Popular Post rxtoy Posted November 27, 2016 Popular Post Share Posted November 27, 2016 I've been chasing a crown ute since I moved to Aussie 5.5 years ago, I actually checked out a real tidy one the first week I got here but it was in Bundaberg, I was headed to Perth, and the motor was fucked, so I couldn't drive it. Seen a few come up for sale over the years but nothing local, and the few ones I knew of that were local were all either fairly rusty or there's one that's absolutely mint, with a UZ swap, but way out of my price range even if he would sell Then there was this one. I actually lived with it for about a year in a house share situation, where the house owners son had a bunch of old Toyotas on the property. This was body off chassis and set up on a rotisserie, but that's as far as it got. I talked to him about buying it at one point, but he wanted stupid money because it was pretty clean body wise, and it was an M powered chassis, which are way harder to find than the R ones in ute form Fast forward a few years and it's up on gumtree for a grand, so I whip around to check it out. It's been out in the weather for the last 3 years after he had to move it when his parents knocked the house down, the rotisserie ends are still bolted to it, and they're plonked on top of the chassis, with straps holding it on. There's a bunch of extra surface rust, but the only holes I can find are a couple in the sills. It's missing a driveline but I'm not worried about that. All the body parts come with, there's a good tailgate, rear lights and rear bumper. Everything else I can get from a sedan if they're fucked so I'm pretty happy I've got a shitload of work ahead of me, and I'm really struggling with deciding what exactly I want to do with it, but IVE GOT A CROWN UTE!!!! Gumtree pic, it's been at least 5 years since I first saw it, and it has never been this assembled in that time When I went to check it out I knew it!!! Poor Ken Clint has got a hoist, and didn't want to give up his rotisserie ends so he got the body sitting back on the chassis before I picked it up Hi my name is Matt and I'm a crownoholic And at home next to the girlfriends Celica Initial thoughts are sedan chassis (get rid of the leaf rear end), MS112 diff and front brakes (already have the diff), maybe 17" widened steelies, maybe 18" billets (but I fucking hate polishing wheels), tidy up the body and paint it, maybe bags, probably 3RZ turbo, but it's all up in the air at this point This is a fucking massive project, it's going to take years, and a lot of $, and there will be a LOT of questions and upskilling. Lucky you guys are awesome and know what you're doing when it comes to old rustbuckets! Cheers Matt 25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rxtoy Posted November 27, 2016 Author Share Posted November 27, 2016 Discussion //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/54756-matts-1969-50-series-crown-ute/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rxtoy Posted December 28, 2016 Author Share Posted December 28, 2016 Haven't done a whole lot besides plan, or try to at least. Im pretty lost as to how I want to do things, but I'm meeting up with the guy who's got my old sedan so I can measure it up and discuss buying next week. I picked up the guards that came with it today, bolted them on for a look, but they're pretty rough. Hoping the sedan ones are usable, I know one was good and one had a big dent but was rust free, but still way better than the ones I've got. I'm also pulling out the diff and planning on chopping the front of the ute chassis off, will put it on casters so I can store it in the side of my carport while I sort out the sedan chassis, replace all the steering bits, bushes etc, and set the motor up in it. Once I decide on a motor. This post is worthless without pics!!! update tomorrow with mockup slam on wheels pics. Only got shitty 18's at the moment, but should give an idea of what I want height wise cheers Matt 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rxtoy Posted December 29, 2016 Author Share Posted December 29, 2016 As promised! this is no diff, no front springs, but 100mm in rear (sitting on 100mm wooden blocks) and held up by the jack in the front (run out of blocks, but a little higher) so achievable ride height on springs in a 50 series crown. its purely for mockup, the wheels are so fucking shit, but came free with my hilux so will do for jobs like this. Definitely got me leaning towards 18's for the finished product though, but will be something a lot more traditional looking, billets would be nice but the stout taught me that I hate polishing wheels comparison height pic cheers Matt 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rxtoy Posted December 30, 2016 Author Share Posted December 30, 2016 Pics fixed, resized them through Facebook (upload, download) then used the oldschool uploader. Still can't make photobucket work at all cheers Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rxtoy Posted March 12, 2017 Author Share Posted March 12, 2017 I've been pretty slack, Perth summers are way to fucking hot for being in the garage. Finished stripping the steering and suspension today, it's all fairly tidy under the dirt, grease and