The sleeping tiger...

Ok, I have been through many X7 and X8 chassis.  I even stupidly sold off my 88 factory 5 speed sport package... I did keep one.  Right now I call her the sleeping tiger, cause I don't have a name for her yet.  She is an early 86 MX72 and I have owned her for around 4 years.  I have never driven her, just started her.  Well, the wife got sick of my car collection growing all the time and delivered an untimatum... I could only have two cars in the driveway till we built our garage.  Well, I sold off the extra celicas and the X8 chassis.  I was able to help her to see the reason for keeping the wagon as she wants a sporty car and the wagon could be used to haul all sorts of things she can't fit in a convert.  Here is how she has sat for the last couple of years...


She is actually in decent shape considering she has technically sat since 2005.  She has a couple of scratches and dents, but nothing killer.  The interior is in very good shape considering her age.  The seats are not faded as she was mainly used as a storage container by her previous owners and myself.  I was able to keep her in the shade under the tree at the end of the driveway, so that helped as well.  I decided to get her back up in running in the last few months.  She was running , albeit not well, when parked in the backyard a couple of years ago.  I started her every couple of months as well during her hibernation.  I lucked out a few years ago and found an 85 wagon in a scrap yard.  I was able to pull a ton of trim and trinkets as well as the gas tank.  Price for everything was scrap price, so I paid by the pound... 35 cents at the time.  Total bill amounted to just under 40$.  I now wish I had pulled more...
The gas tank was rinsed clean and installed before she took up residence at the house(back when I had some shop space...)  So the trial begins...

Well, a couple of weeks ago I tried to start her.  She coughed, sputtered and ran for about two minutes and quit.  Then nothing...  I got new plugs, rotor, cap and wires.  Still nothing...  She would run on starting fluid and such, but not on her own power.  This last weekend, I pulled the tank...  found the problem!



Yup, my 'clean' tank had rusted... badly!


So I drained it...


I rinsed it with water to get all the gunk out.  Let me tell you, there was a lot of gunk in the tank.  No wonder why it wouldn't run.  Between the bad gas and the crap in the tank, it was a wonder that I was even getting fuel up to the rail! Then came up with a way to dry it... neccessity being the mother of invention, don't laugh, it worked out great!

Needless to say, I will now need a new pump.  The tank is back in and ready to go.  I have the old pump back in it, but it will soon come out when I buy a new pump.  Nice thing is that I have taken the tank out and put it back in so much in the last few weeks, that it takes me about 2 hours to drop the tank, disasemble everything and put it all back.
After much deliberation and arguing with myself(does anybody else do this?)  I decided to just buck up and do what I had intended all along.  See, one of the parts I had collected along the way was a low mileage(less than 70K) 5M.


My plan had been to use my long labor day weekend(took some vacation along with the holiday) to  rebuild/reseal the motor and then swap it out with the 200K motor in the wagon.  For some reason I figured I could get the motor in the wagon back up and running and just drive it that way till I swapped the motors.  Needless to say, after 3 wasted days messing with the messed up gas tank and such, I wisely decided to follow the original plan.
Most of the parts are already on hand


I started tear down on the LM 5M.  Head came off after a bit of sweating and swearing.  Seems my storage of the engine was not the best and water had collected in the plug valley.  Most of the head bolts had rusted on the top and were a bear to get started, but the head came of.  The was a little bit of light surface rust inside piston one and six, but that was it.  The rust and the pistons cleaned up nicely.


I have given the piston tops and cylinder walls a nice light coating of oil to keep the rust at bay.  Then my attention turned to the head.  Cam towers are off.  Rockers and lifters are bagged and tageed.  The lifters popped right out and will be bled and re-used.  The chambers were given a good scrubbing with Castrol Super Clean.  Just have to clean the mounting surfaces.


Astute observers will notice the nasty towel covered with all the gunk and carbon cleaned out of the chambers.  Those who look closer will also notice the start of my 20/22R hybrid laying in the back of the picture as well.

That was Tuesday, I only had one day left before work interfered with the work.  I used my last day of freedom to get the engine prepped to pull.  I will need to get new rad hoses as I had to cut the lower and the upper already had a tear.  The AC compressor is off and tied to the side along with the PS pump.  The exhaust is unbolted and the wiring harness can be seen.  All that is really left to do is drain the transmission; pull the shift linkage off the transmission; unbolt the starter wire and a few grounds; unbolt the transmission crossmember then remove the hood.  I pick up my buddy's hoist tomorrow morning, so I hope to have the 'me sitting where the engine once did' pic by sunday night


I just placed a rockauto order for the last few things I will need, valve stem seals, rear brake shoes and camshaft oil seals.  Don't know if I am going to get a new Timing belt tensioner pulley or not.  I may have a good one laying around somewhere.  I will have to get on Amazon and get a spring compressor for the valves, but that is a bit aways.

