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Big A's 68 Crown Wagon


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Looking at the 2gr-fse engine it is a front sump and then looking at the space available in the engine bay it looks like it should fit. 

Modification to the front subframe looks like it wouldn't be too big A a job to get done, but will need to do some careful calculations first. 

If it doesn't work out the I suppose the next option would be a JZ or something inline 6.

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It definitely is rear sump, buuuuttt you can swap to front sump from the east-west motor with some minor mods.

(2GRFE is transverse, 2GRFSE is north/south)

So this might work but then the motor is still quite quite tall. Which was part of why I had a completely new setup made.

You can get a manual R series gearbox from the manual IS250 (quite uncommon) or the 1GR hilux (a bit more common?) which will bolt up. 

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17 hours ago, Spencer said:

I have sat in-front of a crown chassis in yee old days with Sheepers and Camel, the verdict is to make a crown V8 conversion (and most likely V6) that does not suck you need to hack up the chassis. Something like get a Mustang 2 rack and pinion front end kit and then make some front chassis rails from the firewall forward, or you might get away with just removing the giant cross member and making something less obtrusive.

Pretty much the same conclusion I came to.   Here's a pic showing how close the exhaust  ports are to the steering box  with a V engine  fitted.   Think it's only a  60degree V so pretty narrow too

Screenshot_20240603_082446_Photos.jpg

Screenshot_20240603_082300_Photos.jpg

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Straight 6 is going to be way easier. Problem with any more modern engine is the cast alloy sump which are structural parts of the engine to some degree, I think the BMW mentioned above has a fancy (and giant) variable volume oil pump sitting in the sump so you would have to dry sump it to make it fit.

NA 2JZ are pretty good, you can jump on the brake and do a sweet burnout pretty easy (which is the test if your engine conversion was worth while)

 

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Can always do steering relocation and conversions but adds complexity 

Steer by wire? 

A 4pot doesn't feel right in a crown otherwise I'd be talking K24 or if sticking to Toyota a 2ARFE ideally turboed. 

Barra has been mentioned but definitely an option as lots of support and parts etc around

Tipping a boxer wouldn't fit between the rails? The EZ30 isn't a bad motor if that's your cup of tea

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That big block 50 series has the front cross member almost completely hacked out and a front rack and pinion conversion. Big effort to do that steering conversion, they are pretty much at the point where chopping the chassis off would be easier (but possibly way harder to get legal in AU).

 

 

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other things of note,

the 50 series chassis is narrower than the 60 series by 40mm so anything they crammed into a 60 would be even harder in a 50.

the 80 chassis is wider again but only by about 10mm.

whilst the steering box is a massive pain in the arse to get around, the back corner of the upper A arms are very restrictive as well.

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Thanks for the feedback guys, this is all good information to consider.

Definitely want to keep it all Toyota based and don't want to add huge complexity into the project.

All things I need to consider before getting to the engine stage.

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Left field suggestion but still being Toyota, get a crashed 1KD 2wd hilux and do a running gear swap. 

3L turbo deez makes good enough low down power for an old chassis, happy to cruise around but also enough power for highway speeds while sipping fuck all fuel. Crashed hilux would give you everything you need for the swap including nice low ratio 3.5/3.7 diff and then sell the leftovers to recoup some costs. Aftermarket ECUs for common rail diesels are available now or you can run the factory setup with a bit of trickery  

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  • 3 weeks later...

So after much contemplating and research I am going to go down the route of the tried and tested JZ route for the engine.

Worked out the time involved and extra cost with the 2gr-fse conversion etc just made it too much of a headache.

Replacing straight 6 with straight 6 makes logical sense and has been done on other MS50 Toyota's across the world

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Yeah man if you have a crown its the path of least resistance, unless you are keen on a big fab project. Or if you are crazy like Sheepers then a old school 5/6MGE are really sweet engines (when working and not popping head gaskets etc) they sound real cool and drive real nice in a cruiser.

Hardest part these days is probably tracking down a genuine crown JZ mid-sump for a real tidy slam dunk conversion. You can add a turbo or ITBs to spice things up later on also.

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Don't go past the JZ autos either the A340 is awesome, especially one from a turbo car IMO. They turbo ones seem to bang through the gears pretty sweet and there are a bunch of ECU that can control them now. I had a auto turbo JZA80 and loved the slushbox in it, driven a few others also (aristo etc)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Finally got clearance from NZTA for alternative documents and a VIN verification on the wagon so now to get it through compliance and see how big of a list I will have.

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As a slight left field suggestion for an engine: 

Volkswagen VR6!!

I thought of doing a vr6 swap on my MS117 but decided against it due to having a couple 5mge kicking around and a very limited budget. 

 

The main downside of a JZ is JZ tax. 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Theres is a Lexus dumped on the road by my house in waterview with a 3uz in it, 160km according to car jam, hasnt moved for at least 6 months and rego expired in 2023 some time.  Be a great drivetrain swap id imagine.  I hate when people dump cars like that, cant track owner to takeover ownership so the council will eventually tow away, degeg and sell for scrap.

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