Popular Post re201 Posted May 17, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted May 17, 2021 Gonna use this first post as a to-do list. Will keep adding and crossing things off as I go. Very keen on any suggestions or advice. Quote Short-term Refurb brakes and master cylinder. Get engine stand and mount 1UZ. Fire up engine for first time. Repaint steelies. Replace timing belt + water pump. Replace spark plugs. Label everything Mid-term Sort out mounts for 1UZ. Confirm cert requirements. Paint engine bay (rattle can). Repair wonky fender mirror. Driveshaft hoop. Pretty up 1UZ Figure out plastic-chroming options. Fix side trim Get light under bonnet working! Replace cabin lights with warm LEDs. New bushes for suspension. Fix up door card vinyl. Fix RHR electric window. Find subtle digi-tacho to hide somewhere. Long-term Repaint body. Sound deadening. Find lace seat covers. Air bags. Aircon ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ After years of lurking, it's finally time to start a build thread for this. Some of you might remember this car from @japawagons and @Yowzer back in 2013ish. I bought it off japawagons and used it as a (troublesome) daily for a year or 2 before deciding to go back to school and hammer out an engineering degree. Student poverty meant I couldn't give the car the love it deserved and it wound up in dry storage with a friend while I studied. I graduated at the end of 2019 with big plans to give the Crown a refresh, only to be thwarted by Covid and then being sent down to Queenstown for a work contract. Tired of not getting to spend time on it, and feeling inspired by @Bluebear01's conversion, I've decided to go the 1UZ route. Watch me fall apart as I go. Discussion thread here: RE201's 1980 Toyota Crown Original build thread: Japawagon's MS110 Crown of Tax 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post re201 Posted May 17, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 17, 2021 A brief account the last 8 years of ownership: Drove it to work for a while. The battery always seemed to have difficulty holding charge. It had a small non-original alternator and didn't ever seem like it could hold tension on the belt. I often had to trickle charge the battery, or get flats in inopportune situations, and was pretty nervy driving it at night. Stopped turning over which was the end of it being my daily. Turned out to be bad contacts on the relay. Wound up taking it to an Ron Wood Auto Electrical who diagnosed the alternator as being from a Honda. Apparently Honda and Toyota crank shafts spin in opposite directions which was causing havoc with recharging. Put a genuine Toyota alternator in. The car ran mean. Took it on a couple small road trips, then put it in storage and moved to Melbourne for 4 months. Came back to Auckland and lived in a 30m2 garden flat on the student allowance. A friend offered her garage with the caveat that I couldn't get the crown out once it was in. Parked it up. Used it for a friend's wedding once. Otherwise it stayed in there for 3 years. Graduated, moved to Central Otago for 6 months. Moved back up here. Pulled the Crown out of storage, changed all the fluids and she fired right up. Drove her home, hand brake seized. Took the brakes apart and cleaned them, got new tyres and went to see the WoF man. Failed on brakes seizing again and brake master cylinder leaking. The Crown in slumber: First sunlight in years: Back at home: 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post re201 Posted May 17, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted May 17, 2021 This weekend I fully committed to making this thing happen: The 1UZ is out of a UZS131 so has the right headers, oil pan and angle on the bell housing. Annoyingly the fan is broken, and MAF is missing. Spent a bit of time digging out the Japanese mouse nest from the valley. I've managed to rent a little space on a friend's farm up in Warkworth, seeing as garages don't exist in central Auckland unless you're extremely lucky. My plan is to tidy up the 1UZ on a stand while I continue to tinker with and drive the Crown. When the engine is good to go I'll take the Crown up and start pulling it apart. I'm pretty new to this but I'm lucky to have a few knowledgeable friends, and Bluebear's thread is absolute gold for me. 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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