moving the lca mounting point upwards obviously fixes any roll center issues, but what do you gain from mounting the lca farther forward? wheel clearance from the tension rod?

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1993 RMS13 -missile
1982 MX62L Cressida

Not so much that as more room for the tie rod ends when on full lock. We use the T3 ends and steering arm, and for some reason T3 decided to twist the steering arm to allow the tie rod end to sit vertical when driving straight. However, you never really have any load on them while going straight, so I don't see the point. Instead, they will hit the lower control arm way sooner, which is bad. At the moment I've borrowed my mates Cusco lower arms and tension rods, but we will make custom arms soon.

Inner points as you say makes the lower control arm stay at the right angle for correct roll center and camber gain.

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If it can't take me to heaven - I'll drive it straight to hell!

Anyway, I finally got to give it a proper test drive today, and it's awesome! By no means the most powerful car I've ever driven, but it pulls way harder than I was even hoping for. Since the first test drive we've raised the car half an inch, as the propshaft hit the floor on full acceleration. It still touches a little every now and then, but the new adjustable 4-link arms I've just ordered from T3 might help us position it a bit better.

The thing I'm most happy about though is the exhaust. It's so quite and soft on idle, but really screams at high revs. The dual system also have a really nice tone to it, not unlike the Hakosuka Skyline. Can hardly wait to get new cams and triple carbs!

Here's a little video of my mate driving a bit too fast...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0CcpCZT-dY

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If it can't take me to heaven - I'll drive it straight to hell!

How driveable is the car with the diff welded? I was thinking to do the same with my 78 Cressy.

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Fleet:
1978 Toyota Cressida Daily Driver
1977 Datsun 810 Station Wagon
1986 Ford Mustang GT almost at 200k
Past:
1972 Toyota Celica ST 22R swap RIP

Depends on who you ask, I suppose. I don't mind, but some can't stand it. I can't say I notice much when driving normally. If you driving in the city you might notice it in sharp turns and if you do U-turns or park it, you will hear a skipping sound from the inner wheel. Apart from that I hardly notice it at all. Just a bit more understeer on corner entry at speed and of course very driftable

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If it can't take me to heaven - I'll drive it straight to hell!

Here are some pics from our test drive. Sorry about the grainy quality. Didn't bring a proper camera so this was the best I could do with my iPhone in the dark...

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If it can't take me to heaven - I'll drive it straight to hell!

Awesome car. This is exactly what my car is going to look like also. I have the same color and same rims. Good stuff

Thanks. Feel free to post a pic!

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If it can't take me to heaven - I'll drive it straight to hell!

So, today has been the best sunday in a very long time. Probably in years actually, as I got to drive the car more or less for a full day. I woke up way to early for a sunday as I couldn't sleep. My mind kept trying to figure out the vacuum lines as I had a feeling something was a bit off, and I was right. Fixed that, then had a look at the exhaust as it kept hitting the body. It was an easy fix as all I had to do was to cut a bit more around the end pipe. The propshaft still hits the floor every now and then, but only when accelerating hard over bumps.

The handling and drivability of the car is simply amazing. As I have Toyo R888's all around, I don't want to drift it in the dry just yet, but I got it a bit sideways in the wet last night and it was sooo easy. Very controllable and capable of insane angles. In the dry I can hear the 4-link bushings screaming in pain, but apart from the rear axle moving about a little, it's very tight and precise. I can't wait to take this machine to the Nürburgring later this fall! Aiming for a sub 8 minute BtG laptime, and I feel optimistic that it can be done

The Tokico HTS dampers and Öhlin springs are doing a great job keeping the car on the ground. None of the skipping and stepping sideways in bumpy corners that I've experienced with cheap coilover brands. This is the real deal.

Finally I updated the "stereo" somewhat. One of my amazing friends actuallt gave me a full system consisting of two Pioneer TS-X9 speakers and a Kenwood casette player! Perfect for my collection of classic rock casette tapes!

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If it can't take me to heaven - I'll drive it straight to hell!

So, when talking about the car to my mate the other day, I told him that I figured the Cressida was just a little slower than an E36 BMW M3, as I've driven a couple of them and another mate has got one. Well, today I happened to meet up with my mate with the M3 and find out for sure. Turns out I was wrong. It's not a little slower. It's just as fast! We did a total of four runs.

The first one (video link in this post) was with a standing start. I had better traction of the line, but he seemed to catch me a bit halfway down the straight. We then did another run with a rolling 2. gear start, and same story. I pulled away at first, then he caught up with me. Oh well.

