one you'll already know how to keep it alive. tons of people here that can help you out. if your heart is really in this car and you dont mind spending alot on it to restore it then do that too! i recently spent way too much $ on one of my LS400s to get it going again because ive had it forever and means alot to me. make your memories with your new LS400!! looking forward to the progress!
FYI ur already one step ahead of the game. yours has the killer Nak stereo in it!
Thanks bro, I just took my nak stereo out to try and get this cassette tape unjammed but these screws are giving me a rough time because they are so rusted into place. I also took out the climate control because the light for the climate control is out and I can't see what temp I put everything at. I already have a bunch of cuts from trying to get the radio out and it has been rough but I love it. I recently got a new key because the one I had previously had fallen off of the plastic part and the previous owner had taped key back to the plastic. This reply is kind of a mini update I guess. I am gonna get a steam cleaner hopefully from my friend this coming week and can work on the carpet and seats. I finish my junior year of high school in 2 weeks and after that I'm going to head to the junkyard to see if I can find a few parts.
Also, does anyone know how to make these pictures smaller cuz they make me scroll a lot and I dislike that.
I agree definitely . My 1995 had the timing belt changed at 20 years of age and 100k miles when I bought it (DIY . A lot of work. Gross something like gross three days work including some tool making and fixing serpentine bearings etc) . The belt looked like it could have lasted a few more years.
On these old cars it felt good to be able to judge the health of all parts I worked on while doing the belt and the pump. I regret I did not do the ignition stuff at the same time . A lot of double work doing it later. what surprised me was that rubber hoses etc where in good shape . No hardening or brittleness. That is quality after 20
Seems that the years are not so bad on the original timingbelts. However I live in a cool climate (sweden). I have heard of a 1995 here that had a belt failure at 20 years and 150k miles. The 1995 onwards are interference engines so thay are a bit scary to run overdue.
I would not worry about a 1992 which is not. The worst outcome is a tow.
If you want to save on money and effort I would as suggested take of some covers and have a look. any frayed edges or small drycracks is bad. Will reduce risk for a tow a bit if it looks good.
Taking of the serpentine and checking for dry bearings in the idlers and the all other rotating parts is also A smart idea. Some bearings were very dry and buzzed when spun after 20 years and I changed bearings for 10$ each or so. Taking off the serpentine is a 10 minute job . Very easy when you know how.
Not sure about the window. Does anyone know if the 92 model has the safety feature that stops them from eating kid's hands? Seat covers would probably be a lot cheaper, and it would be hard to find a set of seats that hasn't gotten wet at the junk yard (but you never know). See if you can get a shift **** when your at the pick and pull. A nice shift handle makes a statement. If you don't have access to steam cleaner you can use Spot Shot (Walmart) to clean stains in the carpet. You can even rent steam cleaners at Walmart. If you go the Spot Shot route, use white of light colored towels to remove the spots after spraying the cleaner on the carpet (not pink, red, etc.). I've had good luck on eBay finding car parts, just buy from a seller with decent feedback ratings. I've seen sellers offer just the seat skins, which would be cheaper to ship.
When using spot shot, did you use the trigger spray or the aerosol can? Also, did it say professional or just normal?
I know it has been a while since I posted but I had a gas leak and I found out that I had a cracked gas tank so I had to replace the whole gas tank under the car. But I finally have the car up and running again and have painted the speaker covers black and I went the the junkyard and found some carpet pieces which I painted black as well and put them on the door panel. What do you guys think of the door panel? I was thinking I may paint the top gray part black as well. I'm not sure how I feel about this three tone, let me know any color suggestions. I also installed some 4" kicker speakers in all of the doors. Both passenger side door speakers were nakamichi but both were blown out and the speakers on the driver's side were both linear research speakers which didn't sound great. (Yes, I know that there are only two screws holding the speaker in, that is because when the previous owner installed his speakers, he only used two screws which left me with only two screws. I will go purchase more screws later so that I can have four. (also note how clean the carpet is!))
Looking good, Jeik! Since the carpet section is on the bottom, I would either recommend painting it the same color as the darker, upper part of the door trim pieces, or leaving it black as you did.
The three tone doesn't look bad, and the bright side is that the lower carpet section won't show dirt now when people's shoes hit it.
Also just curious, which gas tank are you referring to under the car? The main tank is in the trunk, directly behind the rear seats.
Looking good, Jeik! Since the carpet section is on the bottom, I would either recommend painting it the same color as the darker, upper part of the door trim pieces, or leaving it black as you did.
The three tone doesn't look bad, and the bright side is that the lower carpet section won't show dirt now when people's shoes hit it.
Also just curious, which gas tank are you referring to under the car? The main tank is in the trunk, directly behind the rear seats.
It was the main tank in the trunk that I had to replace.
It was the main tank in the trunk that I had to replace.
Wow! If you have one, I would really like to see a photo of the crack in the tank. I wonder if it's something that happens to these steel gas tanks over time and can be prevented.
Wow! If you have one, I would really like to see a photo of the crack in the tank. I wonder if it's something that happens to these steel gas tanks over time and can be prevented.
It was determined with one of my mechanic acquaintances that when the car was in the accident from the previous owner, the gas tank was cracked in the impact. It was not natural.
i like the 3 tone too! do yourself a favor, instead of replacing the old nak speakers, get them redone. its worth it seriously. my first LS400 had the nak system in it as well and the speakers went. i replaced them they sounded horrible so i had the old nak ones redone and wow what a difference
i like the 3 tone too! do yourself a favor, instead of replacing the old nak speakers, get them redone. its worth it seriously. my first LS400 had the nak system in it as well and the speakers went. i replaced them they sounded horrible so i had the old nak ones redone and wow what a difference
I would have gotten the old nak speakers redone but the previous owner had already replaced two. So I only had two nak and not the full set. If I had all of them, I def would have gotten them redone tho.
I know it has been a freaking while since I posted updates but I have been working nonstop this summer to try and make some money. I am about to start my senior year of high school next week and I have done a lot since I have last posted. I will post up all of the stuff I did eventually but in sections because I want feedback on what I have done and maybe some suggestions and anything I may have missed. So in this update, this was when I first got out of school, I went to the junkyard and picked up all of the wooden pieces and all of the correct switches for the windows and locks since I was missing most of the switches and the wooden pieces. I also replaced all of the inner bottom door lights with LEDs, I don't have any pictures of them on but they are a lot brighter so when I open the door at night, I can see the floor now. I also bought a new LCD and my friend soldered it so now I can see the clock and the temp of the AC, even though the AC doesn't work. So these are the first updates that I made at the beginning of the summer, please let me know your thoughts. There is lots more to come as well.
Hi Jeik, by the time I got to your age I started the Toyota Cressida forum and did an auto-manual swap on my Cressida even before learning how to drive stick. Don't brag on your age before doing something cool first
05-24-19, 08:43 PM