surface rust. Am buying the parts new that I can get, inner tie rod ends could be a mission but all the other steering stuff is available, UCA bushes also seem to be a questionable item but I'm not sure if it's just a listing issue. Will clean up and paint the control arms, strip and check out the steering box, then clean and paint the front of the frame. So much parts to take up space! I measured up my old sedan chassis, not bolt on, and it was way more fucked than I was hoping, so I'm keeping an eye out for something with better front panels to grab, partly because I am missing most of the front end bolts and lights and shit like that. cheers Matt 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post rxtoy Posted August 12, 2017 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 12, 2017 Assembled the front today, mainly because I've run out of room! slammed it so my garage looks cool, it'll sit like this for a while until I've finished the Corolla. Also acquired a free 5MG, the only M motor I'd consider running. It's a possibility, they look sick on carbs/ITB's. 1st pic to prove it! cheers Matt 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rxtoy Posted June 19, 2018 Author Share Posted June 19, 2018 Sooooooo it's been a while............ this has just been been sitting in the garage looking cool, and I've been happy with that. I have been slowly acquiring parts though, I got front suspension and disc brake setup from an MS112, and have got a JZ mid sump coming. Had given up on ever finding one but things just fell into place, and some form of JZ is pretty much the perfect motor for this since I bought the celica, and I want to put that in the garage where it's complete lack of windscreens won't be such a problem, I need to get the ute rolling again. I decided just throwing it back together was a terrible idea because I'd have to do it all again so I'm replacing what I can with new stuff, painting up the chassis (or at least the front clip and all the rear mounting points), and reassembling with the disc swap all round. Front is bolt on but I'll need to get the leaf perches swapped onto the MS112 diff for the rear first I jacked it up nice and high and put it on axle stands Then I started cleaning up the front clip with wire wheels, it's in a lot better shape than it looked, but there is a bit of rust in the bottom of the front crossmember before: and after: rust in front crossmember, I'll leave this unpainted for now and get it welded once everything is back together. I have a timeline I'm trying to keep to, basically the crown sedan is at the gf's parents and they're home in three weeks so I want this rolling and out of the way by then crossmember was full of dirt and for some reason a whole bunch of crab claws all I can think of is if someone was trying to make it stink to piss the owner off now it's up in the air I had a better look over it for rust, just one sill is really bad, from the cab back. It's been bogged in the past and there's a few bits around the rear guards but nothing to major I'll probably find more as I go, but it's in stupidly good condition really for an old crown ute forgot to take pics of other side, maybe tomorrow cheers Matt 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rxtoy Posted June 21, 2018 Author Share Posted June 21, 2018 Jacked the body up off the chassis tonight, took a couple of goes before it came off and I was happy with it balancing nicely from where I was jacking it. Dropped it on 100mm wooden blocks so I can access most of the parts that I want to wire wheel and paint. It's going to be a fucking shit job climbing under there and wire wheeling everything but I'm to cheap/poor to send the chassis to get blasted. floors look pretty good from underneath got these weird holes that seem to be for nothing that have rusted bigger, not sure what I should do so they don't look so dodgy. Might use a die grinder and make them round again cheers Matt 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rxtoy Posted June 23, 2018 Author Share Posted June 23, 2018 Dissassembled and started cleaning up front suspension and brakes this afternoon after work. Realised I'm not going to be able to do a decent job with wire wheels, I'll have to get the control arms blasted at least, I'm leaning towards powder coating it all as well. Tue rod ball joints are ultra stuck, I'll take them to work on Monday and see if I can get them moving with a press. The rest came apart fairly easily. want to get some paint down this weekend, so I'm thinking I'll just do the front clip tomorrow if it's not to cold/wet. I'm using this rustkill paint, hopefully it's up to the job. It's chassis though, so it's not like it's going to get seen much once it's road legal was talking to the guy I got the front disc setup off today and realised he's still got his parts car so I'm going to go and steal the rest of the braking system off that, so it'll be 100% MS112. Will need to adapt the booster to the firewall but it shouldn't be to major a job Assembled dissassembled will be doing new wheel bearings so not to worried about covering them up cheers Matt 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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