Howplum

Colin, How did the replacement fare? I've been looking at these replacement glasses on eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Left-side-Wide-Angle-Wing-door-mirror-glass-for-Lexus-LS-400-1995-2000-heated/333562205897

Thanks for the heads up Paul. You were obviously going to "go to town" on the rebuild, so must have been devastated when the accident happened. Anyway, I have sent you a PM.

I appreciate that there is a good argument for leaving the suspension bushes alone until they become an issue, but it seems to me that to address the rust issues properly involves at least some partial dismantling because access is difficult otherwise, especially on the upper surfaces and in the nooks and crannies. This is why I was thinking of removing the entire assembly and having it blasted by a mobile operator. Although technically all that really need doing are the shock absorbers and dust covers, to prevent further deterioration, some of the rust is quite heavy, so I feel should be addressed. And then, of course, I think that having gone that far I might as well go the whole hog! I know there will be seized bolts, but maybe it's a good idea to refurbish whilst the eccentric cam components are still available and reasonably priced. About £40 for all four. Stuart, that repair looks quite neat, so I will certainly investigate that option once the "isolator" is off the car. Lexus want £50 for a new one and Amayama's will work out at about £34 by the time it arrives on my doorstep. Thanks for the information about import costs Malc.

Whilst the weather prevents any outside work and my son's project is occupying my garage AGAIN, I have been researching what's involved in refurbishing the rear suspension and subframe, which is all looking very crusty, as is common with these cars. Also, the shock absorber insulators/dust covers both need replacing, as do the shock absorbers, with evidence of slight misting on one. This is the beginning of the slippery slope! I'm going to wait for the warmer weather next year, but in the meantime would appreciate any advice that you might have. I will not be paying Lexus prices but have established that Amayama are considerably cheaper for what I assume are OEM parts, although there is shipping, VAT and Duty to factor in. However, as far as the various suspension components are concerned it looks as though aftermarket bushes are available separately, although I prefer to avoid polyurethane so that the ride quality is as originally intended. For example, on Autodoc's website most of the bushes are Febest, which is not a make I have heard of before. Does anyone have experience of these? I did try Rock Auto, but suspension bushes seem thin on the ground. Other than eBay, where many of the bushes are unbranded, are there any other sources I could try? The car has only done 81,000 miles, and passed the MoT without comment, but the rubber components are nearly 25 years old, so I'm sure replacing them will be beneficial. My plan is to remove the rear subframe assembly, dismantle it and have it media blasted before reassembling it with new components. At least there is no air suspension to worry about. Sounds easy.......! I will also do the front in due course, but hopefully that is a little more straightforward. I'm hoping that both front and rear come in at well under £1,000, which is probably borderline uneconomical, but that's not really the point, although no doubt my Financial Watchdog (i.e. wife) will need convincing! This is a diagram of the suspension, although there are more bushes holding the subframe and differential to the body:

This one certainly has curiosity value, but perhaps reinforces the adage that not every change is an improvement. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lexus-LS400-Allard-custom-built-prototype-spares-repair/233784036929?hash=item366e9d4e41:g:RhEAAOSwNNFfstuo

I was only curious. My driving habits are not going to change.

I've been enjoying the Lexus since doing the cambelt etc. and am pleased to report there are no issues, so have been making a bit more use of the performance. Out of curiosity I did calculate the m.p.g. today, based on a mixture town driving and longer journeys, and it was just over 25, so not bad, considering. It's certainly no worse than other older cars I have owned with (slightly) smaller engines. I assume the modern engine design helps. Hopefully that translates to 30ish on a run.

I had the same issue, but ended up buying a used control panel for my LS400 through eBay. There are usually a few cars being dismantled on there.

Thank you Paul. I must say that I find the Lexus reasonably easy to work on and on the whole am enjoying the experience. The knowledge and advice available on this forum has also made some of the tasks easier, and inspired me to "go for it", so thank you to you all.

Mission accomplished! Everything went back together without a problem and the car definitely seems perkier, presumably due to the replacement distributor caps and rotor arms. The angle iron again worked perfectly for torquing up the crankshaft bolt. Now looking a bit cleaner too, but I will definitely be painting the slam panel at some point.

Thanks Mike. I haven't done a close inspection yet, but I would hope that after only 80,000 miles there shouldn't be any issues. The alternator looks a lot cleaner than the rest of the engine, so maybe it's been changed.

