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I am finally back in a Lexus (after a half-decade hiatus) and in one of my all-time bucket list cars, a 2005 LS430. I will get into details about the car and my absurd plans for it in another thread, but for the purposes of this thread, all you need to know is that the interior is tan and it is absolutely DESTROYED. I hate tan interior and the front seats are pretty much junk, given the state they're in, so I am very interested in swapping the interior.
I have an opportunity to buy a wrecked 2001 LS430 with a near-perfect black interior at an auction and it's likely going to be cheap. I've been doing some research and it looks like everything should bolt in place okay, but I am curious about the electrical side of things. Did the 2004 facelift bring about significant changes to the electrical system? My main concern is the front seats, are the plugs different? If so, can they be repinned/wired fairly easily or am I going to be in over my head? Both cars have heated/cooled seats. The donor car is an Ultra Luxury and my car is a Modern Luxury. I am not concerned with the UL climate/seat controls actually being functional, mainly want to retain my power and cooled seats up front.
If you guys have any insight, I would appreciate hearing it ASAP. The donor car is up for auction tomorrow morning and if I can avoid it, I'd rather not buy a totaled 4,000LB car that won't provide me with any usable parts.
From what I can see the front seats will be identical. Does your Modern Luxury have the heated/cooled front seat controls in the centre console?
Yes, the rears will be slightly different as the UL comes with the massage seats and the drinks cooler.
From what I can see the front seats will be identical. Does your Modern Luxury have the heated/cooled front seat controls in the centre console?
Yes, the rears will be slightly different as the UL comes with the massage seats and the drinks cooler.
Yes, my ML has the same heated/cooled setup as the UL does, from what I can tell. Thank you for the input, I'm hopeful that it'll be a direct swap as well.
I ended up buying the wrecked car and will update this thread with how my swap goes once I get going on it.
Yes, my ML has the same heated/cooled setup as the UL does, from what I can tell. Thank you for the input, I'm hopeful that it'll be a direct swap as well.
I ended up buying the wrecked car and will update this thread with how my swap goes once I get going on it.
Did you buy a black 04 LS 430 from NE - Lincoln on autobid? If so I was looking at that one!
Kos is indeed referring to my thread where I am basically looking to do the same thing as you so please post lots of pictures and updates as you go along!
I read that thread, but didn't see anything definitive. Was hoping someone with some first-hand experience could chime in before I bought the car from the auction, however, it ended up going cheap enough that I bought it anyway. Lol
Originally Posted by YannG
Did you buy a black 04 LS 430 from NE - Lincoln on autobid? If so I was looking at that one!
Kos is indeed referring to my thread where I am basically looking to do the same thing as you so please post lots of pictures and updates as you go along!
It's honestly a shame that it was wrecked, it was a beautiful car and I'm assuming the exterior color is somewhat rare, or at least I've never seen it before. I will be ripping everything out of the donor car first (because it's immobile and stuck on my car trailer until I take it to the scrapper) and it may be a couple weeks before I get to the part where I'm swapping everything over. I will take lots of pictures and keep you updated!
I've been ripping the 2001-UL (black interior, parts car) apart and have tried installing a few pieces in the 2005-ML (tan interior, keeping car) car, just to see what kind of project I was in for:
- The front passenger door panel swapped over flawlessly and function as normal, I expect the driver's panel to do the same.
- Rear door panels bolt up and retain window/lock functions, but the harness is different due to the memory seat buttons in the 2001-UL interior and the 2005-ML door panel has a separate tweeter. Leaving the tweeter unplugged makes the mid-range driver non-functional, so I either need to paint the tan tweeter grille black and cut a hole in the 2001-UL panel for the tweeter, or simply leave the tweeter hooked up behind the panel and sacrifice some sound quality. Eventually, I'd like to bypass the Mark Lev system entirely and just run aftermarket amp & speakers, so I may just leave the tweeter behind the panel for now.
- There are 3 harnesses for the front passenger seat, two of which plug in perfectly: 1) The yellow air bag plug and 2) What I believe to be the power supply for the climate controlled seats. The third harness that connects the heated/cooled **** in the dashboard and supplies power for the positioning motors is different. The 01-UL seat has a 9-wire plug, the 05-ML seat has an 11 wire plug. At this point, I'm not sure if I'm going to repin the harness/splice wires or if I'm going to try to swap all the 01-UL black upholstery and plastics onto the 05-ML tan seat. I am leaning towards the upholstery swap.
- The power seat frames/sliders from 01-UL seem like they'll fit in the 05-ML body okay, but the mounting points are missing. Going to just weld them in place instead of worrying about studs, bolt holes, etc.
Pretty much just pray that it's all going to work. Lol. If I start pulling it out of the parts car and it's more trouble than it's worth or not going to work, I might use some black interior dye on the tan one and just change out the wood.
Pretty much just pray that it's all going to work. Lol. If I start pulling it out of the parts car and it's more trouble than it's worth or not going to work, I might use some black interior dye on the tan one and just change out the wood.
I actually pulled the dash from my 460 several times and it actually is not that hard. It's just time consuming since you have to remove the center console, radio, glove compartment and unbolt the steering wheel so you can drop it on the floor,
I actually pulled the dash from my 460 several times and it actually is not that hard. It's just time consuming since you have to remove the center console, radio, glove compartment and unbolt the steering wheel so you can drop it on the floor,
I was pleasantly surprised at how the dash came out, actually. All the bolts were pretty accessible and other than the vents giving me a hard time, it was a pretty drama-free removal.
The 01-UL parts car is now stripped down to nothing inside, so I’m going to be working on swapping it all into the 05-ML car.
I was able to strip the front passenger seat down to the frame and swap all the black pieces onto it. It took a lot of time, but it’s more tedious than it is difficult. The only difference I can find between the two and, presumably, the source of the two extra wires in the 05-ML plug is some little sensor at the bottom of the seat back. I have no idea what it does, but it’s pictured below.
The steering wheel air bag is different, it appears that the 01-UL is a single stage bag and the 05-ML is a dual stage. I believe I’ll be able to swap the wiring harness in the wheel to retain all steering wheel control function, but they are definitely different between the two cars.
2005 to 2001 Interior Swap
