I'M SORRY, GRANDMA: 1986 Cressida moneypit (I mean, project...)

[Oanerma]

You live SCARY close to me, haha. I've been following this thread forever and somehow I never realized this. I've also somehow never seen your car around anywhere. I used to see that weird looking black and yellow supra parked on the side of 191 every day when I was in high school though. Good times.

Anywho, this thing is awesome. Your dedication to this thing after the whole driveshaft fiasco and the myriad of other issues really impresses me. I get frustrated and want to give up on my projects when dumb crap breaks, but you're all in on this, and I envy that.

[kibur]

end of 2017 update

Finally getting a chance to give this thread a nice and lengthy update.


I guess I last left off with the AR-5 finally wrestled into the car, and it going off to a new driveshaft shop. It took a month or two to get everything situated, and quite frankly, there were a handful of things that I needed to go over once the car left the shop. Some of these unraveled themselves quickly, others took a bit, but I'm going to remain hum on the shop and the matter due to having friends who work there. My friends were also not the ones who handled the repairs surrounding and including my driveshaft, but it was disappointing nevertheless.


Once things were sorted though, I drove the car fairly regularly. And it felt really, really great. There wasn't a single moment where I wasn't blown away by the fact that this was really my car, this motor was really in there, and I was able to make this happen with the help of friends. There was a bit where I was daily driving it, due to the fact my BMW had a cracked oil pan and the Honda had purchased to daily drive blew its headgasket on its first drive. To be fair, the Honda had been sitting next to someone's house, what should I have expected?



There were lots of interesting moments daily driving this, such as when it shut off and wouldn't want to turn back over, in the rain, in traffic, on the highway. That was a really fun one, but I got it sorted.


All was mostly good with the Cressida, until a drive over to a friend's house after a long day's of work. He had never seen the car, so we took it out for a nice pull. Car felt great, he's hootin' and hollerin' about it. But the problem is - I'm losing boost. Like a dummy, I didn't have a boost gauge wired up, because I wasn't usually beating on the car. We coasted downhill in neutral until I arrived at a gas station, where I see the engine bay is covered in oil on the turbo side. Great.



We get the car over to the parking of my buddy's work, and it stays there for a few days until I get it towed home. Start to take things apart, and I find the culprit. The rubber return line on the turbo had failed, likely due to the fact the oil return j pipe was sandwiched between the mount and the turbo. Gotta love engine swaps. My turbo was probably shot, but I had friends telling me it might not be. I tried to get it back together, and though the hose was a strange size, I eventually found what I needed.


I get the car towed up to my buddy Justin's after he offers to help because despite what this thread may lead one to believe, I am completely inept when it comes to cars. And this is also my first turbo car. And the first car I've swapped. And folks, I have been in way, way, waaaaaaaay over my head for a while now.


Here's my Honda wagon, and my friend Johnny's 4Runner (which he has since sold). The Honda is a little trooper, and it was great to me while I hauled parts back and forth with it.


Got everything back together, confirmed my turbo was blown, and found another one. Got the new turbo in, had a friend wire up a few important gauges, and the car felt absolutely amazing. However, Justin had one stipulation of sorts for helping me with everything - I had to take the car drifting. And I sure did.


(photo by jacob frey)
Unsurprisingly, using a powerful engine in a platform totally not accommodated for it makes for an interesting drifting experience. What I'm trying to say is I spun out - a lot. And I also banged the car up in a little incident that wasn't necessarily my fault, but probably could have been avoided if I were a better driver. But towards the end of the day, I had linked a few turns and really enjoyed drifting a lot and I was able to drive the Cressida back to a friend's house when it was all said and.


I had planned to go drifting at one last event, but a combination of cold weather, being slightly unprepared, and a bunch of shit hitting the fan led me to sit that one out. I let a friend drive the Cressida to work and of course, the rear driver's side axle breaks. He picks me up, we fix it, and the next day, I get towards driving it back towards my home. There was a Cressida at the yard that I planned to pull axles from... and of course it'd been crushed. I ended up getting the Cressida home just fine that day.




The following night, I'm sitting at my house, rather bored because its the night before thanksgiving. I tell myself, if the Cressida starts, I'll drive it. And of course, it starts on the first crank - something which feels like a blessing in a project like this. I take it for a drive, and I get just out of my neighborhood before I hear a loud pop, and the car feels like shit. It's all over the place and it feels like an axle is toasted. I'm not sure if it was the same one, but it turns out the axle and the stub axle on the passenger side had went.


