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Hello, Let Me Introduce Myself
My name is Kyle, I'm a mechanical engineering graduate student focusing on engine research. The first car I bought was a 1987 Toyota Cressida from a family friend for $175. The car was a Florida car, no body rust, with 95K miles on it (Easily worth $1200 or more). The owner I bought it from got the car when his parents passed away, and after a few years he wanted to get rid of it. At the time I bought it, I was thinking about using it as a cheap thrill, driving it off road and maybe turning it into an ice racer, but that's before I really knew what a Cressida was. I fell in love with the styling, modern options and quirks that this car has, so I decided to fix it up, one day make it faster and maybe take it to some track days. I have owned the car for several years now and I have managed to fix a few things and now it is a very reliable car. The things I have done so far are:
- Replaced all 4 rotors
- Replaced all brake pads
- Replaced e-brake shoes
- Replaced one caliper
- New K&N air filter
- Fixed the ECT switch (it was stuck in normal mode = early shift points)
- Transmission fluid flush and exchange
- Radiator flush and exchange
- Multiple oil changes
- Replaced a broken coolant hose
Recently my exhaust rusted through (the only thing on the car with more than surface rust) so I am currently in the process of doing a de-cat and building a 3 inch exhaust with mandrel bends, Magnaflow muffler and a Vibrant resonator. With the car up in the air I noticed that the front right inner tie rod end had a lot of slop, so I am also replacing that. Then I am installing a new intake valve cover gasket. I hope to have the car put back together so that I can take it to Blackhawk Farms Raceway in a few weeks and test it on the track.
I am currently saving for a 2JZ-GTE engine swap from a Toyota Aristo, that I hope to have done before winter. I plan to run at 14PSI with the stock twins for a while, so I don't have to spend money on an engine management system yet. I want to save money on the engine swap, but more than that, I want to make sure it is done right. So I have been planning to pay a shop to do a lot of the work. I am really looking forward to finding specific information about this swap on this forum. I have heard from a couple different shops that the engine swap (after the engine purchase) will cost either $1500-$2500 or nearly $5000. So hopefully this forum will help me save some time and money.
After the engine is in, (and I get some more money) I plan to upgrade the suspension, get wider wheels and summer only sport tires and then upgrade the brakes.
This is going to be a long, expensive project, so I am hoping to get some valuable advice and information from this forum to make it easier. Thanks for your time and attention if you managed to read this far, I'm sorry for being long winded.
-Kyle
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Let us know all about yourself and your car. Break the ice in here.
1993 Toyota Corolla
. Feel free to post some pics sometime.
to the nation, Kyle! Great work on the Cressida too! It's a lot of work you've done so far, but it's obviously a labor of love. Like Kiwi said, post up some pics when you've got them. 
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