Hello from Springfield, OR. Here is my 1984 Toyota Cressida purchased as a rolling shell. This car would have come factory with the 5mge and automatic transmission but was swapped to manual at some point in its life.
I have imported a 1ggeu 2.0 I6 from Japan. Its used and I have no confirmation of the condition until it arrives to me later next month. I'm swapping this engine in with the primary goal of achieving a sound similar to the Mizuno Works GX81 in the video below. Secondary to that is the aesthetics of the engine itself are unmatched by anything else in the Toyota family. There is no performance gain by completing this swap.
水野ワークス GX81 １G-FE オリジナル ステンレス タコ足 - YouTube
Prior to this I had a 1988 Cressida with complete Izanami suspension, that car was reverted to stock and sold so I will put the suspension components on this chassis.
Well before I secured this shell I scored a set of SSR Winmesh wheels size 14x6.5 B Type. Of course they will not be refinished as is but rebuilt to 14x9.5 -19 & 14x10.5 -32 with the help of some Pine Engineering lips, hardware, and reproduced center caps. SSR only made this wheel in 1981, factory sizes went up to 14x10 but today it is extremely difficult to find a set. I visit Yahoo Auctions Japan in search regularly and they are few and far between. The centers will be gold.
Thats all for now, these pictures are dated. I'm in the middle disassembling the subframes and crossmembers in preparation for fabrication. They will all be moved up to allow me to minimize scraping while being low.
Welcome to the forums! I will be interested to follow along, and maybe see your car in person one day. I'm a longtime RWD Toyota enthusiast, and have often fantasized about building something 1G-G powered (in part for the noise it would it make) but I have never actually done it.
Looking forward to updates!
buzzboy
SuperDork
6/30/23 3:44 p.m.
Oh those wheels! Gonna look so good!
Here is the car which inspired me to get an X6 Cressida along with Winmesh. To fit a 14x10.5 rear wheel will require at least 1" of narrowing per side to replicate the car pictured below but I may go further in an effort to tuck the rear wheels.
Coincidentally the owner of this vehicle, @takeshige00 on IG, is the driving force behind reproduction of the Fujitsubo equal length 1gge headers. From my own research and based on my own opinion the Fujitsubo header is the one to get for the best sound.
I've bought wheels and wheel parts from Pine before, good people!
I'm not a Toyota guy, but I've always loved the Cressida, and that 1G GE sounds amazing! Following!
Can't wait for more! I'm a long time MX63 lover. I hope to one day take on dropping a 1UZ w/ an R154 into my '83. I'm interested to learn more about the 1G-GE.
The parts removed from my 88 Cressida:
The camber plate pattern from the 3rd gen Cressida to 2nd gen is different so now I have a camber / caster adjustment:
High on the priority list was getting rid of the original headlight setup for the jdm Mark 2 setup. The white car is @gx61komachan on IG, his car has narrowed front and rear suspension. I have also acquired the fender mirrors. Minus the rear bumper this car will appear as a Mark 2 from the outside.
I have gone back and forth trying to figure out which direction to go on this project. It was tempting to leave everything be and run wheels that fit within factory lines without narrowing anything. This would have been excellent but that is what I did with my previous Cressida and I want to push myself on the fabricating side of this project so the car sat like this for a short time before removing everything.
Here is an example of an X6 with everything raised underneath, no transmission pics but I would be shocked if that was overlooked. The owner of this vehicle is @t.yasuda61 on IG:
Engine crossmember raise, appears to be 25mm:
Steering raise, I'm struggling to figure this part out myself. Some modification to the column mounting plate had to take place:
The end result? Another inch of ground clearance and because the owner shaved the oil pan it sits safely above the crossmember. I do not plan to shave the oil pan, I don't know how viable that is long term and 1g's already have trouble on their own with lubricating so I'll use @rudeboy.custom engine riser plates to accomplish the same thing. The riser plates are a small diameter disc that slips in between the engine bracket and mount. It is 5-6mm thick but because the mount and bracket are angle it elevates the engine more.
I plan to replicate most aspects of the engine crossmember raise and rear subframe / diff mount:
The header arrived at work, paid more for it than the car itself and didn't feel comfortable with it hanging out on the porch. I daily a 71 Toyota Corolla and managed to squeeze it in for the ride home:
This was a milestone purchase for this project, I have the exhaust system built in my mind. Sadly I'll have to modify the header due to raising the engine, I will add some pipe where it goes from 6-2 to help bring the bottom portion downwards. Since I'm already doing that much I will lose the existing flange in favor of a v band clamp. Similar to the post above I will fabricate a tunnel of some kind for the exhaust to tuck up closer to the subframe so it has a fighting chance of lasting. I think 2" mandrel bent piping is appropriate for the sound I want followed by a hollowed muffer.
