Popular Post Bluebear01 Posted May 13, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 13, 2020 Cert day is fast approaching! I’ve ripped out the seats, collected all the 5c coins, chopped the driveshaft hoops to suit and put it all back together with some beefy doubler plates. Hopefully I’ll never have to use them! 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Bluebear01 Posted May 13, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 13, 2020 I haven't had much experience with panel repair, and it shows! But its now rust free in the important parts and I think I'll be able to clean it up to a paintable state after cert. This corner has been bothering me for a long time so its nice to have it sorted. You can see where the water was sneaking in at the bottom of the C-pillar and keeping the whole R/R wheel arch damp. I've used a syringe to squirt Rust Converter into all the gaps incase there was some rust I missed. 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Bluebear01 Posted May 14, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 14, 2020 Last job before cert was the dash lights. I joined the tail warning & headlight warning lamps together to make space for an engine check light. The current symbols are etched onto clear plastic so I couldn't clean it off. My father in law came to the party with his new engraving machine that he was playing with over the lockdown. After he drew up the new design and calibrated it he got a great result! Only problem with a good job is no one will ever notice it And she's done! Off for cert to see what I've missed, hopefully it's not a large list! 19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Bluebear01 Posted May 15, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 15, 2020 Stoked! He was very happy with everything, the only issues being the brake booster vac hose needs to be to spec and the brakes start to fade half way through the cyclic brake test. I'll try some fancy brake fluid & maybe different brake pads, but he did say the first 2 applications were up to spec so I'm hoping I wont need to go crazy. Worst case I do have a spare disk rear end from a MS112 I could use which might help. All things considered I'm very happy with that result. 23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Bluebear01 Posted June 8, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 8, 2020 So I swapped out the ancient genuine Toyota pads that obviously weren't up to the job with some Ferodo's and also changed the brake fluid to something a bit overkill. The brakes were completely different after that, so much better. They were able to bring the old boat to a stand still from 100kph in under 4 seconds consistently, and cert man was happy. I've been filling time waiting for the plate by making up new brackets to fit my old Cressida visor and throwing on some clip on white walls for the complete sleeper look! Hopefully the cert plate will arrive any day now and then I'll be hitting the road for some quality road trips! 22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Bluebear01 Posted June 9, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 9, 2020 Done! I took my kids around the hills last night and it blew their minds! They can't remember a time when it wasn't stuck in the garage so it was pretty cool. Big thanks to all you folks on here, you've been a huge help with advice/parts/motivation! Future plans are to finish tidying up the little bits of rust, throw in a 3.9 rear end that @Barnz.NZ helped me out with, maybe pop on some fender mirrors and debate if she should go low... But for now its time to eat up some miles! 31 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Bluebear01 Posted June 29, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted June 29, 2020 Bit of a shakedown run out to Lake Sumner over the weekend. Back in her natural habitat, gravel roads. Went like a champ! 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Bluebear01 Posted November 25, 2020 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 25, 2020 I had a close call the other day! A rather high truck popped its tow ball bang into the center of my tail light, no panel damage thankfully. They agreed to sort it out and paid for a set of brand new rear lenses to be shipped over. In the mean time I had 1 old L/R lens on the shelf so I could keep on driving. We've managed to put 8,000km on the old girl in the 6 months she's been back on the road! Up and down the South Island with no problems so far. I've probably been a bit hard on it in my excitement because the clutch is feeling like it may need replacing soon, might pay to bed the next one in properly first... I still want to lower it some time, but the current height is pretty handy with how many gravel roads I find myself on. Perhaps air bags are in it's future? We'll see, for now it's too much fun to drive to put it back in the garage. 26 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebear01 Posted December 24, 2021 Author Share Posted December 24, 2021 Might be time for another update me thinks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Bluebear01 Posted December 24, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 24, 2021 I’ve done close to 5000km since last year, we’ve had it all over the island and it hasn’t missed a beat! The 4.1 diff was great for beating people off the lights, but not great for open road cruising... I had a lot of fun setting up my first diff. I had a spare f series and a 3.1 gear set, which I swapped in with new bearings, seal and crush tube. The new bits cost me around $300 from Toyota and ABD. After I swapped that in it dropped the rpm at 100km to 2800, much better. We also picked up a new project the other day on an A-frame, I’ll need to get around to posting that soon... 16 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebear01 Posted July 7, 2023 Author Share Posted July 7, 2023 It's been a while since I've shown the Crown any love, but we have put 20,000km on it since the motor swap. It hit the 400,000km mark the other day! I stopped for a pic at the exact spot it clocked over. Mechanically its been going like a champ, but the rust has been creeping up on me. Keen eyed viewers may notice the black boot, courtesy of @JustHarry. He's been helping me out with some relatively rust free panels from a decent donor car. The boot lower lip was gone and both back doors have some issues. The left rear is the worst with some big holes hiding behind the trim! Time to stop ignoring it I think. I've also got to clean up the right rear panel which has been in primer since I welded in some new metal 2 years ago, and the bumpers need a respray also. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebear01 Posted July 7, 2023 Author Share Posted July 7, 2023 Bumpers off completes the bogan look! I kind of knew the bumper bars had a bit of rust on them, but man the front was bad! It's been holding moisture between the foam and the steel, pitting it badly and completely rotting away the clamping brackets. I've had the bumper bars blasted and gone and welded up the holes in the front one, next will be a bit of epoxy and making up some new brackets to put the skins on securely. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Bluebear01 Posted July 7, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted July 7, 2023 While that's going on a work colleague has tidied up the right rear wheel arch and flicked some silver over the boot and rear corner. I took this opportunity to fill the trim badge holes. I'm not sure what I'll put back there yet but I've always felt the factory setup is very busy, with "SuperSaloon" "Toyota" "Crown" and "2.8" all jammed in there. Once the rear doors are done we'll flick some paint up both sides to blend it a bit, and perhaps touch up the roof where the clear is coming off. I'd like to strip it back and do a proper job one day but I know I'd probably end up with the car off the road for years. 25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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