1UZ 1978 Toyota Cressida Estate

[Ceramicolive]

Hello all,

Firstly apologies if this is in the wrong place but I have been asked to put a few  pictures up of my work in progress which is a Lexus engined 70s Toyota. Keeping it in the family.

It's slow going at the moment and has prompted me into looking for a GS300 for daily duties.

Anyway here's the old bus as I bought her

[Ceramicolive]

Some pictures of the work being undertaken.

old lump burning an alarming amount of oil

Large load area

Love the interior

After a lot of work this was sat in the bay and the bonnet will shut on top, I find that's always a bonus.

Wheels, I really wanted to keep the centre caps and thankfully they do fit, just.

I have a video of the first start if anyone is interested.

 

[Ceramicolive]

Found it, David Bailey eat your heart out.....

 

[The-Acre]

Wow, what a fantastic project!...and it certainly made you laugh!

Looking forward to more on this please.

[steve2006]

Nice project.

In the early 80s I had the same model and colour Cressida as a company car, the 1600 engine put a con rod through the block.

The boss wasn't happy when he discovered the cause was a lack of oil and I was downgraded to a secondhand Toyota Starlet.

Some years later I bought a Datsun 180B estate, the engine ran like a sewing machine when at this time the Ford Pinto engines needed new camshafts every 40,000 miles.

[Ceramicolive]

9 minutes ago, The-Acre said:

Wow, what a fantastic project!...and it certainly made you laugh!

Looking forward to more on this please.

It was so much louder in person! 

I couldn't help but giggle, i'll put some more up as it happens.

Thanks for the interest.

[Ceramicolive]

3 minutes ago, steve2006 said:

Nice project.

In the early 80s I had the same model and colour Cressida as a company car, the 1600 engine put a con rod through the block.

The boss wasn't happy when he discovered the cause was a lack of oil and I was downgraded to a secondhand Toyota Starlet.

crikey that must have been slow! the 18r 2.0 was pretty low on power but a lovely cruiser.

I had always planned on a 1UZ when I bought it but the high oil consumption just brought it forward slightly.

Up until we started the conversion this was my daily driver.

[Ceramicolive]

These should look pretty good when fitted. Long road ahead yet though. Hence the search for a GS

[mikeyv]

Ah, Cressida estates, the bulletproof 180B Datsun, cortina camshafts knocking like machine guns, all bring back memories from my taxi/mechanic days.

A workmate had a replacement cam on his brand new 1.6 capri, after 1300 miles.

One of my taxi partners used to have a Cressida estate, that I often borrowed.

Nice old bus for cruising, but boy, did it rot.

Yours looks in good nick bodywise though, I imagine they must be a very rare car?

Look forward to more posts from you.

[Ceramicolive]

13 minutes ago, mikeyv said:

Ah, Cressida estates, the bulletproof 180B Datsun, cortina camshafts knocking like machine guns, all bring back memories from my taxi/mechanic days.

A workmate had a replacement cam on his brand new 1.6 capri, after 1300 miles.

One of my taxi partners used to have a Cressida estate, that I often borrowed.

Nice old bus for cruising, but boy, did it rot.

Yours looks in good nick bodywise though, I imagine they must be a very rare car?

Look forward to more posts from you.

Hi,

I only know of one other in green that is awaiting a resto.

According to the ' specialist ' I bought it from only 7 cressida estates were ever ordered new in this body shape in the uk, so going of that somewhat dubious claim and the fact that I only know of one more yes it is a pretty rare old girl now.

Bodywise she is 99% there but with these old cars that percentage can and does change on a yearly basis!

Love the avatar by the way Bob Dylan at the seven bridge during construction if i'm not mistaken?

 

[mikeyv]

5 hours ago, Ceramicolive said:

Hi,

I only know of one other in green that is awaiting a resto.

According to the ' specialist ' I bought it from only 7 cressida estates were ever ordered new in this body shape in the uk, so going of that somewhat dubious claim and the fact that I only know of one more yes it is a pretty rare old girl now.

Bodywise she is 99% there but with these old cars that percentage can and does change on a yearly basis!

Love the avatar by the way Bob Dylan at the seven bridge during construction if i'm not mistaken?

 

I've just spent a pleasant few hours reading about your car and the poor bloke in Australia with his Cressida (wonder if they did fit the gasket the wrong way round?).