Here is a somewhat recent update, now onto the boring part which is disassembling and trying to figure out how far to take things in terms of finish etc. The car is from Port Angeles, WA area so there is some surface rust. The seafoam deep creep is some good E36 M3.
Here is sort of where I'm at with the steering box raise. If I can modify the plate that bolts to the firewall in an upward motion use the existing adjustability to shorten the column I feel I can move the box straight up. It doesn't need to come far considering it is already higher than the engine crossmember. I'll need to consider "bump steer" but at the same time the front springs are 24k so there is little to no movement. At this ride height with no modification the control arms are on an upward plane so by raising the crossmember that will possibly correct some of that and yes I have roll center adjusting blocks.
The steering box hardware goes through the frame and it is collared, that is something which will be addressed appropriately. I will not simply drill new holes and call it day. Now i'm at a point where money (not a whole lot) needs to be spent and I'll need to weld. I'm sure i'm not the only one here in that awkward "stuck between payday and bills" part of the month. I'll continue disassembling the rear and doing whatever I can for free to keep the ball rolling.
Rad build, looking forward to more fab updates!
I'm curious... why not go to 15 or 17" wheels instead? Love20Bee and others can upsize as well as widen those wheels.
You'll have much better tire options
In reply to amg_rx7 (Forum Supporter) :
13" or 14" wheels are the period correct options for this style, though you're right about limited tire sizes.
Over the weekend I drove 1200 mi round trip to trade for a an MX62, the trade fell through in disastrous fashion, so this build will be nice to live vicariously through since I won't be doing my own..
There is a decent wagon on jackstands near me, it's been on jackstands for at least 10 years. They look really good low on wheels
In reply to amg_rx7 (Forum Supporter) :
These are both great questions and because I'm passionate about wheels you're gonna get more than you bargained for in response:
To exceed 14" in diameter would take away from the essence of this style. In my opinion the narrative that "you can't find tires for 13-14 wheels" isn't true with reasonable expectations. Are there tire sizes I would like to be readily available? Absolutely but there will never be the same market for larger diameters. Also, Shibatire now makes every size you could ever want in multiple tread wear. Yes they are in Japan but you don't have to search far for someone bringing in a container to help reduce shipping cost. I will likely run 195/45R14 and 225/40R14 from them on my 9.5 and 10.5 wheels. Its a toss up between that or economy 175/60 and 185/60 tires. You are correct, I would have better tire options but even going 1" larger in diameter is a compromise i'm not willing to make.
SHIBATIRE
Onto Love20Bee, I will never send a set of wheels there and it is because I notice a couple of alarming things as a result of a complete lack of attention to detail. In my opinion rebuilt wheels should replicate what the originals would have looked like as closely as possible. What I notice from Love20Bee is incorrectly shaped lips being used, larger face mounting flanges sometimes used as a way to upsize the wheel rather than getting a stepped lip, incorrect hardware, and larger gaps between the wheel face and lip itself. To me this is lazy and represents more of a quantity versus quality business model.
All of the above taken from their instagram, here are some examples from Pine Engineering of the same wheels:
I'm just one guy wanting my rebuilt wheels to look as original as possible and for that reason I will always go with Pine Engineering. Their customer service is great, lead times reasonable, and attention to detail is exceptional. For those reasons I would like to see people take their business to Pine instead or hold Love20Bee to a higher standard, the wheels pictured above by that company are atrocious, to be frank.
In reply to dannyp84 :
Sadly I'm in my own predicament with this car, the seller was dishonest and mailed me a title which has been filled out and also claimed the car was an original 5 speed yet somehow it has automatic transmission overdrive buttons and the plate in the bay also lists it as an automatic car. Both items I was fine to ignore until he began berating me on IG when I was selling my other car and questioning my integrity which was rich. Neither of the above issues are not fixable, worst case all of the fab work i'm completing can be swapped to another shell so it won't be a waste.
darkmedievaltimes said:
In reply to amg_rx7 (Forum Supporter) :
These are both great questions and because I'm passionate about wheels you're gonna get more than you bargained for in response:
To exceed 14" in diameter would take away from the essence of this style. In my opinion the narrative that "you can't find tires for 13-14 wheels" isn't true with reasonable expectations. Are there tire sizes I would like to be readily available? Absolutely but there will never be the same market for larger diameters. Also, Shibatire now makes every size you could ever want in multiple tread wear. Yes they are in Japan but you don't have to search far for someone bringing in a container to help reduce shipping cost. I will likely run 195/45R14 and 225/40R14 from them on my 9.5 and 10.5 wheels. Its a toss up between that or economy 175/60 and 185/60 tires. You are correct, I would have better tire options but even going 1" larger in diameter is a compromise i'm not willing to make.
