HighLUX Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 Discussion Thread //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/47650-barnzs-mx73-waka-of-immaculate-with-added-5-speed/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barnz.NZ Posted March 24, 2015 Share Posted March 24, 2015 Hi Im Barnaby (Barnz). Been a long time lurker on this forum and have been meaning to post a build thread for a while. I will try start from the start when i first got it and go track back and show what i done to it up until now. Back in early 2013 i had sold my c35 laurel because i needed an old car in my life again. I had been watching this white mx73 cressida on trademe for a while but being auto put me off. It had 80000 original kms on the clock and looked in very good condition from the photos. After emailing the owner it turned out he had the same first name as me which was pretty weird considering how uncommon my name is. So me and a mate drove up from tauranga to auckland in the pouring rain. After talking to Owner for a while i took it for a test drive and fell in love. It had plenty of power and was so luxurious inside. Gave him the money and i was on my way. i dont have many photos from back then cause i lost them but it looked something like this : Interior was like new: i put this wheel on it until i got a genuine nardi. Better than the bus sized original one. Most things were original so i did alot of maintenance in the first few months. replaced everything i could in engine bay with new parts(filters,plugs,leads etc etc) also came with original shocks all round and saggy front springs. Drove quite boat like. So it wasn't long before i lowered it 70mm allround using custom front springs(cut & reshaped) plus ae92 front inserts and compressed rear springs plus ae86 shocks. end result was this: Terrible photo but it was the night i lowered it. Better one next to my old ex lancer: So it was then time for wheels. I went all out and bought a set of work Meister Cr-01 in 15x8-3 & 15x9-3 from battlesnayke. they looked great but i had gone a bit too low at the back, gaurd was sitting on tyre. so sold them on and started hoarding 14s. I restored a few sets of skinny 14s and tried them on over time. ive been through alot of wheels on this thing. will let pics do talking. 14x6.5+9 volk mesh first gen: sold them after a few months and bought some 14x6.5+5 volk mesh ii rolled on them for a few months and then pulled them apart to restore and do the reverse mount trick to make them 14x7-1 ended up like this: Got bored so i swapped them for a set of 14x6.5+5 starsharks and cash my way. went about restoring them like so: they looked good but still to skinny so sold them on and used profit to buy some more wheels will upload more when i can be bothered. Next up is manual conversion story 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barnz.NZ Posted March 25, 2015 Share Posted March 25, 2015 Forgot to mention in last post the reason for such low mileage. The guy i bought the car off had owned it a few years but not used it much as he worked on super yachts and it sat in storage. He was given the car for his wedding present from his father who sadly passed away a few years later. This man bought the car brand new from wright cars taupo and it stayed in taupo until he gave it to his son. His son told me that He owned a few cars and this cressida was his golf car that he took to the course a few km's down the road and back, it had bits welded on to the towbar so he could carry his gear on the back too he even said it went a couple of years without a wof cause he didnt bother as it had such little use and he use to wave to the local police man as he drove past. So its basically spent its whole life in a garage until i got hold of it. Anyway when i first got the car Jamie (highLUX) had told me about this mysterious place called edgecumbe where there was a yard with a factory manual yx70 wagon sitting in a yard with all the gear still sitting in it. Didnt hear anything more about it until many months later i get a call from jamie saying hes just stopped in to colins yard and the wagon was still there with the w55 and everything. This excited me alot as i was really sick of the auto box and the gas bill that came with it. he sent me a few photos he took when he was there. poor old thing Jamie organised for us to go to the yard as soon as we had a free weekend. rain was not on our side but we went anyway. after exploring all the cars and bits in the yard we got to work on the wagon was quite an experience working under the dash of a car that had been sitting for so long. There was all sorts of foliage and growth on the carpets not to mention the cockroaches and spiders we found the oil in gearbox was golden when it was drained and had a near new clutch. After a few hours we got all the parts we needed and left . also nabbed the grill,fender mirrors and a few other bits. walked away with a complete w55, y series bellhousing, front half of driveshaft, clutch, pedal box master cylinders and slave and pedals etc for 500$ , sold the y series bellhousing and bits to a guy on here and sourced a 5mge flywheel, bellhousing fork etc for 150$ on trademe. bought brand new master and slave cylinders, new carrier bearing from trademe too. My friend sourced me a clutch for a steal as there really common apparently. also got flywheel skimmed. Scored a TRS short shifter while i was at it. with a bit of a clean of the parts and some paint i was soon ready to do the swap. ohh how convenient theres already holes for master cylinder and a place to run the lines through. new master in Luckily the whole job was made easier by my mate lending us his workshop and hoist for the weekend (cheers kyle) exhaust had to come out 30 plus years worth of road and tar and gravel driveshaft out and oil drained. oil was black as the night so no wonder she was using so much gas. Jamie riding the w55 Dont have any more photos after this. Just had to jump the neutral switch from the gearbox and wire up reverse switch and it was ready. changed the rear main seal while flywheel was off. manual gearbox bolted up sweet just needed to find longer bolts for bell housing. kyle made up a clutch line for me. only hiccup we ran into was the driveshaft length was wrong from the wagon because it was a 4 cylinder model. but weirdly the shifter position is perfect for cressida. luckily it was too long as opposed to being too short so took it to the legends at rowe motors on the monday and they shortened it for me in day turn around and even slapped some paint in it. They got it bang on straight and no wobbles without balancing. so after this i went and fitted it up and it was complete even sold the old auto box for a few hundred dollars which helped After manual conversion a big thing on the list was the dreaded cambelt. thanks to mark@manuwatu toyota i bought a full genuine cambelt kit and waterpump cam seals etc and got it all done at once with new fan belts too. I was lucky i did this as it was still on the original belt and was showing alot of cracks. waterpump was stuffed too.It was a dream to drive once it was manual. Freed up alot of power and much more economical. To add to the driving experience i scored a sweet 365mm nardi and quality bosskit for it. also purchased these to go with the twin pipes i made. I got for an amazing price considering they are over 650$ us new to buy. still brand new too. need to get the two pieces welded together and then fit them. and ill leave you with a rolling shot my friend took from his carina 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barnz.NZ Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 Long time since I updated this.Still own the cressida. Getting ready to find a new home for it as I acquired a gx61 mark ii eagle mask a few months ago so this sadly needs to be sold . Currently looking like this ⬇ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barnz.NZ Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barnz.NZ Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 Has become alot more fun to drive in the last week after I installed the twin 2" straight pipes that replaces the rear muffler. Just bolts on and off with a flange. Wheels are 15x8.5" -8 SSR longchamps. I refurbed these myself with new lips from pine. Originally 6.5 +20 . Sourced one pair from oamaru and one pair from Auckland and then split them at work on the big lathe and drilled the lips to suit. Also made the centrcaps myself with new stickers from pine ✌ 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barnz.NZ Posted January 14, 2017 Share Posted January 14, 2017 ... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barnz.NZ Posted January 15, 2017 Share Posted January 15, 2017 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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