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Went to the local pick-n-pull and got my hands on a SC400 that wasn't picked over too much. Got a coolant level sensor, headlight, power seat switch, interior light, heater control vsv, air box for BFI mod, freshly rebuilt and non leaking power steering pump, rack and pinion with new pressure and return lines and a freshly rebuilt alternator. I need all of this stuff for my car except for the alternator, but it was obviously rebuilt as it was very clean and dry. And I took it off to get the very clean and dry power steering pump off. All in all felt like I hit the jackpot at the junkyard.
^^^ Nice score. How much did all of that run you? And did you really bring all the tools along for R&P removal, and lay on your back for an hour on a bunch of rocks??
Rack and pinion removal is a piece of cake. Big hammer for the tie rod ends, 17mm socket and wrench for the the 4 bolts, 12mm socket and long extensions for the u joint bolt, 2 crescent wrenches for the high pressure line and long angled needle nose for the clamps on the return line. I probably didn't spend but 10 or 15 minutes under the car and that included checking out the guibos on the driveshaft and the center support bearing...but they were all trashed. I think I spent about $225 for everything.
You can literally take a toyota almost all the way apart with a 8, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, 21, 23 wrench or socket. Add a prybar, phillips screwdriver, hammer, pliers, channel locks, and a couple of crescent wrenches and you can do damn near anything to a toyota at a junkyard. I also despise the people that only come for one part and destroy everything getting to it.
Car was in an accident a while back so while I've got an insurance rental for a month I decided to re-do my TSX retrofit to be a bit different from how I bought it from iheartmysc. Repainted the shrouds red from pink, did a color mod, updated mounting brackets for projector, and painted the housing black, and re-sealed the housings as well with butyl wind shield sealant.
Current look
Old look
Can't wait to get the battery back in after I get the steering lines re-built to see what the cut-off will look like with the color modded lenses. Also should be less distortion now that the projector is mounted about 1.5 cm's higher to keep the beam away from the heavily curved part of the front headlight lens.
eknine9 may I ask why is the projector so far out from the reflector hole? I just finished Studiogeek's retrofit, and it's not that far out. Actually it looks OEM unless you know the difference of size.
eknine9 may I ask why is the projector so far out from the reflector hole? I just finished Studiogeek's retrofit, and it's not that far out. Actually it looks OEM unless you know the difference of size. I'll post some pics after I polish the lenses some more.
The old setup stuck out that much, which is why I switched the mounting brackets, the new setup is right inline with the hole.
Don't know if you can tell from this photo but it's lined up pretty nice, which was a big benefit for me. The old brackets also had the projector sitting on the base of the headlamp assembly so they were low and sticking out.
Oh, ok, so the 2nd pic in your first post was the old setup? Here's how Studiogeek's headlight look like right now.
Forgive the kitchen counter pic, it's the only place in the house that has white light. LOL The light output is amazing too. I might do this mod myself. Orrr, maybe just go crazy and go all out with an LS600h triple projector setup...
Which projector are you using? TSX? Are you going to put a shroud around it or have you found any ring that fits in the space without needing to dremel the housing to make it fit? I really would've liked a shroud or ring of some sort but couldn't find any that would fit in our housing.
Yes this is TSX too. I thought about putting in a shroud, but there's no shroud available that's only an inch difference for the inner and outer diameter. And it doesn't really need one to be honest. It only looks like there's a huge gap because of the angle, but if you look straight forward, there's only about quarter of an inch to the glass itself.
Can't wait to get the battery back in after I get the steering lines re-built to see what the cut-off will look like with the color modded lenses. Also should be less distortion now that the projector is mounted about 1.5 cm's higher to keep the beam away from the heavily curved part of the front headlight lens.
If you could take some cutoff pictures, I would really like to see some. I'm curious if the supermade lenses will make any difference in output compared to the fluted stock lens and how much the blackhousings will help with the light reflecting off the bottom shroud.
All these retrofit pictures make me want to clean up mine.
KingPhillip, how much is the total materials cost to do the TSX retrofit?
Not really sure how much did Studiogeek buy the TSX projector, he bought it used. Then I asked him to buy the brackets for the retrofit from Luxury Mods; http://www.luxurymods.com/retrofitbrackets-1.aspx
And I have about $10-15 in spacers, bolts and nuts. It's about an inch shorter than the OEM projector, so I had to use a spacers for the bracket and projector to get it to stick out the chrome reflector.
Picked up '97 front bumper with fogs, side skirts and floor mats today. Wasn't planing on going with a 97+ conversion, but the parts were just screaming at me. Only bad parts is they are red...my car is black lol. Love me some junk yards.
01-25-15, 05:19 PM