SHIBATIRE
Onto Love20Bee, I will never send a set of wheels there and it is because I notice a couple of alarming things as a result of a complete lack of attention to detail. In my opinion rebuilt wheels should replicate what the originals would have looked like as closely as possible. What I notice from Love20Bee is incorrectly shaped lips being used, larger face mounting flanges sometimes used as a way to upsize the wheel rather than getting a stepped lip, incorrect hardware, and larger gaps between the wheel face and lip itself. To me this is lazy and represents more of a quantity versus quality business model.
All of the above taken from their instagram, here are some examples from Pine Engineering of the same wheels:
I'm just one guy wanting my rebuilt wheels to look as original as possible and for that reason I will always go with Pine Engineering. Their customer service is great, lead times reasonable, and attention to detail is exceptional. For those reasons I would like to see people take their business to Pine instead or hold Love20Bee to a higher standard, the wheels pictured above by that company are atrocious, to be frank.
If you do get tires from Shibatire let me know as I'm likely willing to split shipping costs to get some better 14" sizes than what I'm currently using. The reason I haven't done this myself yet is that I was told US customs will destroy any non DOT tire imported here.
I have some unflattering opinions of Love20bee myself but I didn't want to be the one to beat them down, I've had great results with Pine Engineering, and with Barrel Bros out of Australia, though they don't predrill their lips for bolts last time I asked. I've gotten lips from Pine and center caps from BB.
What do you do about the filled out title? Since my Cressida trade didn't work out I'm going to go back to searching for an HC generation Mazda 929 for a mild Kaido racer inspired build once my rotary projects are caught up..
In reply to dannyp84 :
I used @shockthemob on IG to bring my 1ggeu over from Japan and he is a dealer for Shibatire. I am unfamiliar with what you mentioned regarding US customs destroying the tire but it wouldn't surprise me. I'll have to ask him prior to ordering.
My Winmesh lips were pre drilled by Pine Engineering, I have no experience with Barrel Bros and it seems like they are switching over to a business model where they obtain wheels and rebuild to their own specs then sell but I have no information to corraborate that. Regarding Love20bee that guy seems to have a strong following and he seems busy. Maybe some people are unbothered by the points I have made which is fine, I'll continue doing business with companies who strive for the original look.
For my cressida title I will have to reach out to person who signed off on the title and obtain a bill of sale. *wink wink*
Hi, and welcome. Looks to be another creative Oregonian... 
I too am building an "X" chassis, although mine is a bit older... (MX22)
As far as the 1GGE... I have some head work experience on the 1GGTE head (OST-049) I found significant improvement. As of last year(Oct 2022) the entire engine was for sale.... (entire 1GGTE for sale) I don't know if it sold or not, OR if it would be useful to you.......
In reply to oldeskewltoy :
Whats up Dan, I'll message you on Facebook. I'm trying to determine whether or not I should rebuild the engine straight off or run it. I am 100% committed to staying normally aspirated so I will have to pass on the 1ggte setup although it looks cool.
Awhile ago I began looking at the wiring, the 1ggeu came out of a GA61 which is a Japan spec Celica Supra. Both the GA61 and MX63 are AFM cars which is helpful. I saw a complete dash harness for sale on YAJ and jumped on it. Might not even need it but it was cheap and seemed like a logical buy at the time.
I also had to track down the correct computer. Since later 1gge's used a MAP sensor I couldn't simply purchase the first one I saw without checking. The early computers are not as plentiful, I found one out of a GS121 and with the help of toyodiy.com I was able to cross reference the part number to confirm it would work with the GA61 1ggeu.
Buy the relevant manuals:
I consulted with one of the smartest people I know amongst Toyota X chassis enthusiasts, @gxofauckland, and got some much needed information on the wiring side. There is not much different, repinning a couple wires should be enough to get the car started. Here is a pic of the 12x2 plugs, on top is the GA61 and below is the MX63.