(photo by jacob frey)
So this is where I sit now, trying to locate stub axles, because Toyota doesn't make them and I need to rely on someone who hoarded these parts. First thing I want to do is get my driveshaft re-balanced and checked out, I have an odd feeling about it. I want to crack my differential open and inspect it, but I think it likely is time to ditch the welded 4.11 rear and rebuild my back up open differential with KAAZ 2-way parts. I love the welded differential, but when parts are this hard to come by, I think it's not wise to risk breaking stuff with it. The rear end on these cars is an achilles heel to say the least, but I don't want to have to re-do the entire rear end of the vehicle... which is what a lot of people end up doing. This has been an interesting year with this car. I've gotten to enjoy it the most I ever have, yet it still has been a massive pain. I'm hoping that after sorting out the rear end and driveshaft issues, this car can be solid.


Also picked up some sweet wheels for it, a pair of SSR Formula Mesh, 15x8 +28. Hoping to pick up more as time goes on, but only once the car is more mechanically solid.


I'm going to conclude this update by saying this - I love this car, and have a lot of sentimental value attached to it, which caused me to dive in so deeply on this build. But if I were to do it all over again, I'd probably stick to either another 5m, or a 2JZ-GE. This platform is quirky, hard to find parts for, hard to adapt things to, and then once everything is together, certain components cant handle the power. THE X7 CRESSIDA CHASSIS IS RATED FOR THE POWER OF A W58: 250-300 HP. There's no denying it. Even with a stock 1jz that may be around 300, I'm breaking stuff. Sure, the welded differential doesn't help, and this is all a learning process, but find myself frustrated with this car and this chassis more often than I find myself enjoying it. I genuinely hope that changes soon.

[d0wse]

Awesome!

[kibur]

Gonna have some more updates regarding this old project shortly.

I daily drove it for about a month, but 1jz's have a shitty rubber oil return line that is very failure prone, and when that failed, it led to my turbo's demise. oops.

located a new turbo, should be installing this weekend. been spending this month preparing the car for its first drift event.

[theseeker411]

Hell yes, it lives!

[Fudge]

your grandparents are cool as fuck !! i love this car nice work so far, you are absolutely not messing around my man

[kibur]

Sorry that the updates on this have been few and far between.



(photos by scott hastings)

The car went to the driveshaft shop, who made me a new driveshaft and fixed my exhaust. After about a month, it was back in my hands. The first drive was exhilarating, to say the least, but it died about a mile down the road from the shop. After giving it a jump, she made it back to my buddy's house. I replaced the battery, had the alternator rebuilt, and it seems to be doing fine for now. Also was able to use an SC300 coolant temp sensor, so now I have a working gas gauge and a working coolant gauge! It has an issue where it will shut off coming to a stop, but I think this is due to something with the neutral safety switch.


As far as the AR-5 goes, it feels amazing. Definitely like it a lot more than the w58, especially with the lightweight flywheel mated to the AR-5. Can't wait to break this transmission in and let the fun truly begin.

[theseeker411]

Glad to hear the project is moving forward man.

[kibur]

Congrats to you on graduating school! Had a great read going through this thread, really hope this thing gets on the road asap

Hey, thank you! That means a lot.

So here's a little bit of an update. I always end up typing these from the school library, where I'm currently using their laptops/software, because it blows my old laptop out of the water. I've been looking for a job, especially in the media and communications field (graduated with a Journalism degree, but photo/video are also of interest). I've still been daily driving my BMW, but an update has come regarding a daily (realistically, another project, just less of one with a more practical outcome) and I am hoping things work out well in that regard.

Now to the good stuff...as far as the Cressida goes
- The AR-5 is IN THE CAR!!! The transmission tunnel was pulled with heat, and a slide hammer until it fit. we then welded up the holes, coated the welds so they wouldn't rust, and placed the carpet back over it.
- the xcessive manufacturing crossmember required a few thick washers and new hardware. the xcessive r154/w58 transmission mount was also able to work with a slight bit of modification, a new tab was welded on and it works great.
- I am awaiting a crown verossa shifter. This will work with the AR-5, and hopefully should allow the least amount of cutting to the transmission tunnel. If using the solstice shifter, the shifter would have ended up back by the e-brake. X7 problems...
- Motor is all back together and mounted in place, all the wires plugged back in, intercooler and radiator mounted back up, etc.
- I have found a new driveshaft shop to make me a driveshaft, and the car should be headed there next week!

