greenmac80

and we have some colour.

So Mounts are done. motor is completely supporting itself went with the TUFF mount style setup. Simple to build. Final position. found i did have to lean it over to clear the steering box. This shows where the centre bearing x member was moved to. just need to add a shim and drill a fresh hole. soarer front shaft with crown bearing on it. all just kinda worked. drag link clearance

So i wasnt happy with the motor positioning. was too far forwards so we modded some stuff today and got it further back, gained about 30 mm. the underside of the sump had a nice even gap all the way around it including the draglink. also with the heights and angles of everything in is very very close to matching pinion angle. Also being a crown normally the motor will be mounted on as lean. this will be upright. The previous mounting of the trans made it nearly impossible to remove the x member without either moving the motor way back or unbolting the trans first. so the way its done now fixes that issue. Next i got a centre for the diff and put the axles back in and some wheels on. then jacked the diff up to get to approx ride height. from there we mocked up a shaft to check the angle. all sweet. Managed to move the centre bearing x member back and now the stock soarer front shaft can be used. we did however put the crown centre bearing on the soarer shaft. All fit up without mods. finalised the motor postion up front. start motor brackets tomorrow. would love to get the motor further back but without notching the sump it just isnt happening.

got another 1uz today. this one came out of a crown so has the mid sump ready. also the crown manifolds. plus some plastics i didnt have before. so we put the trans on and got that mostly mounted. and had a good suss of the motor and the angle needed plus measurements for the driveshaft. also with the soarer trans having a donut style join the stock shifter wont work so going to a b&m ratchet style. then after much debate i decided i wanted the motor further back so the trans mount is being altered to allow a further 30-40mm more rearwards. will most likely get onto motor mount tuesday night. tomorrow will be reworking the trans mount.

back in the car.hilux housing in the jig getting the crown mounts out on. Mounts all welded. back in the car.

diff jig complete. here is a comparison between the f series axle and the g series. here is the stripped hilux rear.

diff swap begins. still awaiting my crown midsump so engine mounts are still on hold.

progress on panel work while i still await my crown mid sump. this door had quite a large gouge in it as can be seen in previous pics. now metal finished this door had tons of bog in it. the previous panel beating job made metal finishing very difficult but we got it very very close. then here we have the passenger front door. Rust.

then sunday did some panel work. i run my own restoration shop so having all the right gear on hand makes things alot easier. ALWAYS bare metal old cars if u want it to last. you never know what sort of gremlins are hiding. this rear door is a perfect example. TONS of bog in it. Now don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with a bit of filler BUT when its used in excess for no reason it pisses me off. this whole door had a really thick layer. really didnt need it epoxied. will put em aside and work on em later.

Night 2. decided since the front came apart itd be a shame to do it al again so we stripped it. will get a restoration as well. the 3 month timeline just got really tight. again very little rust has been found.

sooooo updates.. car came off rd thursday night. night 1. front end apart. motor off to new owner. No RUST in the front end at all. was really pleased to see. where youd expect it, it was squeaky clean.

years in the build but damn this is nice!!

car comes off the rd thursday night so updates should happen pretty regular. 5mge is definitely a good step up from the sneezy 4m. Trust me shes not that great up close. few areas of cancer and dents galore. 50 shades of yellow as well. will give her a resto towards end of year

nice interior. love the carpet. exactly what i got done on my zze122. will also be getting same style in my crown. looks like a real tidy unit!!

nah the 1zzfe in these have some pretty bad oil baffling. or lack of. Basically with the new track and tyres (and low oil) not empty but low. hard corner lots of revs = spun rod bearing. now i found its really common on the racetrack to kill em. and there are aftermarket replacements. BUT the 1zzfe in the mr2 toyota improved the internal baffling to ensure it never happened.

Yes your right. I'll be retaining the stock crown heater controls and most likely scrapping AC for now just to simplify it a bit.. Not my first motor swap but the most complex in terms of changing brakes and rear end etc. i did a RWD 4efe ke30 yrs ago that worked and was a first.

Wheels. well well. these cars can take some pretty decent wheels. Probably not most ppls cup of tea but hey i love em. Work eurolines. 18x10 +18 rear with 295/30 and 18x9+21 fronts. will be changing the rear tyres to a 275/40 to gain some clearance and some extra height to help with grip. rear contact patch with 295 looks awesome pity i can't keep em.

next issue was the sump. managed to do a swap of sorts and have sold this rear sump setup and bought a mid sump setup. stoked. Have sourced the non hydro fan idler bracket and pulley as well. rear sump removed. These girls have steering boxes. it may foul on the headers. plus even with all new components the stock box is sloppy as. so ive been planning out a rack and pinion conversion using a saab 900 centre pivot rack modded. this rack also gives a quicker steer of 3 turns lock to lock. it should work will need some custom bracketry and x member to mount it all.

Brake upgrades were a big issue. i searched and searched and didnt find squat. vague references only. i eventually came to this. BA falcon rotor slightly modified. R33gtst calipers. on the late model ms85 hub/spindle. got some rings machined out of stainless to take up the slack in the bore of the rotor. The rotor needed 1mm shaved off OD. the caliper bolts on well with no spacing needed. Longer studs and we're done. Rear brakes.. not too sure. hoping to mod rt142 corona rear plates to fit. if i can't then i'm gonna have a hard time finding an ms112 solid rear end. Booster and Master will be toyota surf boost with ma61? i think MC which should be 1". i might have the model code wrong.

I recently did a trip to Talbot and found a ton of ms85 stuff. mine being an early car it has the solid front discs. so i was mainly chasing the late model spindle so i could upgrade. got a heap of trim bits and accessories mine lacks because its a lowly se. the soarer in question halfway thru stripping. the new donk. was nice and strong said bye to plenty of tyres before getting pulled. wiring. about 50% through it.

Hey all. long time member but have been inactive for a long time. Here is my MS85 crown rolling on lincoln continental wheels. So i got this car cheap. real cheap. knackered 4m. well knackered everything. I found a rebuilt 4m dirt cheap and put it in. got it running and driving then played the game of replacing everything. First i replaced all steering componenets. then Shocks. Then all the bushes. Drove so nice. albeit slow. Always felt that it needed a v8. but was content to drive it as it was for a long while. then a soarer came along for a measly sum of $550. so bye bye 4m and hello 1uz. i'm about to throw myself into this conversion but i have researched and planned out pretty much everything that could go wrong. so it should sail pretty smooth.

rollas are gone for me. got me zze122 but hope to sell that.

So i popped the motor in this thing again. got new wheels 15x8 0 offset grid classics. will be putting a replacement motor in it and selling up. building bigger and better things now and need the coin.

if someone wants to sponsor me a ke i'll gladly get back in the throws of this club!!!

i know right?!! lol the wife is driving it more than me atm sad panda!!