I got there after doing a google image search and ending on retro rides website, I've seen it before, but had forgotten all about it.

That's a surprise about only 7 being sold in the UK.

Though I must admit, I don't recall seeing any, other than the metallic bronze one belonging to my mate, and you can count that one as a goner, given the state of the body on it.

A bloke in our taxi office had an even rarer Cressida, an early eighties diesel, pretty slow, which suited him, very economical and, of course, utterly reliable.

Good spot on Dylan, though he would have been waiting for the Aust ferry, probably in 1965, when, as you say, the old Severn bridge was still being built.

You often had to wait for hours, due to the tide, as I remember only too well when going on family holidays to Devon.

[Ceramicolive]

good detective work!

Yes poor varelse isn't having much luck with his cressy at the moment but he'll get there in the end.

There is a guy on RR with an 80s Cressida if i recall correctly mexicansteve perhaps? left hooker too, super rare on these shores.

Thanks for the interest hopefully i'll be updating with more soon.

[mikeyv]

5 minutes ago, Ceramicolive said:

good detective work!

Yes poor varelse isn't having much luck with his cressy at the moment but he'll get there in the end.

There is a guy on RR with an 80s Cressida if i recall correctly mexicansteve perhaps? left hooker too, super rare on these shores.

Thanks for the interest hopefully i'll be updating with more soon.

Don't worry, I wasn't stalking you, it was just blind luck, though I suppose, given the low numbers, yours was likely to pop up!!

Look forward to more updates.

 

[gdh300]

What a fantastic project Anthony! Really looking forward to your updates. 

[Ceramicolive]

small update on the Cressida, the front has been lowered to a nice height the rear still needs to sit down a bit more so the rear springs will have to be flipped, the tyres are just some random ones that were lying around just to get it rolling and have an idea of the height. I'm not a fan of stretched tyres really.

Also I bought a 2005 GS300 as my new dail driver, what a machine! 140,000 miles and it drives like a new car, beautifully engineered. It's a car that some of you may already know as it used to belong to a  member on here (Messi) and briefly Chris whom I purchased the car from. 

I promise some better quality pictures of both if people are interested, I live on the doorstep of some amazing scenery so there really is no excuse! First two are from Chris the last one is it parked safely on my drive the day after we got back from picking it up. It drove beautifully all the way home.

Thanks for now :) 

[mikeyv]

Definitely interested in more pics, of the Cressida, especially!!

[Shahpor]

I too would very much like to see more photos.

[Ceramicolive]

I'll have some more to report by the weekend with any luck, Thanks for the interest.

[Ceramicolive]

Small update, getting there slowly.....

[mikeyv]

Very good, what's left to do?

[Ceramicolive]

Thanks, lots and lots and lots! 

Cooling system needs sorting out, rear leafs need flipping over to bring the back down more, gearbox linkage needs to be fabricated to marry up the original shift linkage with the ls400 box, exhaust needs to be fabricated out of stainless steel, wheels need to be dressed up and painted, rev counter and speedo need to be calibrated to the new engine, various bits and bobs that crop up along the way.

Hoping it'll be finished by christmas, fingers crossed!

[mikeyv]

40 minutes ago, Ceramicolive said:

Thanks, lots and lots and lots! 

Cooling system needs sorting out, rear leafs need flipping over to bring the back down more, gearbox linkage needs to be fabricated to marry up the original shift linkage with the ls400 box, exhaust needs to be fabricated out of stainless steel, wheels need to be dressed up and painted, rev counter and speedo need to be calibrated to the new engine, various bits and bobs that crop up along the way.

Hoping it'll be finished by christmas, fingers crossed!

Doesn't sound too bad, if you say it quickly!!

I wish you luck.

 

 

[Ceramicolive]

21 hours ago, mikeyv said:

Doesn't sound too bad, if you say it quickly!!

I wish you luck.

 

 

If only it was as easy as that! I forgot to mention get a new prop made to length, a pretty crucial component!

Thanks for the well wishes.

[mikeyv]

What's going at the other end of the propshaft?

Are you using the Cressida, or Lexus rear?

[Ceramicolive]

13 minutes ago, mikeyv said:

What's going at the other end of the propshaft?

Are you using the Cressida, or Lexus rear?

We're going to try and use the Cressida rear end and see how long it lasts ;)