Here's a thread with photos showing the procedure:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...ighlight=trunk

And here's the narrative portion:
====================================
Here are the instructions - some of it won't make sense until you actually start the process:

Try to enlist a friend to help - to hold up the trunk lid, but you can do it yourself using a sturdy pole to prop it up.

1. Inside the trunk, peel off, from the top, the interior cloth-like panel that separates the trunk cavity from the back seat/gas tank area. It's held down with little plastic clips. These clips will release if you give them a tug. You should then be able to see the gas tank and the lifts attached to the trunk hinges.

2. You can't just pop the old lifts off because they are not yet fully extended. There are a pair of little black plastic bumpers that clip onto the tubular metal connecting the trunk to the struts. Pull them out so you can lift the trunk to its full height.

3. Using a 12mm open end wrench unscrew the ball portion of the ball and socket joint that is on the top part of the lift supports. It may be hard to start because it has Locktite on it.

4. Using a screwdriver, unclip the metal retainer that secures the bottom part of the lifter cylinder to a stud on the car body. If you won't be re-using your old struts, you can just jam a screwdriver and bend the clips so that they release. (I had to be more careful, since I knew I would be re-using them.)

5. Now you reverse step 3 for the replacement struts.

6. Clip the bottom part of your new cylinders onto their round studs.

7. Put those rubber bumpers back into place, paying attention to the little key piece that fits into a hole on the tubular trunk arm.

8. Put the interior piece back into place with the clips.

These pneumatic cylinders are under a lot of pressure, even when they're too weak to hold up the lid. Don't cut them or get your finger in the way when they are compressed. Also, take care not to nick or scratch the polished metal rods on the struts.

If you REALLY want to extend the service life of your lift supports, keep in mind there is a slight chance that your trunk currently has only one strut shot, but the other is in good shape. So replace the struts one at a time. If replacing one strut results in a trunk lid that will stay up, you may wish to hold onto the extra strut until the time your other strut gives out,

 

This is somewhat in line with #8 but how about a list of web sites that Lexus owners might find informative?

 

How about aternatives to special tools such as those required to remove the crankshaft pulley nut on the SC300 which has a 239 ft-lb torque?

 

http://users.bigpond.net.au/startrade/FAQ/FAQ.html

 

Here's a very rough draft of what I have on the FAQ so far. I need more help gathering info because I don't know it all myself (IE: all compatible Supra parts). Anything you see that is blank is something I haven't research or gathered info on yet, so feel free to share.....

http://www.intellexual.net/faqframes.html

Also please check the FAQ for wrong info, proof read, and feel free to add any input of your own regarding format, wording, etc... This is going to be OUR FAQ so it should reflect the collective views of ALL of us.

 

One more thing, don't worry about the pictures of the bodykits, I already have MOST of those on my computer. It's just a matter of uploading them. PS: don't click the bodykit links because they'll take you to another page.

 

Cross-post of the strut upgrade I got for my SC3.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...threadid=60498

Ral

 

I revised this a little from it's original form just to make it more generic...

Installing a Basic Relay:
(Converting cornering lights to foglights)

First you'll need to buy a few items: a 4 or 5-pin 30-amp automotive relay, an inline fuse holder, a 30-amp fuse, about 20-ft 12-awg wire, a box of t-taps (5 is all you'll need if you don't mess up), roll of electrical tape, and good solid connectors: either use solder or buy male-female disconnects. All of this stuff is available at Radio Shack and should cost you no more than $10-15.

Now you need to get to know the relay. A relay is essentially a mechanical switching device that is activated by a low voltage input to activate a high voltage switch. In this application, your low current trigger will be tapped off the parking lights. Your high current output will be the power supplied to the auxiliary lights by the battery via the relay. The relay itself should be a 1-inch black plastic cube with 5 spades on one face, and some sort of mounting tab on another. The 5 spades are labelled something like 30, 85, 86, 87, 87a (at least these are Bosch's labelling).

- 30 is your input voltage for the switched device.
- 87a is an open circuit (no power).
- 87 is a closed circuit that supplies the high current to your auxiliary lights.
- 85 and 86 can be interchangeable, but they are the low voltage leads from your parking lights.

You can choose either headlights, city/parking lights, or sidemarker lights as your signal trigger. I used the city lights because they were easiest to access, the relay can be switched with an input signal as low as 150mV, and in case anything went wrong, no big deal.

Hopefully everyone here already knows that every DC electrical device requires two connections: a postive (live) and negative (ground). The colored wire is always ground (yes black is a color) and white is always the live wire. (in AC it's slightly different)

STEP 1
Basically, your first connection is going to be two t-taps off the both cornering lights' positive wires. Now connect the two t-taps you just made with two runs of 12-awg wire, and lead both wires back to the battery pan. Twist the two wires together into one single wire and connect them to the 87 spade.

The 87a spade will have no connection because it is the open switch.

STEP 2
Lexus uses a switched ground system which presents a problem because your cornering lights aren't always grounded. So to resolve this issue, go back to the cornering lights and t-tap both of the negative (ground) wires. Run two lengths of 12-awg wire from these t-taps---the same way you just did with the positive wire---to the negative post on the car battery. Your circuit is now properly grounded.

STEP 3
Next send a wire from the battery's negative post to the 85 spade.

STEP 4
Now make another t-tap off of the positive wire from your chosen signal trigger (in my case the city light), usually the closest one is the best. Once you've established this t-tap, run another piece of 12-awg wire from the t-tap to 86 spade.

STEP 5
Last is to establish the big power! You will connect the battery's 12v positive post to the 30 spade. BUT before you do that, use that inline fuse holder you bought. It will be a black, plastic, well... "fuse holder", with a looped wire running from one end to the other. Cut the loop into two bare ends. Connect one end to the 12v positive battery post, and connect the other end to the 30 spade on the relay. You may need to splice or crimp extra wire to make the run to the 30 space. It is critical that the fuse holder is very close to the battery. Like less than 12-inches of wire between them both. Make sure you weren't eager and stuck a fuse in that fuse-holder yet, because that would create a live circuit.

STEP 6
Right now the relay system is completely wired up, but there is no fuse in the holder. Therefore no current is running through it so it is still safe. At this point, you'll want to check all connections from and to the relay and once you've determined all is secured and well, insulate it! You want to make the relay water and weatherproof. I did so by wrapping the entire thing in 6 layers of electrical tape. Feel free to use more if you want. Then tuck or mount the relay somewhere safe (IE somwhere away from water exposure and engine heat). I put mine next to the battery pan which remains relatively dry and cool.

STEP 7
Now you can insert the 30-amp fuse you bought and test out the relay circuit. Turn the light wand in your car to activate the parking lights. Your cornering lights should turn on as well.

 

is this ready yet?
i would like to know more....as much as possible
thanks guys

 

Question for the FAQ, is the 97+ foglight also an H3 socket? Thanks.

 

Lex400sc- I was wondering is this still going to happen now that your not a moderator?

 

Yes

 

ok cool. I was just wondering because once I get a few other things I have to get done out of the way, I would be glad to help out. Even if its not directly writing any of the FAQ but maybe in some other way.

 

Here's a quick fix for burned out dash light bulbs. Before removing the instrument cluster, do what a Lexus tech suggested. Give it a good wack on top of the dash above the instrument cluster.

Believe it or not, it worked! And it's worked for many others, too.

-scott

 

My FTP server has been down for a few weeks now, so updates to the FAQ won't be seen until the permissions are restored. Thanks!