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This is my 1986 Toyota Cressida.
I was gifted the car by my grandparents. Being that they are elderly and wise, I'm sure they realized that Cressidas are massive pieces of shit that will steal all of your money, something I glossed over because I was too busy fanboying out over the fact that I was getting a free Cressida. It's been quite a journey with this car, though. Under my ownership, this car has sat or been disabled more than it's been able to see the road. I'm hoping these upcoming modifications will change that.
Oh, Cressida. You look so shiny and beautiful here. But this is really where all the problems started. I had delivered a set of snow tires and steelies to someone, IN a snow storm of course. After that, I had met up with a friend and decided to polish up my DK skills. I ended up blowing out the automatic transmission, because after a day of slugging it out in the snow, drifting the balls off of it in the snow may not have been the best idea.
I saved up a little bit and pieced together a manual swap for the car. Most of the stuff I was able to get from Rockauto, but the transmission, driveshaft and pedal was purcased from a fella in VA with a really amazing MX73. He was also incredibly nice and helpful.
- MK3 Supra W58 & Driveshaft
- MX73 Master cylinder, W58 slave cylinder
- MA61 Clutch pedal
- Custom clutch lines
It felt good to get the car going again. The entire manual swap was done at a friend's garage. I helped pay a month's rent, he gave me the keys and let me do my thing, and this was literally all as soon as he got the garage. The problem was, there was an issue with the electric company and his power didn't get turned on immediately. Almost the entire swap was done at the mercy of a sunlight, and hand tools. The power came on during the last day of the swap. Thanks, PECO.
After the swap was finished, and the car was running and driving, I drove it around for a little bit but then parked it again. The input shaft seal was leaking, and though it was not a serious leak, I didn't want to drive it too much. Also, while the car was parked and awaiting it's transmission swap, I guess something went wrong with the motor because it was burning more oil than ever before. It would not pass Pennsylvania state inspections, and I had taken it to 3 different places. I even took it to a Pep Boys, and they pass just about anything.
At this point, I wanted the car to be solid, inspected and daily driveable. I didn't want to build a car, in fact, I was kind of trying to stray away from spending more money on cars as a hobby. BOY, oh boy, did that not go as planned.
I'll be the first to admit that I don't know a lot about motor internals, nor do I trust myself working on internals of a motor. I did some research and found out that the valve seals on these cars tend to fail. I had dropped it off at a reputable local shop, the owner had previously sold me an entire bin of MX73 parts for $150 and seemed to be a nice enough guy. He had owned 5 or 6 cressidas, and at the time, owned the cleanest MA61 Celica Supra that I've ever seen. However, he wasn't around to foresee the repairs on the Cressida. Whomever he had running his shop had let the car sit there for over a month, with all the parts ready to go and be installed. After waiting, waiting, and waiting some more with no results or progress, I took my parts and the car back to figure out what to do next. This ultimately proved to be a big mistake on my part.
A (now former) friend recommended his brother to me, part of which prompted me to take back the car from the first shop. His brother is a certified tech at a local dealership, which I'm just going to refer to as Lhompson Texus. He performed the repairs pretty quickly, and I even was able to get the car pass inspection.
However, immediately after inspection, the problems began making their way to surface. First of all, the car was returned SUPER low on oil. The power steering belts were misaligned, and kept coming off. Eventually, I had to pull the belts off, but not before realizing that he had stripped several pulley bolts. The car never idled right, and this was because he broke multiple vaccum lines and decided to duct tape over them,
It was at this moment I swore that I would never, ever allow someone other than a trusted friend to perform work on my car that I was either unable to perform or figure out on my own. But the damage was already done.
RIP 5MGE.
Of course, after my motor blew up, the tech decided to deny all responsibility. He said the car's issue was electrical, and then offered a partial refund that he decided never to honor, despite months of time to get the money together. He claimed he would send it after his tax return, but never did. I asked a few weeks after he said he would pay me, and asked when I got my returns, and asked the last day to file your taxes was, but he never responded. I have yet to tear the motor completely down, but I've torn it down enough to firmly believe that none of the internal work was ever performed. I am unsure of what action to take next, but unfortunately it was a learning experience that made me realize that people will take your money and run.
Even worse, I was faced with an ultimatum: either my Cressida or my 1973 BMW 3.0S had to be sold in order to fund the other. I couldn't finish both projects, and was left with no choice but to sell one of two cars that I possessed and always dreamed of building.
The decision was made a little easier when I found this 1JZ VVTI for a very stellar deal. Next thing I knew, the Bavaria was up for sale and this was on it's way up to a friend's house.
Since then, it's been a lot of gathering parts and spending money.
Yanked that 5m out.
Here's how it sits now.
Parts acquired so far/awaiting on
- JZ bellhousing
- Xcessive Manufacturing motor mounts
- Xcessive Manufacturing skid plate
- Xcessive Manufacturing transmission cross member
- Xcessive Manufacturing transmission mount
- Xcessive Manufacturing PS lines
- Xcessive Manufacturing rear subframe/diff mounts
- Intercooler and piping
- Tial BOV and adapter pipe
- Future Fab downpipe
- Walboro Fuel Pump
- Driftmotion CAI
- AEM TruBoost Boost controller/Boost gauge, and other gauges
- Clutchmasters FX400 6-puck sprung clutch
- 1-piece driveshaft
- Welded differential
- Various maintenance items (water pump, thermostat, rear main seal, etc.)
I also want to thank Rich at Xcessive Manufacturing and Mark and Panicwire for their incredible amount of help. When I bought the motor, it was a drive-by-wire VVTI 1JZ from a JZX110 Chaser. However, the ECU and MAF were from a JZX100 model. Mark was able to wire up the harness to work with the ECU, and both him and Rich were able to figure out a solution for me to run a cable throttle body on the JZX110 motor. These guys have been incredibly helpful with my project and have answered all of my questions in a kind and knowledgeable manner. I would recommend their business and services to anyone considering purchasing from them or working with them.
At this point, all that should be left to do is suspension. If you've got a distributor bro price you wanna hook me up with that would be cool.
Here's a sneak preview of the wheels as well.
Really hoping for the best with this project. It's been something I've dreamed of owning since I was a young kid. My ultimate goal is to take my grandparents for a rip in the car when it's all done. The circumstances in which I've built this car have been absolute shit, I'm moving out of my house in order to finish college at the end of August. I've spent way too much money and time on this car at a time where I didn't have a lot of time or money to spend on it, but I'm hoping that it brings a lot of joy when it's all said and done.
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