BigA's 68 Toyota Crown Custom Wagon

[BigA]

Got frustrated with the doors today due to the issues I have been finding as i have been doing the repairs.

Metal is way to thin in lots of places so I am blowing holes through the metal even on the lowest setting on my MIG welder.

Going to go back to my original option of getting the 4 doors that I had seen on Yahoo.

Basically the doors are all warped right on the edges and issues on each of them that I have decided not to continue to try and repair them.

I will focus on the lower sills and any internal structural rust that I have found and come back to external panels later.

[BigA]

I have been stripping out the interior as of late and sandblasting some of the surface rust that I have found. Also annoyed that the bolts for the front seats are located underneath the body and only one at the top on each side of the rear.

[BigA]

Stripped off the paint in the rear tailgate area a d only found a little bit of rust on the lip that holds the rubber in place.

But the bottom of the panel is pretty warped so will have to sort that out. Also been trying to find out if there is meant to be a panel at the bottom as it looks unfinished when looking at it currently. 

[BigA]

So I found out yesterday that the back panel at the bottom finishes like that after one of the guys from AUS confirming it over FaceTime. Also noted that the tailgate on mine has a metal inner piece where it should be fabric. Will need to investigate that further.

Also the bottom of the tailgate on mine has some riveted on metal that I assumed was factory and to find out it's not. More dodgey repairs by the looks of things and I'm scared to find out what's underneath.

[BigA]

Bloody Aussie repairs. 

Hey let's rivet a piece of galv metal over this really large piece of rust, no one will know.

Looks like this whole bottom section will need to be replaced.

[BigA]

Got one of my badges ceramic coated in titanium which is the colour I want to for all my trim and I have to say it looks pretty good.

Will be a nice contrast against the paint colours 

[BigA]

My replacement doors are all packed up and ready to be shipped from Australia 

[BigA]

Have mainly been doing a lot of stripping work on the wagon as of late and have been working on the rear tailgate section.

Stripped all the sound deadening from the foot well area for the rear seat and found some more rust so have sprayed it with rust converter and working on some new metal to go in.

[BigA]

When you dont have a press make a buck instead.

Just trying some metal forming techniques for the replacement of the rusty bung holes and seems to be working out OK so far.

[BigA]

Its been a while bit sometimes life gets in the way.

Been making some progress on the inside. Stripped out the interior including head liner. Stripped back half of the sound deading material and back to bare metal. Prepped the floor with rust converter as well.

[BigA]

Paint colour sorted

[BigA]

Floors all stripped and etch primed

 

[BigA]

Front end getting all stripped.

Bonnet off and getting ready to take the engine out.

[BigA]

Getting ready to pull the engine out.

Still need to drain the fluids and then get rid of everything connected to the engine.

Engine will be shipped down to Oamaru at some stage and then it will be prepping the engine bay for the new motor.

[BigA]

Engine out  not to much of an issue as I was expecting some problems but it all went relatively well.

[BigA]

Now to clean up the engine bay, measure everything properly to make sure the new engine will fit.

Already seen a couple of issues that I already knew from others that have done 1UZ swaps so thats all good.

And Im not doing a 1UZ swap, just learnt a lot from guys that have done the swaps.