since the Lexus GS450h powerplant seems to be a popular conversion combo for rear wheel drive vehicles and since I live 2 miles away from the world's largest wrecking yard that allows you to pull your own parts I figure I will share with you a mini series I like to call "The Junkyard Report" where I share with you mostly through pictures what some of the OEM EV conversion parts look like and where they reside on our beloved GS450h in the wild, how hard they are to pull and should or should you not bother with using them on your own project
I was actually surprise how quickly stuff disappeared off of the black one, I was there only 3 days after the car arrived and the inverter was already gone, and looked like someone left a cougar in the cabin
this is how I found the center console
so my OCD made it put it back sort of in it's place for the photo opp
here's a birds eye view of the center console, I wish I took pics of it after I got it out of the car, I may go back and to that just so you can see the 17 different pieces that make up this abomination
here I am trying to show how far back and above the transmission the actual shifter sits, it's almost a foot back of the tail of the transmission, I could have sworn it was right above it in the middle, but nope, glad I took these pics
so I believe and correct me if I am wrong, we are not really shifting actual gears with this thing, all this thing does is lock the transmission when in Park and all the other settings unlock it and just send electronic signals to the VCU telling it to either send positive torque signals when in Drive or negative torque signals when in Reverse, as there is no actual reverse gear in this transmission, it's just a gear reduction jobbie
somebody wanna 3D print us a cover for this beauty?
so first of all, in order to get it out of Park without having to step on a brake pedal in un electronically controlled vintage cars you need to remove this gray gizmo
please be advised, I own two of these OEM shifters, allowing me to completely bastardize one whilst leaving the other completely in tact, so that I can show you stuff side by side
Doesn't that grey gizmo do all the electrical switch at each lever position? Wouldn't it be easier to add a wire to the stop light switch to trigger the Park lock?
As far as shifter position, would it be possible to reuse the cable from the B&M shifter, so the Lexus shifter mounts in a similar position?
Maybe the second mock up model could place the shifter in the desired position and see what could be done to make it work ......
I need you to do all this sorting of the fabrication side to make it easier for the conversion into the C240E Mercedes with the V6 engine knock ..... either the cam flogged out in the rear mounts or the piston hitting the head, either way, that will be someone else's problem ......
Pity it would be so expensive to get all those panels over here, I have a Lexus GS 450h that needs a few front guards and left hand doors, and .... yeah, I'll just pull the bits out eh
T1Terry wrote: ↑Mon Nov 10, 2025 1:16 am
Doesn't that grey gizmo do all the electrical switch at each lever position?
T1 Terry
No I don't think so, I think you are thinking of the Shift Lever Position Sensor which lives on the side of the transmission (editing that video as I type this)
T1Terry wrote: ↑Mon Nov 10, 2025 1:16 am
As far as shifter position, would it be possible to reuse the cable from the B&M shifter, so the Lexus shifter mounts in a similar position?
T1 Terry
unfortunately push/pull cable shifters use a completely different giddy up than their mechanical linkage counter parts, the cable shifters need some sort of stoppers if you will to allow the cables to slide back and forth, think cable brakes on a bicycle, and of course one can modify anything they want to make it work the question is do you want to reinvent the wheel when there are 7,200 donor vehicles 2.5 miles away at the local Pick N Pull from your house (my third video of the shifter upgrade series addresses this concern)
