LEXUS LS400 DASH KIT

[runsgrateasanut]

Well my little bit of frivolous expense has arrived for my 1993 Car.

Looks very nice but I haven't had a chance to check it all out.

You do lose the descriptions under the buttons and so will need to get those made up somewhere else or use alphabet kits if you can't recall exactly what is what.

Looks nice and sticking loosely to backing greaseproof (or something)   Guessing I'd better fix it on sooner rather than later so the sticky doesn't dry out.

Cost £92.13 to import and add £21.98 excise duty (VAT).

[cruisermark]

nice touch - bought one for my pajero many years ago

[Titch LS]

Stuart , nice buy. I think the wood adds a touch more class to the LS 400 cabin. Lexus should have had this in mind when they first brought out the car. They cottoned on in the end though, just look at the LS430 cabin. Pure class.

[The-Acre]

My brother bought one of these for his jeepy type thing and I wasn't sure, but once fitted it really did look the biz. We'll be expecting to see photos of the end result of course. I'm trying to picture it in my mind and I reckon it'll really work. Your LS is the same year as my first one which is still going strong, I love the yellow front fog lights on the MK2 

[steve2006]

I have the yellow fogs on mine, think they are a JDM thing plus they are one piece units not 2 part.

The kit looks good, wondered if it was for LHD at first but all seems good for RHD.

I wouldn't install it in the cold damp weather, wait until it gets warmer or use a hair dryer on the area you are sticking it to to warm it and evaporate any moisture. Might also be a good idea to wipe the area with some isopropyl alcohol to remove any grease residues before sticking it on.

I'd hate to hear it begins peeling off after all the expense and trouble of fitting it.

[runsgrateasanut]

Thats the advice given in the accompanying instruction sheets Steve.  Also supplied are cleansing sticks to prep the area. Pity they didn't supply description stickers for the buttons on a clear background. Will work something ou,t and will put up a photo when fitted. May not be until May as busy and South of France next month. Stretch her legs.

[runsgrateasanut]

Well it seemed like a  nice day to fit the Kit. 

Sadly, a word of caution to any one else considering this, having held the part to the Radio its clear it has been cut with such a tight fit and in one case a slight error in button positioning, that this will require some Stanley knife work if it is to be fitted. Not sure button removal is possible though may try it?

Its possible the backing when removed may make things a little less tight  but I'm not taking a chance on fitting something and finding I can't turn/push various buttons in/out.

Real shame and silly they didn't allow a little space to each control knob. The display panel left of the Cassette entry is not the right length across and  the pattern there allows for half the Lexus name to appear and not all of it.

The good news is its a very good match to the Ashtray and  some parts will fit without trouble but some will definately require modification. Circles are not easy to enlarge.  Squares no problem but won't be quite as nice looking. 

Bottom rear central control vent is a different shape to mine which has circular Cigar lighter.

not going to waste such a lovely day with it so on the back burner - for now.

Earlier in the week got back from 2,500 miles driving to the SW and South of France over the Millau Viaduct and back via Carcassonne.  The car did sterling work (under a boozy load) and I will treat it to the kit in due course. 

 

[runsgrateasanut]

Well, the Dash Kit on first inspection looked very good. On application it is however a bit disappointing.  Unless you are willing to spend a fair bit of time with a Craft knife then give it a miss.

The Radio part in particular I'm waiting on a "promise" that a replacement will be sent me.   As two extra glue tubes didn't arrive as "promised" I'm not holding my breath but I did decide to start installing the rest of the kit.  You can see the problems in the photo. A little more space around each knob is desirable as the knobs are inset and so there is no space behind them. Also the buttons are wrongly spaced.  

There were no problems with the Door handle parts front and back.

There was a part which didnt tally to my rear Cigar lighter. It has a wheel hole central and I dont.

The double Airvent in the back was OK.

The Instrument cluster required some attention unless you are happy to lose the security light.  I drilled a hole for it and used a biro end piece to make it look OK.

The Air Con panel is faulty in several respects.  
Firstly, the panel is too tight aound the main switches.
Secondly, the various air selection buttons also needed to have a sliver cut at the one nearest to the main switches as it was going to be too tight. Full blow is the button.  
Thirdly, the strips to show the selection lights are not long enough. Fortunately you can just see half of the lights each side, but annoying that they don't completely show.

The Roof light was OK expect for the main opening rocker switch.  Just a little more (say 1mm) all  around would have been OK. Strangely there was space all around the other switches.

There is a Window Remote panel in the Car  for which no part was supplied.

The Ring for the Ignition switch is not quite the right size. It sticks to 70%.
 
An extra ring was supplied and I dont know if this perhaps sits in the rear Cigar lighter. Not checked.

So, as they say a bit of a Curates Egg.

Anyone contemplating buying should ignore the advice  to remove part of the backing when applying.  

The glue sticks will dry out if you leave them overnight so some might do the whole job at once but I clearly couldn't. Fortunately I realised I might need more and bought 32fl oz  of 3m on t'bay. Came from China and not expensive.

Frankly it is very difficult to remove the backing and I removed it all before lining up a piece to the best of my ability.  I used a flat iron on the lowest setting and put each part between two pieces of brown paper on a hard surface to apply heat to the red backing.  Not many seconds required to warm up the part. Getting the peel started is the difficult part. Craft knife and tweezers or pliars useful.

Regret I left feedback as soon as I received the kit but I like what I see so far.

 

 

[cruisermark]

looks good - and you dont notice the imperfections from distance - impressed with the colour match - very nice indeed

[Titch LS]

Stuart, that looks great. To me, that is what the LS cabin should have looked like from the factory. The wood effect makes it much classier. Now all you need is a the half-wood steering wheel that came as an option on your model. I fitted a nice used one to my mk4 for around £50. Made a big difference.

[steve2006]

1 hour ago, Titch LS said:

Stuart, that looks great. To me, that is what the LS cabin should have looked like from the factory. The wood effect makes it much classier. Now all you need is a the half-wood steering wheel that came as an option on your model. I fitted a nice used one to my mk4 for around £50. Made a big difference.

You did well to get the wood steering wheel for that price, they are fetching hundreds these days and that is fully stripped down so basically the rim only, plus the cost of treatment for potential woodworm 

[runsgrateasanut]

Did they have the wood steering wheel as an option on the 1993 model?  I've looked at Wood S/w for sale in U.S and they do fetch serious money and shipping prohibitive.  Not keen on those imitation covers but may give one a try.

Told the Radio replacement part is on its way to me and would have been nice to have had a Lexus logo in Medium Burl Wood for the logo on the S/Wheel.  Have used the spare part that doesn't match my rear Cigar lighter panel to make a small panel in the Window Remote panel where I keep my old Rover 75 (1955) key fob St Christopher.  Will use another part of it to put a bar above the Cassette entry point which is also missing for some inexplicable reason?

Will show another photo when finally finished mucking about with it all.

[runsgrateasanut]

The guys sent me exactly the same panel as I queried as being a badly designed pattern. So, I've had to run with it and made a few changes and stuck it in place.  On reflection perhaps I should have cut away more of the area around the CD, Tape etc buttons and also the Radio buttons as there is a bit of sticking.  I was hoping not to have to cut away too much but pehaps if I'd cut out a lot and exposed the descriptions it would have been guaranteed not to cause any sticking problems. Where I've added a cut out bit here and there I've used matt black paint to blend /hide the cuts.  The round buttons freely turn after the far left (which had been cut smaller) was made larger.