GS430 retrofit project
05-08-13, 12:08 AM
#1
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
GS430 retrofit project
Imported from England a little over a year ago by the dude I purchased this from in last September.
This is mostly retrofit project but I'll have to fix the rear bumper and repaint the front bumper too.
Going to retrofit the lowbeams with TRS' RX-AFS projectors and Bullet shrouds.
It has proven to be extremely difficult to find the rear bumber from Finland. No luck yet. Some of the international stores won't ship parts that big to here and if they do it's damn expensive. Oh well, that's not my biggest worries right now.
I haven't been able to register the car (so I can't drive it obviously) because it won't pass the inspections with the english wrong-side-of-the-road-driving front headlights. That's why I'm doing the retrofit, it's the cheapest way to get roadlegal lights in here.
This car is as basic as it gets aside from that carbon fiber gearknob (if it's even real).
Boring leather seats (I'd prefer them black) and it doesn't even have driver seat with memory. One thing I am satisfied is that it has those dark wood trimmings and not the ugly real wood look-a-likes.
Boooring interior.
You can see the "dent".
Projectors and shrouds.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Got some interior leds. Bought a "full" kit which didn't even have leds for the backseat reading lights (don't know what you call them, on the ceiling on top of the door) and came with two leds for the dome light (GS430 has only 1). I guess it was meant for GS300 or something.
Bought also a pair of license plate lights.
It was a b**** to take that front bumper off. Who in the hell had the idea in Lexus GS design team to make it so ****ing hard to take the headlights off? I had E39 BMW and its headlights were attached with only 4 screws.
Found out when searching for that colour code (Midnight Pine Pearl) that it seems to be quite "rare" colour 'cause it was only applied to models from 2001 to 2002. It looks black in certain lighting but is actually dark green (as you can see in some of the pics).
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Polished the headlights.
Difference can surely be seen.
Though they still need more polishing.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I opened one headlight and started to work on that.
The HID brackets from LuxuryMods weren't bolt-on as I thought (why else should I choose a projector model before I place an order? ) and I had to cut a little piece of it to make it fit to the projector.
The cut can be seen in the bottom area of the brackets.
Had to modify the shrouds too so that they fit perfectly with the projectors. There's no more gap between the lens cover and the shroud (a small gap can still be seen in the pic).
Testfitting. I thought of ditching the original chrome bezel and put only the shroud there. Doing that I'll have to put something on the background to cover the xenon wiring and part of the brackets.
The copper pipe is there to get exact same distance on all of the eight screws between the brackets. That screw thing between the brackets is almost always missing in the how-to-guides available on the internet. So I had to kind of figure it out along the way.
Had to cut part of theinner chrome bezel to get the projector fit. I'll have to cut it some more to get the shroud fit perfectly. It's not cut yet in the picture below.
This is mostly retrofit project but I'll have to fix the rear bumper and repaint the front bumper too.
Going to retrofit the lowbeams with TRS' RX-AFS projectors and Bullet shrouds.
It has proven to be extremely difficult to find the rear bumber from Finland. No luck yet. Some of the international stores won't ship parts that big to here and if they do it's damn expensive. Oh well, that's not my biggest worries right now.
I haven't been able to register the car (so I can't drive it obviously) because it won't pass the inspections with the english wrong-side-of-the-road-driving front headlights. That's why I'm doing the retrofit, it's the cheapest way to get roadlegal lights in here.
This car is as basic as it gets aside from that carbon fiber gearknob (if it's even real).
Boring leather seats (I'd prefer them black) and it doesn't even have driver seat with memory. One thing I am satisfied is that it has those dark wood trimmings and not the ugly real wood look-a-likes.
Boooring interior.
You can see the "dent".
Projectors and shrouds.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Got some interior leds. Bought a "full" kit which didn't even have leds for the backseat reading lights (don't know what you call them, on the ceiling on top of the door) and came with two leds for the dome light (GS430 has only 1). I guess it was meant for GS300 or something.
Bought also a pair of license plate lights.
It was a b**** to take that front bumper off. Who in the hell had the idea in Lexus GS design team to make it so ****ing hard to take the headlights off? I had E39 BMW and its headlights were attached with only 4 screws.
Found out when searching for that colour code (Midnight Pine Pearl) that it seems to be quite "rare" colour 'cause it was only applied to models from 2001 to 2002. It looks black in certain lighting but is actually dark green (as you can see in some of the pics).
---------------------------------------------------------------
Polished the headlights.
Difference can surely be seen.
Though they still need more polishing.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I opened one headlight and started to work on that.
The HID brackets from LuxuryMods weren't bolt-on as I thought (why else should I choose a projector model before I place an order? ) and I had to cut a little piece of it to make it fit to the projector.
The cut can be seen in the bottom area of the brackets.
Had to modify the shrouds too so that they fit perfectly with the projectors. There's no more gap between the lens cover and the shroud (a small gap can still be seen in the pic).
Testfitting. I thought of ditching the original chrome bezel and put only the shroud there. Doing that I'll have to put something on the background to cover the xenon wiring and part of the brackets.
The copper pipe is there to get exact same distance on all of the eight screws between the brackets. That screw thing between the brackets is almost always missing in the how-to-guides available on the internet. So I had to kind of figure it out along the way.
Had to cut part of theinner chrome bezel to get the projector fit. I'll have to cut it some more to get the shroud fit perfectly. It's not cut yet in the picture below.
Last edited by Lutkis; 05-08-13 at 09:26 AM.
05-08-13, 09:35 AM
#5
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
Edited the pics so they are a bit bigger but hopefully not too big. 
Well the retrofit is still work in progress. Can't really say just yet how it'll turn out. Got a new Dremel yesterday to speed things up.
Can you provide a link to it? It would make it easier to adjust the lights and to take them off if modification is needed.
Well the retrofit is still work in progress. Can't really say just yet how it'll turn out. Got a new Dremel yesterday to speed things up.
Can you provide a link to it? It would make it easier to adjust the lights and to take them off if modification is needed.
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05-09-13, 01:57 AM
#8
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
It's because of the light pattern that hits the road.
In England they drive at the wrong side of the road (
) and most of the rest of the world drives on the right side of the road (literally).So when you're driving in England your left headlight lights up the road further than your right headlight.
When I drive a car like that here in Finland it blinds oncoming traffic.
That's why it needs to be changed so that my right headlight lights up further than the left headlight.
05-09-13, 06:18 AM
#9
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
Unfortunately those won't work with me. If I remember correctly the headlight washer units are attached to the headlights so I'd have to take them off too and that would be impossible without taking the bumper off.
05-09-13, 06:23 AM
#10
^^^^^ ahhh i forgot about that washer. Ur really earning that retrofit then ^_^ that piece would make it really hard to wiggle the headlight out even if it werent attached. This process barely gives any room at all but it works... If u dont have the washers.
Last edited by MikeFoxx; 05-09-13 at 06:27 AM.
05-09-13, 07:33 AM
#12
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by ohboitony
Doesn't your GS430 have self leveling?
05-09-13, 11:21 AM
#13
Driver School Candidate
05-09-13, 10:29 PM
#14
Lead Lap
Thread Starter
LuxuryMods.com provides them.
Lexus -> GS -> 2nd Gen -> Lighting
Just select the right projector from the drop down list. Altough in my case I selected the RX-AFS and it wasn't plug 'n' play 'cause I had to cut little pieces off from the bottom to make them fit.
