The LX450 has been a long project, with the biggest curve ball being the unforeseen headgasket leak that prompted an engine rebuild. I had my patience tested with wanting to see this truck through, and I'm still a bit shocked I kept with it. The main driving factor was I've always harbored some regret when I sold my E36 M3 with a bad headgasket, largely out of frustration. I felt the 80 Series trucks had good potential for positive ROI and didn't want to make the same mistake twice.
So, we persisted, and it got down to Maryland about 2 months ago with a healthy motor. Of course, nothing is ever done, and all of the basic needs that come with a project I suddenly realized still needed doing. The biggest was the brakes: the stopping power was weak at best, and as this is the vehicle I transport my kids in, bad brakes were not an option.
I bought a "performance" brake kit from Rock Auto consisting of huge vented rotors and carbon-ceramic pads. This made a nice improvement, and as an added bonus - when you remove the rear brakes - the parking brake cable is accessible, and since my original cable was seized, we could finally get this job done as well.
However, in inspecting the truck, it was discovered that the lift kit had seriously stretched the OEM brake lines, so those were tossed in favor of extended stainless steel lines from Slee Offroad. A simple brake job turned out to be anything but; however, with all of this work done, the truck brakes very well and it's one more step closer to using this like the daily I intended with full confidence in putting it through the paces of everyday use.