clouter's ms63 toyota crown wagon - long term project

[clouter]

Well, here I am, on the opposite side of the Earth, showing you my long term project.

I've had this car since 2007, bought it from a guy in California, USA, and got it shipped in eastern canada. I live in Montreal, canada and my first language is french (so sorry in advance if you can't understand my english !)

I've owned some Toyotas in the past, a couple AE86s, an AW11, two 4Runners (hilux surf where you live I think), a Celica, three Cressidas, etc etc. So yeah, I love old school toyotas.

One day while I was looking at some pics on some forums, I saw an oldschool toyota markII wagon with a 1JZ turbo and instantly fell in love. I wanted to have a slammed oldschool wagon with an inline6 turbo.

Some time before that, I also owned a Datsun 510, and once almost bought a 1971 Celica, so I liked really old cars. I knew about the MS63 crowns and thought they were the most badass looking wagons toyota ever made ! but..... being in canada, these things are more rare than a snowstorm in Sahara !

since I love forums and I'm always on them, I was browsing one about old school corollas (te72) and there was this guy from california that was selling a 1971 ms63 wagon with a blown 4M engine.

so, off to the bank I went to realise one of my most stupidest dreams ever LOL

this is the car when the previous buyer bought it :

since the car comes from the california desert, it had no rust whatsoever, but the interior was completely shot... the previous owner got the seats and carpet fixed, but it still needs a dash, door panels and headliner... but at least it's rust free

I bought the car and had it shipped to a warehouse across the border (montreal is about 45minutes from the Canada/USA border). I had it shipped there and when to get it with a trailer because it made me save so much money to make it across the border myself and not pay any weird hidden administration fees lol

so here it is when I went to pick it up at the border :

to be continued...

[clouter]

now for the sad part : the swap...

I got the car here, it was winter... and I had no garage to put it in...

I had to wait until spring to get it to a shop to do the swap...

...since the car comes stock with 4M inline 6... and I wanted to keep it "original and in the M family" so I got a 7mgte with R154 transmission

the problem is..... the shop I dealt with... they told me so much good things about them, they really sold themselves really well... they told me it was gonna be cheap and easy and take no time

NOT !!!

about halfway through the project, their main fabricator left, the new one fucked up the previous work, wiring was a mess, etc etc

and THEN, they went almost bankrupt... so another shop bought them and my crown was transfered to another shop and they took over the project... but the new guy who was working on the car told me up front the work that was done before was complete shit ! so they pretty much had to start over and the wiring was such a mess that the car would never run properly... so I was like great

so wiring went out, megasquirt in, more time, more money, more hairpulling/facepalm

all in all, the car sat "in the works" for two years !

and in the winter, the car just sat there in the snow and I couldn't do anything about it really since I was short on cash because of all the problems that came up (the oil pan didn'T clear the steering linkage, exhaust downpipe either, transmission was too big, they had to cut the tunnel and re-do it, the extra wiring job, the aftermarket ECU, etc) so my motivation was low and I had no money....

in the end (last spring) the finished the swap ! FINALLY

the car started, but they couldn't tune it because the car was not drivable yet (imagine the brakes sitting there for two years) it needs alignment and I need to put wheels and tires on it, new suspension (i want to lower it) and upgrade the brakes.......

so now here it is, the car is in a garage I'm renting.........

it starts, but doesn't run

i have so much to do to it still before I can drive it ! it needs to pass a provincial mechanical inspection before I can plate it because it's an imported car... so alot to do still, not alot of money, but at least it's in a garage and not outside...

here are some random pics

the main reason I signed up on this forum was because I saw these cars are more popular here so I thought maybe I could get some help with my project !

I'm still short on cash because I have since moved out of my parents house, I'm living with my girlfriend and I have other things to pay and less time to put on my cars (other than the crown I currently have a 1984 4runner or hilux surf, and a 2010 hyundai genesis)... but the crown is definately a keeper and I will get through with the project, even if it takes 10 years !!!! this car is so rare and so nice, and I've put too much money in it to let it go lol !