My First "Lexus": 1992 Toyota Celsior C-Spec

[39buss]

Bath tub degreaser!!!!  you must live on your own.........or you will now!!.  Good job though, you will be pleased. Can you straighten your back yet?

[runsgrateasanut]

The plastic clips are the supports for the Vacuum line hoses from the Power Steering pump.  If you had to remove the Battery tray to be able to clip the offside Rad shroud, (as I did) then they could be the bolts holding the tray in, but unlikely as they don't look rusty and not something you'd foget being awkward to get out.

ps did you buy a new hose when you replaced the Thermostat? What did the two cost and from where?

[Schaefft]

Thanks for the kind comments guys! My legs and back were killing me after I was done but thankfully I had a Sunday to relax haha.

On 9/5/2018 at 11:35 AM, runsgrateasanut said:

The plastic clips are the supports for the Vacuum line hoses from the Power Steering pump.  If you had to remove the battery tray to be able to clip the offside Rad shroud, (as I did) then they could be the bolts holding the tray in, but unlikely as they don't look rusty and not something you'd foget being awkward to get out.

ps did you buy a new hose when you replaced the Thermostat? What did the two cost and from where?

Nope, I didnt have to move the fan shroud or Battery tray, so I'm really not sure where these bolts are from. I feel like they are coming from inside the car when I installed the cluster and ecu again, but they wouldn't be small enough to fit in the bolt holes that mount the cluster to the dash (Im missing two bolts there).

I bought the thermostat on Autodoc among a few other parts with a 20% discount. They slowly seem to turn into some kind of Rockauto of Europe, with tons of parts you wouldn't be able to find anywhere else and competitive prices. They constantly change their discounts, I would recommend to wait for them to be at least at 20%, especially on bigger purchases. I bought this one from Wahler, knowing that they are a very high quality brand for thermostats. I inspected the hose and it still looked good, so I kept it for now.

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/wahler/1719198

Oh, and if anyone has a lead on a high quality set of coilovers that doesn't compromise on ride comfort too much (BC coilovers or similar) and at the same time don't cost much more than 500 quid, please let me know!

[runsgrateasanut]

Those screws with cut off ends are the ones for the tray that holds the ECU.  Three down below and two under the Glove box liner - one each side.  Normal screws for the Air flow conduit (front black piece) and Air filter holder etc., don't have hacked off ends. Not removed Cluster so don't know about fastenings.  Perhaps you've put bolts in wrong holes? Will check out your link as Thermostat has to be a lost wax type to be OEM.  Can't see them for sale on eBay.

At last I have my ECU is back from Alabama.  Like London Buses, it and another that I purchased (just in case) came along together with the Postie.   Car seems to be running OK but no decent roads nearby and too busy to test at speed, just yet.

[Schaefft]

1 hour ago, runsgrateasanut said:

Those screws with cut off ends are the ones for the tray that holds the ECU.  Three down below and two under the Glove box liner - one each side.  Normal screws for the Air flow conduit (front black piece) and Air filter holder etc., don't have hacked off ends. Not removed Cluster so don't know about fastenings.  Perhaps you've put bolts in wrong holes? Will check out your link as Thermostat has to be a lost wax type to be OEM.  Can't see them for sale on ebay.

At last I have my ECU is back from Alabama.  Like London Buses, it and another that I purchased (just in case) came along together with the Postie.   Car seems to be running OK but no decent roads nearby and too busy to test at speed, just yet.

Knew they had to be from around there somewhere, thanks!

[CELSI0R]

Fantastic job with the alternator! Your photos were very helpful to me, over in the states.

Random question - are you Schaefft, the 3D modeler? Your work inspired me long ago. Happy to see you've joined the LS/Celsior owners club!

 

EDIT: Since your original post is from May, some of these answers may have already been given, but here is some info I can provide:

1. Your current wheels are the 1995-1997 LS 400/Celsior 16" alloys. You are looking for a set of 1993-1994 16" rims that look like these:


1990-1992 15" alloys will not fit on your car, due to the larger brakes installed as one of the revisions.

2. One of my relative's LS 400s has a blue interior as well. It is a 1991. Blue interiors seem to be fairly uncommon, so it would be best to get your steering wheel retrimmed with new leather.

3. For your instrument cluster, fading needles is a problem that some owners have faced. LexLS has a great tutorial on how to remedy this issue:
http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/lighting/clusterneedlerepair.html

If you need any more photos of the cluster disassembly, I have some I took when I repaired my tachometer last year.

[steve2006]

I can’t believe it...I literally gave away a 1994 Celsior a year or so ago with a blue leather interior and an excellent steering wheel. It also had 2 new rear air suspension units and the whole system worked fine.

 

[Schaefft]

On 9/23/2018 at 9:21 PM, CELSI0R said:

Fantastic job with the alternator! Your photos were very helpful to me, over in the states.

Random question - are you Schaefft, the 3D modeler? Your work inspired me long ago. Happy to see you've joined the LS/Celsior owners club!

 

EDIT: Since your original post is from May, some of these answers may have already been given, but here is some info I can provide:

1. Your current wheels are the 1995-1997 LS 400/Celsior 16" alloys. You are looking for a set of 1993-1994 16" rims that look like these:


1990-1992 15" alloys will not fit on your car, due to the larger brakes installed as one of the revisions.

2. One of my relative's LS 400s has a blue interior as well. It is a 1991. Blue interiors seem to be fairly uncommon, so it would be best to get your steering wheel retrimmed with new leather.

3. For your instrument cluster, fading needles is a problem that some owners have faced. LexLS has a great tutorial on how to remedy this issue:
http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/lighting/clusterneedlerepair.html

If you need any more photos of the cluster disassembly, I have some I took when I repaired my tachometer last year.

Haha, yes its me! Its odd that people still recognize this name considering its been years now! I finally managed to find a suitable car that someone parted out on Facebook to replace the worn out steering wheel, Im still looking for the shifter though, I think those are particularly hard to find considering the color and the fact that most of them obviously wear over time. And yeah, I've seen a write-up of the needle fix before, for now I am not too annoyed by them though to take the cluster out again.

@steve2006: Ouch, those really would have helped me out quite a lot! I hope the car/parts still ended up being useful to someone though.

Sorry for the lack of updates. Progress has been very very slow since I moved into the new house. I am still looking for a set of BC (or similar quality) coilovers for the car to finally replace the completely destroyed shocks. I dont think it would need much more than that to pass its MOT. Id buy a set of used shocks for now that get it back on the road, but with the replacement procedure being so complicated for the rear ones, I rather do it properly the first time around.