LX470 - Front End & AHC Refresh

Well my stockpile of parts is less, got a lot of parts knocked off the list. Let's start with the list of parts:

Rear Arms:

Rear - Upper Right (Air box side) (48710-60070)

Rear - Upper Left (48710-60080)

Lower Control Arm:

Used OEM Lower Control Arm - to press in bushings

Lower Control arm bushings - Front Lower Rear- SuperPro (SPF3881K) (in chassis)

Lower Control arm bushings - Front Lower Front- SuperPro (SPF2143K)

Lower Control arm bushings - 555 ball joint (SB3812) x 2

Upper Control Arm:

Used OEM Upper Control Arm for new bushings.

Upper Control arm bushings - OEM (48632-60010) x 4

Upper Control arm bushings - 555 ball joint (SB3841) x 2

CV Axle:

CV axle joint grease (any grease with molly)

Axle Snap Ring, RH/LH 2.8mm - 9052031005

Axle Snap Ring, RH/LH 2.6mm - 9052031006

Axle Snap Ring, RH/LH 2.4mm - 9052031007

Axle Snap Ring, RH/LH 2.2mm - 9052031008

Axle Snap Ring, RH/LH 2.2mm - 9052031009

Axle Snap Ring, RH/LH 1.8mm - 9052031010

OEM Axle nut lock washer (90215-42025) x 2

OEM Axle shaft flange (43421-60060) x 2

OEM Axle shaft flange gasket (43422-60070) x 2

OEM Axle shaft flange cones (42323-60030) x 12

OEM - Passenger Differential axle seal - (90311-47027) x1

OEM - Driver Differential axle seal - (90311-47013) x 1

CV Axle (Front - Left, Right) (43430-60040) x 2

Steering Rack

Steering Rack OEM 44250-60050

Bolt, Washer Based (rack mounting, single-use part)  (90105-14121) x 2

Nut, Hexagon (TRE jam nuts) (90170-20003) x 2

Nut, Flange (rack mounting, single-use part) (90178-14003) x 2

Spacer (rack mounting, single-use part) (90560-15018) x 2

Steering Arm Bolt (rack mounting, single-use part) (90101-14021) x 2

Pressure Hose Gasket (single-use part) (44327-30030) x 1

Whiteline W13210 Front Steering Rack and Pinion Mount Bushing Kit

Toyota - Tie rod - Front Left Outer - (45047-69100) (555-SE3811L)

Toyota - Tie rod - Front Right Outer - (45046-69195) (555-SE3811R)

Tie rods - Front Inner - (45503-69015) (555-SR3810) x 2 came with new rack

Transmission pressure line assembly (44410-60510) 

Steering Intermediate shaft, NO.2 (45203-60090)

AHC:

OEM ACCUMULATOR GLOBE - REAR - 49151-60010 x 2

OEM ACCUMULATOR GLOBE - REAR - 49141-60010 x 2

OEM Bleeder plug (49189-60010) x 6

OEM Bleeder plug cap (49177-60010) x 6

Suspension Fluid - Lexus (08886-01805) X 2

Shock Absorber:

Front - OEM SUSPENSION SHOCK ABSORBER MOUNT BUSHING (90903-89016) x 2

Front - SUSPENSION SHOCK ABSORBER MOUNT BUSHING (90948-01075) x 2

Front - CUSHION, FRONT SHOCK ABSORBER, NO. 2 (90948-01076) x 2

Front Suspension Hydraulic line O'RING (90562-12003) x 2 (bottom O-ring)

Front Suspension Hydraulic line O'RING (90301-11022) x 2 (top O-ring)

Rear - Upper Shock Cushion (90948-01077) x 2

Rear - Lower Shock Cushion (90948-01078) x 2

Rear - Bottom Shock Bushing (90385-19010) x 2

Rear Suspension Hydraulic line O'RING (90562-12003) x 2 (bottom O-ring)

Rear Suspension Hydraulic line O'RING (90301-11022) x 2 (top O-ring)

All loaded up.

Got a set of used OEM upper control arms to save on time by pressing out the bushings and ball joints. Also gave me enough time to prep and paint it after new bushings and ball joints were installed.

This CUDA parts washer is amazing and am so grateful to be able to use it. The shop uses this on a daily basis to clean parts before reinstallation. Another reason I use Import Motor Werks in Cary, NC. Also the main reason being Matt, he is a very skilled master tech that I trust. Thanks Matt & Import Motor Werks who by the way did all the work while I tried to stay out of the way and try to work on small stuff around him while the truck was on the lift.

After a quick wash in the CUDA prepped and refinished the lower control arms as well.

Didn't get to take a lot of pictures during the actual work, game plan was to try to knock as much of this out in a day so the car is movable and not stuck on the lift.

Disassembled everything, during which I found out that the only thing keeping my power steering fluid in the rack were the boots. Removal of the inner tie rods required the removal of the steering rack boots which resulted in a healthy puking of power steering fluid out of both ends of the rack. I felt much better about replacing the rack and lines at this point, cause boy those parts weren't cheap.  

New rack, lines, inner and outer tie rods installed with all new hardware.

While I was working on replacing AHC globes and rear upper control arms Matt finished up the steering rack, diff seals, CV Axles, upper and lower shock bushings including the AHC line O-rings as well as the upper and lower control arms including the in-frame bushings. Look at how nice all these new parts look! I know I know, it's a truck but the process of bringing this truck back to OEM spec is something that really excites me. 

