New Cressida owner

[fury67]

hello i just purchased a 79 cressida wagon.it has an automatic and the usual woodgrain[peeling] it cost all of 350 dollars but no rust complete in everyway.the engine is unmolested and the interior isnt ripped at all but the carpet has turned a rather nasty shade of green blue.im hoping to get her shined up and post some pics.my question to the members here is are there any good speed parts for its engine?upgrades to its chassis?

[kamesama980]

you won't find much of anything for the engine in there now but the newer, more powerfull engines will fit just fine. for the cost and difficulty involved, your best bet without a turbo would be the 2jzge (cost won't be too far from doing a 5m/7m since you need basically everything) or with a turbo, the 7mgte (if you dare) or and of course 1jzgte/2jzgte. I'd figure $1500-$2k to have the new engine in and dialy drivable for a non turbo if you do the bulk of it yourself and don't go overboard.

[fury67]

thanks for the info but as ive cleaned it up i found that its so well kept that i just cant bring myself to screw with it. also my boss was a toyota tech for 10 years so im getting the hard parts for this car really cheap from toyota. now if i could just dig up the lift supports it would be perfect.but hey i still gotta swap the wheels for something cooler. i found ford ranchero woodgrain is being repoped and im gonna slap some of that on the wagon and make it look oh so 70's again.

[kamesama980]

lift supports? like where to jack the car from? isn't there a pinch weld?

[fury67]

actually i meant the lifts to hold the hatch up.turns out mine are very specfic

[kamesama980]

oooo. yours oughta have a metal spring to hold it up like the X6. they didn't go to the gas pressurized hood struts till the x7

[fury67]

i got the struts and they are not to be found anywhere. heck cant even find them online till the 85 models.im thinking im going to have a custom set made from one of the street rod companys

[kamesama980]

they may have been put in custom by a previous owner. I know for sure the 81-84 has a spring loaded hood so I assume the earlier models do too. hell, I'd take the spring loaded hood over the gas struts....the springs don't go bad unless you break them doing something you shouldn't.

[fury67]

i think i must have misspoke the struts are for the rear hatch its a wagon after all. but i did find the manifold is cracked so now i got a bigger issue.

[kamesama980]

nope, I mis-read. hatch struts. might possibly find them on ebay. other than that, ask at the parts stores or bring yours in and compare.

[fury67]

i work at one of those stores and no chance of finding them, too unique. but the street rod companys are happy to take an old one and crank a new one out of billet and it will be rebuildable but very pricey but worth it when its hatch doesnt kill me.as for the exaust que sera fire up the welder