But on our way home we did another couple of runs. This time on the highway with a slight climb. We started in third at about 70 kmh, and this time he didn't pull away at all. I could stay with him all through the gears! Ok, so I would run out of gears at 220 kmh, but still. He's got almost 100 bhp more! Needless to say I am really happy with the performance!

We also weighed the car and found some interesting numbers. With an empty fuel tank, it weighs only 1095 kg! Weight distribution is F:54.1%/R:45.9% whithout driver/passenger and F:52.9%/R:47.1% with me and my mate inside. How awesome is that (I was expecting way worse with the 2JZ in there)!

Here's our little JZX30 vs M3 dragrace: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaCC9iEagkg

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If it can't take me to heaven - I'll drive it straight to hell!

I totally dig the parcel tray and speaker setup. Overall the car is just perfect...I shared your video with all of my Facebook friends, hahaha. You did an amazing job on this car!

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-Cam
1988 Mazda RX7
1980 Toyota Celica
a bunch of cool other cars I'm not allowed to list

Thanks, man! Need to replace the fake stickerbomb with real old school racing stickers though!

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If it can't take me to heaven - I'll drive it straight to hell!

Had my first litte mishap the other day. Got some massive wheel hop on my semi slick tires in the wet and snapped a driveshaft. Can't wait to replace the stock 4-link with proper ones!

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If it can't take me to heaven - I'll drive it straight to hell!

Finally, after years of bad shit happening, karma seem to reward me these days. As luck would have it, I bought two more cars just days before snapping the driveshaft. So replacing it was done in an afternoon with no problems. One of the cars was in pretty bad condition, so I only kept a few bits and pieces like chrome trim and a black interior. The other one was actually drivable, and I drove it all the way home over the mountains of Norway (800 miles/500km)! Here's a couple of pics from the trip home.





Not sure what to do with it, but if it passes the test to get plates, I'll probably paint it white and slam it on widened black steelies or something. Would make a sweet daily driver.

As for my JZX30, it's still running perfectly. The last days I've been fixing minor issues like clearance for the shifter etc, but other than that I've just been driving around all day

The only new addition is chrome trim on the left hand side head light (not present in the pictures) and a new passenger seat. Ever since I got my Bride seat super cheap I've been trying to find a similar seat for the other side. I've found a few online, but they have all been in USA or UK, and pretty expensive. Add shipping and I'm out. But yesterday I stumbled across an ad on a Norwegian forum that I visit once a year or so. Some guy was selling a bride recliner for $250. Still a bit more than I could afford at the moment, but then I noticed a new post saying all prices had been cut in half. So I sent him a text asking for a picture. My hopes for it being a blue Bride Brix were slim, to say the least. Imagine my reaction when it was the exact same seat I allready have. I could have it for $125 and it was local (15 minutes away)! Needless to say, I jumped in the car and went to pick it up right away. After welding a seat frame and mounting it in the car, I took my camera and went for a drive. Found a cool industrial area and shot some pics. Hope you like them

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If it can't take me to heaven - I'll drive it straight to hell!

Nice find of that seat, I've wanted a pair of blue Bride seats for my FC for quite a while.

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-Cam
1988 Mazda RX7
1980 Toyota Celica
a bunch of cool other cars I'm not allowed to list

Dude your car just gives me more motivation to quickly suit up my car. It's so beautiful man, keep up the good work. My build is going really slow considering I am broke lol. So just waiting on buying coilovers before I put on the Longchamps. But this is how is sits right now. Nothing too crazy.

http://japanesenostalgiccar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=18221&p=154777&hilit=papa+smurf#p154777

Haha, I'm broke all the time too. But happy to be able to drive what I have to say is the perfect car for me! Your car seems to be in a lot better condition (at least on the outside) than mine, though. It will look awesome when lowered on Longchamps. My car will have an American cousin I guess

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If it can't take me to heaven - I'll drive it straight to hell!

Goddaaamn nice, my opinion needs oil cooler back and moar lip to rims.
But looking like very good shape cressy Is it ever drived in winter? or do they put salt on the roads in Norway?
In Finland these idiots salt roads in winter and thas has been slow but sure end of so many oldies

Car is looking so great. Love the color

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Thanks. Got rid of the oil cooler as I had only borrowed it and allthough it looked cool, I don't want to draw unwanted attention to my car by the police now that it's so far from road legal

I will add an inch of lip to the rear wheels once I can afford to though. Just not at the top of my list right now

I drove it a couple of times during the winter, but never again. We have just as much salt as you guys

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If it can't take me to heaven - I'll drive it straight to hell!