Next update will be more comprehensive and have pictures of the mount, of the floors, and some other stuff, apologies in advance for anyone who was curious. Excited to finally be in the reassembly stage.

[Cydro]

Congrats to you on graduating school! Had a great read going through this thread, really hope this thing gets on the road asap

[kibur]

The AR-5 has been completely assembled and mounted up to the motor. Still working on making a mount solution (the xcessive mounts will need to be slightly modified but it is not a big deal), as well as doing something with the shifter. I've heard a shifter from a JDM Soarer R154 is the part needed here, but we will see. Really hoping I do not have to cut up the floors at all.


Both of my projects in the same place. Can't wait to fix the E28 up nice once most of the issues with the Cressida have subsided... if they ever decide to.
Funny how I could have had a nice daily if I hadn't poured so much cash into both of these...


And some more E28 content just for the heck of it. Here she is covered in snow in my wonderful city of Philadelphia.
I've tracked down what could be quite a cool "beater" but the woman who owns it has lost the keys for it.
And I've also stumbled upon a mint X7, but I'm eyeballs deep in X7 problems for the moment.

I also graduated school, so I'm looking forward to having more time and money to waste on these automotive ventures.

[Loaf31]

Hope everything goes well for you, Brother! Glad your grandfather is doing well

[jayjaypea]

Glad to hear some things are starting to go your way, I'm rooting to see this thing back on the road!

[kibur]

Just a heads up to anyone planning on swapping an AR5 instead of an R154, the later AR5's have a different mounting style than the earlier ones. The earlier ones have a style of mount on the bottom of the transmission, much like the w58 or r154 design. This can be seen in this diagram (parts 1-2-3).


Unfortunately, my ever-so-wonderful luck shined through once again. I had the later model transmission, from an '07 Sky. It requires a bracket that somehow wasn't included with the transmission, and is NLA from GM with no part number. It can be seen in the below diagram, and attached are pictures of the mounting style and where the bracket went.

'

So I called up the junkyard I bought the transmission from, explained what happened, and it turned out they had an 06 Solstice transmission with the correct mounting style. I brought back the 07 Sky transmission after returning everything to stock (truthfully it is in slightly better condition than when I purchased it lol), ate the $100 "restocking" fee and now I should be able to throw this in whenever I have time. Regardless of which end the misunderstanding occurred on, the junkyard was incredibly professional and kind about the situation, which was a great breath of relief after dealing with the driveshaft place, who have continued to be a bunch of jerks (to put it nicely). For what its worth, my grandfather has been doing a ton better since my post a few back, which provided the greatest sense of relief possible here. As much as this car matters to me, it is much, much more important to see the health of a loved one improving.


This semester of school has been so incredibly stressful, yet I am feeling motivated as ever to tackle the mountain of schoolwork ahead of me and wrestle this transmission into the old Cressida, maybe with a little less issue this time. I joked with the junkyard when picking up the second transmission about how the second time should be the charm. I can only hope that its true.

[kibur]

Thanksgiving break from school has started, which has allowed me to find some time to work on this.

The R154 JZ bellhousing went on without a problem. The front bearing retainer was also switched over to a Toyota part. The clutch kit used was a ACT stage 3, and I used an r154 flywheel. All of these parts were ordered from driftmotion, and they were extremely helpful in making sure I got what I needed. The shifter, which I went out and purchased, may need to be modified to fit.

I'll either be dropping the transmission in tonight or sometime by the end of the break, also hoping that I will not have to require a lot of work (ie: cutting up the floor) in order to make it happen. There are still more parts to be installed and adapted, and I will provide more information on what I needed to make it all come together. I would love to have the measurements for my new driveshaft by the end of this week, so I can send them out and hopefully have this car back together soon.

though it brings me a lot of anxiety, I'm really excited at the prospect of having this car back on the road! the fact that it has been one of the toughest semesters of my life hasn't made this process any easier, but it certainly is gratifying to feel like it is hopefully coming to a close soon.