New AHC globes, bled and even replaced the bleed plugs and caps.

The rear shock bushings were a pain in the ass to say the least! The location is a pain to get to to undo the bolts, swapping out the O-rings once the line was off was not as bad though. If I was to do it again I would definitely use the location guide to cut out a hole in the floor board in the trunk to access the top of the shock. Matt got it done though, new bushings and O-rings complete!!

All this work ended up being over a course of two days. Day 1 was about 8 hours of continuous work not even stopping for lunch but got the whole front end and AHC globes replaced and bled. Day 2 was only about 3 hours which consisted of the rear end, bleeding the AHC again, verified the steering wheel and rack is centered, got an alignment and was on my merry way! The difference!! WOW!! Huge huge difference and this is before I baselined the pressures. That's for another day though. For now I'm just glad that all this work is done. A huge thanks to Matt and Import Motor Werks for taking this on!

-AJ Abraham

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@aj_ls460
@aj_lx470 
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CT200h - Air Blower Motor

The blower motor on the CT was starting to make noises so looked for a fix. There were simple fixes where you can tighten up the play in the fan which causes a noise but long term it seemed like the problem would come back. There are much cheaper options for a blower motor but the OEM part served the car well so OEM replacement it is. 

Replacement is fairly straight forward, unplug farness, remove three screws and replace in reverse order. No more noises! 

-AJ Abraham

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@aj_ls460
@aj_lx470 

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OZ Alleggerita HLT - Refresh

The CCW looks great on the car and love the way it looks on the car being low, but this is my only low car that's not on air. With age I guess I get more annoyed at the low profile tires giving it a harsher ride and the scrapping because the car is too low. Not worth it for me so was on the lookout for another set of wheels that were not as aggressive and a size smaller so I can put higher profile tires. Came across a set of 17" OZ's for sale and thought that would work for my application better.

The blue wasn't working for me and it had some scuffs etc. that I wasn't a fan of. Gave it a good cleaning and then scuffed it all down for paint. Before paint I got some new tires mounted and balanced. So masking everything up was fun but got everything masked up well, including masking all mounting surfaces.

With a coat of adhesive promoter, added a coat of primer.

Went through a bunch of colors but just wanted a factory look +1 so went with this. Color is light when son hits it but has a good flop so looks darker if light is not hitting it directly.

After a coat of clear everything looked good to me. Jeremy at The Body Shop did all the paint work and did an awesome job. All the details, names etc. are still very visible.   

-AJ Abraham

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@aj_ls460
@aj_lx470 

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CT200h - Suspension Refresh

I didn't address anything as far as suspensions were concerned since I got the car. During an oil change I noticed one of the rear shocks had a slight leak so thought suspension refresh was in order. Also I was hearing a slight ticking noise when I'm braking and the car was under 15mph. From my research the ticking could be caused by either axle or the steering damper. Since the damper was the cheaper of the two I started with that. Unfortunately the damper wasn't it so I moved on to the suspensions. Since parts needed to be addressed anyway I figured it was due time to address anything that could wear over time. 

Onto the parts list:

Coilovers - D2 Racing RS Series Coilover - (D-LE-14-RS)
Tie rods - Front Inner - (MEVOTECH MS86749)
Tie rod - Front Left Outer -  OEM (45047-49165)
Tie rod - Front Right Outer -  OEM (45046-49225)
Front Cam Bolt - MOOG K90477 x 2
Rear upper camber arm - Megan - MRS-SC-0510
Sway bar end link -Front - MOOG K750043
Sway bar end link - Rear - MOOG K750522
Sway bar bushings - Front - MOOG K201559
Sway bar bushings - Rear - TRW JBU2265
Control Arm - Front right lower rearward - MOOG RK622202 Complete Arm w/ Ball Joint
Control Arm - Front left lower rearward - MOOG RK622203 Complete Arm w/ Ball Joint
Electric Power Steering Damper - OEM - (45254-28040)
Axle Front RH - PDL (1700-517435)
Axle Front LH - PDL (1700-517434)
Axle seal RH - OEM (90311-40037)
Axle seal LH - OEM (90311-50064)

My initial plan was to install the coilovers first, give it a week or two to settle and then change out all the other parts and then do an alignment. 

Onto the install:

Before installing coilovers I go ahead and put some anti seize on the threads that come in contact with the lower perch. Some coilovers do state to not put any anti seize so follow manufacturers directions. I've never had any coilovers seize on me so this is what I do. 

After the install with my initial measurements this is how the car sat with the wheels I plan on running.

Lowered it about 3/4" more to have a better fitment.

With the height dialed in I put my factory wheels back on for about 2 weeks before my buddy Matt was able to schedule me in at the shop. This was planned because I figured the coilovers would settle in that time frame.

All the new parts.

I did know that there was a front main seal so did that as well. Then Matt pointed out that I had a slight leak coming from the Oil pressure sensor so have that one coming to swap out as well. There were no other leaks, happy about that.

All the motor mounts!! What a pain! All new OEM parts for replacement.

All the old parts that came out!

A fresh oil change and after an alignment the car drives very well! Responsive, much smoother, no weird noises and peace of mind! 218000 miles and still going strong!

-AJ Abraham

Follow me on Instagram:
@flawless_fitment
@aj_ls460
@aj_lx470 

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Buying a Nissan Skyline R34