At last, the dismantling process is finished! It took a long time, but at least nothing was seized, broken or perished. The coolant that came out looked fine, although I suspect it is many years since it was changed, if ever. The waterways are pristine. The drilled and notched angle iron worked a treat - the nut came undone quite easily with a breaker bar and length of metal tubing. Using the fan mounting flange is probably not best practice, but it doesn't seem to have suffered at all, so I shall reverse the process when torquing up the bolt. The harmonic damper (HB) came off without any drama, although I had to use some nuts as spacers to avoid damaging the plastic cover behind the HB. Tomorrow is a cleaning day, and then reassembly on Sunday. The Blueprint distributor caps and rotor arms arrived this morning, and they look exactly the same as the originals (apart from the crusty contacts) and are made in Japan. They also come with a 2 year warranty.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333618120387 These are the ones I have ordered, with a brass contact, which is what I was expecting. Maybe that's the difference between OEM and aftermarket items?

I've slowly started the dismantling process and have now got to the point of trying to undo the infamous bolt holding on the harmonic balancer. Plan A was to drill 2 holes in a 46mm spanner, as used by @Mikaelse, but unfortunately my drill bits weren't up to the job, so I abandoned that idea. Plan B was using a metal strap wrapped around the front ARB and bolted to the harmonic balancer, but I discovered that the aluminium strip I had lying around wasn't robust enough. This is where I got the idea from: Plan C is now to get a length of 40mm x 40mm x 4mm angle iron from B & Q this morning and drill and notch it accordingly. In the meantime I have ordered replacement distributor caps and rotor arms (Blueprint) because this is what I found: I I've been tinkering with cars for 55 years and I can't recall seeing rotor arms as bad as those two. I tried dressing them with a file and emery paper, but they're too far gone. It's no wonder I felt the engine wasn't as turbine smooth as I was expecting.

Thanks Mike, all very useful tips. I've made a start but it will no doubt take a few days because I'm also cleaning things as I remove them. It looks better and makes reassembly less messy.

Thanks Mike, that's perfect. I've now ordered a spanner so am looking forward to doing the job, albeit with a little trepidation.

Thanks for that Mikael, that's very helpful. Presumably you started with something like this: Is there any chance of a picture of yours? I've read elsewhere the bolt hole centres are 75mm apart, is that correct?

Having spent the last few weeks on working my way through my DIY list, I thought it was time to tackle the timing belt change. I am going to use this excellent tutorial: http://www.lexls.com/tutorials/engine/timingbelt.html However, I have some questions for those of you who have done it before: 1. Aisin say to use Form In Place Gasket (FIPG) for the water pump, but the tutorial just refers to high temperature sealant. Does anyone have any recommendations? There seem to be quite a few options on eBay, although I would prefer to use a local motor factor. 2. I have bought a tool to remove the harmonic balancer, but have read various ways of undoing the 22mm nut. Using the starter motor looks straightforward, as per this video, although I would use a 6 sided impact socket: 3. About torquing the bolt up afterwards, I spotted this method: No doubt it's effective, but has anyone tried it? I know there is a special tool for this job, which costs about £60, but I'm reluctant, at the moment, to buy it for a one off job. Any practical tips would be greatly appreciated. No doubt I will get carried away and tidy up the engine bay, but it's no less than the car deserves.

Impressive!

Excellent idea Malc. I found the rustiest part of the rear brake pipes was underneath the retaining clips and above the splash shield by the rear offside door, none of which were immediately obvious without some dismantling, so could be missed at MoT time.

It might be worth asking this company: https://www.watling-towbars.co.uk/ They listed one in 2009.

That's turned out really well. Well done!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhIM1a8oB_0 Prompt action is the order of the day. Hopefully polishing will suffice if caught in time.

I found that Lexus couldn't give me a definitive answer about the lower panel colour, and using the website mentioned above, which I think is for US market, gave me UCA31, Light Metallic Grey, which turned out to be wrong. The correct code for my car was UCA76, Medium Metallic Grey, which I found out by going to a paint supplier, who had it listed as being for the bumpers. It might be worth speaking to a paint supplier, to see if they can help. I used Nu-Agane Paints in Bedford - 01234 355990.

I have just been having another look at my exhaust and it is possibly worse than I thought. These are the rotten flanges, which I now can see are no longer attached to the front support: Because there is no provision for any centre support the weight of the entire system is taken by rear rubber hangers and these very rusty flanges and bolts, which I can foresee giving way in the not too distant future. I therefore had a good look at the rest of the system, which essentially seems sound enough after 24 years, although the centre and rear joint clips could do with replacing, because Lexus used steel bolts, even though the clips themselves are stainless steel. The clips for the front Y piece cover have all but disappeared as well. As well as a pinhole leak in the rear Y piece I also noticed the centre nearside silencer is starting to rust along the seam, which is underneath, whereas on the nearside the seam is on top - much more sensible but presumably something that wasn't considered at the time. I shall be going to see a couple of exhaust specialists this week, so I'll see what they say.