Salvaged 2005 GX470 Project - Now with Rebuilt Title & Plates!

Edit: I thought the damaged tailgate was the one they had when you showed up. My bad!

 

Yeah, screw that. I would have called and asked if I could "pick" it myself. They are just charging labor for that.

That's awesome about the ebay one. It's nice when the yard is willing to work with you on wiring and such.
Small story: When I had my Prius, I found a set of the OE LED headlights off the higher trim and called the breaker yard. Guy was cool and I explained what I was doing and asked about cutting the harness up a bit so I can make my own tie-in. He was cool and did and came out great.

 

Some pics of the rusted rear crossmember/bumper after hitting it with a wire wheel. Not good, not terrible. All surface rust, no holes. Prepping for POR15 treatment

 

Cruising right along.

 

I want to be driving it this year!

Also thinking I should set a $20k total project limit. At least a number to keep me in check. Lol

So it really comes down to either supercharger or coilovers first...gotta see what black Friday sales pop up!

Edit: running the math on things, it may be a $25k build. But I do plan on keeping this long term, so that's a reasonable price

 

Supposed to keep the area wet.with Metal Prep for 20 minutes. So wrapped it in foil. Pretty sure I saw this method used before

 

Ok, I think I'm doing suspension before supercharger...safety and all lol.

It's going to be pretty mild, but definitely a huge upgrade over stock. Ditching the OEM Magnetic (Electronic Adjustable) shocks and the OEM rear air bags. Will have the new suspension set to the lowest setting of 1" lift over stock, leveling the front.

Bookmarking links below. Waiting till Black Friday to see what deals I can get. But it's basically a full suspension replacement/upgrade for around $4500. Those are MSRP prices, have found other sites selling some parts cheaper

• Eibach Front Pro 2.0 Coilovers $900
  
• Eibach Pro-Alignment Adjustable Upper control Arms $700
  
• SuperPro Lower Control Arms $725
  
• Eibach Rear Pro Sport Shocks $260
  
• Eibach Rear Load Leveling Spring System $499
  
• Nolathane Red 24mm HD Rear Sway Bar $200
• Nolathane Red 30mm HD Front Sway Bar $250
• 555 Inner and Outer Tie Rod Ends $120
• Durotrak adjustable Rear Track Bar ~$210
• TBD Rear Upper Trailing Arms ~$300

 

Have you hit up @memario1214 at all? I believe he sells most of these parts (at least the Eibach stuff) and he is a great dude to work with.

 

Keep on Truckin! (kind of)

 

I was going to say suspension is probably the better route to go first. Get it in working order before adding power. Especially if the suspension is close to shot anyway.

 

Love these things. Would love to have one and considered it... But just couldn't justify another vehicle that got gas mileage similar to my truck. Ended up with a Civic instead

 

Just reached out to him. Thanks for the heads up!

 

I still need a good gas mileage vehicle! I may be in store for a salvaged Prius next lol

 

It helps both parties lol Colton has answered so many questions from me so I like to send him business. And the OP is about to drop some money on parts, might as well try and save him some if we can so he can do other things to this build. Its been fun to watch.

 

I don't know if the GX is the same, but the LX/LC crowd loves the way the stock suspension rides over basically anything aftermarket and highly recommends just rebuilding OEM. Partsouq has really good prices for OEM.

 

Just know that Colton is at SEMA so communication is delayed. But yea, super helpful guy and with a big project as you have, every dollar saved is every dollar you have toward SC....

 

Sema is over

 

Doesn't mean his isn't caught up from being out of the office for a few days. I'm sure he got even busier after SEMA with requests.

 

Prepping more for the quarter panel replacement. Took the roof rack off. I kinda like the no roof rack/no running boards look.

 

Got the front sway bar off, and not without a fight! Kinda proud none of the bolts broke! Both wheels were seized to the hub so I stopped and went to HD and bought some PB Blaster. Came back and between that and wracking the back of the tire with a 20lbs sledge, they came off! I sprayed down every bolt in sight. The sway bar end links came off easy enough, but the bushing bolts...no...alternated heating/cooling bolts and wrenching side to side, maybe 7 times, but they finally came free

 

Now that the front wheels are off, been hitting areas of rhe frame with a screwdriver. Why oh why is a drip line positioned directly over the frame rail?!?! The paint flaked right off. No full holes but I'm gonna poke at it more tomorrow

Probably grab a needle scaler from harbor freight

 

You’re moving right along. Great project with good progress. Now don’t quit and disappear on us.

 

Getting a good look at how awful the exhaust manifold is, and how hard the bolts are to get to, I may grab some long tube headers to put on while all the suspensionis off and out of the way. Need to remove the motor mounts to make room for installing, so might as well put those on the list to replace.

I'll have to register this at my parents cabin to avoid emissions though

 

That splitter looking thing does not look good! You are getting into it though. Awesome results in the end.

 

That's for the brake lines I believe. I'm going to replace that. Can't be too expensive. And then I can remove the rust under it

 

I was going to ask... do you have the typical 4.7 exhaust leak? After the second set of replacement manifolds went bad, I said f**k this sh*t and went long tube!

 

I haven't noticed one yet, but I've only driven it to the corner car wash twice so far. Need to start it up and get a good listen while it's in the garage. But I'm quickly talking myself into a set of long tubes lol. And also so titanium studs/nuts to replace the factory ones. I need to research some more on those to see if they're cheaper anywhere else. Maybe just ARP?

https://www.burtmanindustries.com/zoomprod.php?id=4run_titanium_studs