RX400h4Jim

Here's photo #10

RX400h4Jim

Here's photo #11 (All Done!)

lexusman23

All that hard work for no results! I feel for you! Question: Is there any way to modify the cupholder itself perhaps to make it fit...like trimming the back of it off some? Just a thought. I can't tell if it would be possible from the picture or not because I'm not familiar with how the cup holder folds in? Anyway, I think Lexus should have installed the cup holder in the right vent from the beginning so the passenger can enjoy it too! By the way, I pulled my right vent off and I don't see that black cable that yours has so it may work for my RX 350? That is of course if I can do as good a job as you cutting the hole bigger to fit it.

RX400h4Jim

It occurred to me that I had three options – this is the extent of my little mind vision box. My first thought was to some how remove the cable strap, open up/remove the sheath on the cable, and splay the individual wires in the bundle to that they lay flatter against the “bulkhead?”. I’d have to have someone else that I really, really trusted do that work for me, and I’d insist the job take at least 15 hours! I mean, I could end up with a really cool and fully functional Right Hand Cup Holder Vent in a vehicle that won’t start, can’t generate air for the vent to handle, and just sits in the driveway. Very expensive yard art!

The second thought was identical to yours. The reason I have referred to the actual cup holder housing as a tray/box is because it has an open top except for the front two inches or so. So you can see into it at the back. The Dremel cut-off disk could very easily be used to remove the ¾ plus-a-smidge inch by 2.75 inch left rear corner of the tray/box so as not to run into the wire bundle cable. Wouldn’t you know that the deceptively simple and very cleverly designed mechanism used to hold the cup holder in, and then release it to open with a slight push is located right there! If that weren’t enough, the spring band (1/2 inch wide) that gently pulls the cup holder open is part of the cup holder piece that slides into the tray/box, is right in the center, and extends to the very rear of the tray/box when the cup holder is pushed all the way in. With this mod the cup holder would be permanently extended!

The third thought (that I’m still mulling) is to cut out the Glove Box housing in the area that the cable is “resting” on. Without removing the Glove Box housing (no clue how to do that) I’d have to use the Dremel to do the cutting in a relatively confined area. That’s scary to me. However, since I cannot move the wire bundle cable at all, I’m not sure how much I can move it out of the way if the strap were removed.

Jim

lexusman23

Jim,

I think the only safe option is # three. It would take some skill and precision to cut into the glove box housing though like you said. The only disadvantage is that you'll presumably have a thick cable occupying part of your glove box and a nice hole if it doesn't work. However, if that's the case then I suppose if it's a clean cut then you can probably glue it back together and no one would ever know Don't loose site of the goal though, just a few cuts away from having a cool cup holder under the right vent as it should have been delivered to us from Lexus in the first place!

I'm counting on you to successfully install it! Failure isn't an option! At least not at this point. Too much is at stake...you've invested and cut too much! Plus, I want to order my cup holder but my wife is leery since she's read your story and seen the pictures. LOL

Good luck and keep us all posted!

George

Spotnsabby

Ok 400Jim I have a Rx350 and this is what I found out today. First I removed the right side vent, Then I removed the glove box (there are 2 screws at the top when the box is open and two 10mm bolts at the bottom. The bolt on the bottom right side is behind the plastic floor kick panel. You also have to remove the doorseal. My car is also like yours, it has the wire at the top of the glove box. You can remove the wire clip with a screw driver, this will let it move some (still not enough) to get it out of the way for the cup holder. I agree with you on couple of ways to make this work.

#1 cut the top of the glove box. I don't think this would be a big deal.

#2 When you have the glove box, doorseal, and kick panel out of the way you could unwrap the wire loom and flatten the wires out over the glove box. There again I don't think this would be a big deal either.

#3 This is the one I would like to do but it's also the hardest. To unplug all the wire connectors then run the wire loom on the other side of the metal bar. (this would be very time consuming)

I haven't ordered mine yet as I'm waiting on some spare time to look at this more in depth. By the way I also removed the left vent. It wasn't hard at all.

I hope this helps. Keep in touch.

Kevin

RX400h4Jim

Thanks Kevin. This is really good information. I'm afraid my very old four-eyes even aided with a flashlight made me think the wire bundle was cable strapped to the bulkhead. And I couldn't see or feel how the strap was attached. I like your #3 option too -- if there is enough wire length to reach behind and over the metal bar. On the other hand, if by removing all the stuff as you have described will allow me to easily reach and 'unwrap' the cable and and lay the individual wires flat (I'd probably sandwich them between some sheets of closed-cell foam between the metal bar and the rear of the cup holder tray/box), that seems to be the less traumatic and easiest approach for me. If the weather is decent this weekend (no room in the garage for the vehicle!), I'll try your glove box removal procedure and ponder what I may do next.

By the way, when you removed the exisiting cup holder vent, do you recall if it had the two molded in mounting flanges on the bottom of the cup holder tray/box -- just curious?

Thanks again,

Jim

Spotnsabby

Jim, yes the left side vent had a flange on the front of the vent and one on the back that mounted to the metal bar.

I also took a pic of the right side vent when I removed it. I 'll post a pic so people can see before and after look of the vent (were you trimmed out all the plastic).

1koolfella

iTrader: (1)

Just out of curiosity, because at one time I was thinking about this very same mod. I went ahead to see for myself how difficult could this project be?

So I took the passenger side vent out, and almost couldn't get it back on. It's not as many wires as the hybrid model and plenty of room but does require sawing. (btw I had a 2nd Gen 350) So I'll pass on this one guys, but thanks for the excellent write up.