I highly, highly recommend getting the head resurfaced and maybe a valve job if you can afford it.

I have been debating it seriously.  The engine I am rebuilding has right around 65K on it.  In reality, it has another 100K before it would need a valve job.  Plus it is another 200$ in machine work I don't really have in the budget.  I still need to get the tag and title brought up to date(at least 200$ with fees and such) Not too mention I need to get the gas tank cleaned and sealed, which is another 200$ Plus, there is the 5 lug swap stuff to factor in.  So really it just depends on the budget and available funds.  I will have an extra head, so in a year or so I could get the machine work done and then swap heads.  Just all depends on how much overtime I can rack up in the next month or so.

Didn't get much accomplished yesterday, I still hope to get the engine out today.  I do keep getting distracted from the plan... This showed back up at the house this weekend as well...



It is a 7MGTE and I do have most of the parts, but it would need a turbo.  I do have two CT26s, but both need rebuilding.  I have a couple of harnesses and a Mines tuned ECU.  I would need a new ECU as I am determined to keep the auto for the sake of the wife.

Okay, busted my hump today and got everything done I wanted to. I taught that Bee-oitch who was boss!


Empty engine bay, gonna borrow a power washer and clean it before the new-ish one will go in. I did mess up the core support pulling the engine, but it is fixable.



And of course, the 'Look at me sitting in the bay where the engine was' pic. Or I as call it, the 'replacing one useless lump for another' pic


I still have to clean and swap a bit over onto the other engine, but one major hurdle is out of the way!

Find any animal nests in there ?

Does this count as an animal's nest?


Only thing found on the car.  I was good and would start it and drive it around the block and then right back into the backyard about once a month.  That all stopped about 6 months or so ago when another cressida and RA64 found their way into my life.
Got the power washer already to go.  I did strip down the 'old' motor last night.  I think it might have been apart before.  There was one torque converter bolt that was broken off in the flex plate and I didn't do it.  Also, the cylinder walls looked really good for a 200K engine



You can clearly see the crosshatching!

Welp, was on call most of the weekend chasing cops and dead bodies, so I did not get much work done on the cressi.  I was able to get a power washer after the driveway... Yay! no more laying in dirt while working on the cars!  I also used the power washer on the cressi's engine bay.  It took 3 washings and about a gallon of Super Clean, but it looks much better.  I did break a couple bolts getting things out, but went to westlake and found an extractor kit on clearance for 12 bucks.  Three different sized extractor bits, all hardened as well.

Before the cleaning...




After the cleaning, I think it looks much better.  There is still some stuff that needs to be wiped down and such, but miles better than it was


Still need to take out the fuse box and such around the battery tray and wire wheel the battery area to take care of the small amount of rust present there.

Looks like you're making good progress. Though I love my Cressy, I can't believe you sold your Celicas to keep this thing. Post some pics of your Celicas if you get a chance!

Lets see, this is whitey, she is an 85 GT Celica

I got her from the original owner with just under 300K on her and a bum timing chain.  I fixed the timing chain, got her running and took her back to her owners to let them take her over 300K.  I did the timing chain right with steel backed guides, so she should be good for another 150K before she needs another.  Sold her a bit back to somebody restoring his 1st gen civic and he needed a daily.  Last I heard she was still running like a top... I do have an 84 GT stashed elsewhere...


This was my second MX83.  Bought her at an impound auction.  Started to collect parts for the JZ and 5 speed swap, but got smart and sold her and the R154


This is my pride and joy.  I am the second owner as I bought her from the original owner. She has just over 117K on the clock.  She was in an accident in 1985 and put into storage.  A buddy found her around 2007 and I picked her up around 2009.  She sat patiently waiting till around 2011 when I finally got her back together and on the road.  Right now she is riding on T3 cut and shut coil overs and shortened springs with camaro shocks in the rear.  Rims are MX73 spares all the way around.  She needs everything from the front crossmember cut off and replaced(I have 2 other celicas in parts in the backyard)  Right now, I am having too much fun driving her wheels off.  She has already made 2 trips to Dallas(6 hours round trip) and countless trips around the state.  I love her and she is not going anywhere!

I kind of want another MX83, but would need a butt-load of cash for the mods I would want to do right away. The 76 celica will eventually get built the right way. I have all the parts, just gotta commit to taking her off the road and doin it. She just puts a smile on my face everytime I start her. After a bad day at work, I can't wait to get home and just take her around the block a couple of times. So, the rebuild will wait till the cressida gets back on the road and I have something not so bland to drive(work car is a honda pilot... meh)