1982 Cressida any good?

Carguylen · Post by **Carguylen** » Tue Jun 14, 2005 8:13 pm

I have a chance to get one real cheap. The owner says it overheated and they have not driven it since. Says it needs a new freeze plug (?) and that they were told this is difficult to get to and replace. Any thoughts or anyone interested if it runs?

GTSSportCoupe · Post by **GTSSportCoupe** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 9:25 am

Carguylen wrote: I have a chance to get one real cheap. The owner says it overheated and they have not driven it since. Says it needs a new freeze plug (?) and that they were told this is difficult to get to and replace. Any thoughts or anyone interested if it runs?

Depends on if you want another project I guess. Cressida's are nice cars. If you can get your hands on a cheap replacement motor (and are comfortable swapping), I'd say go for it. I loved my Cressida (I had an 85 for a while).

Carguylen · Post by **Carguylen** » Wed Jun 15, 2005 6:33 pm

I found out it's a 1988. Is that any better? Or worse? I figure if I can get the freeze plug thing fixed, I can always sell it. It overheated and then they shut it off immeditaly, had it towed home. I've had cars overheat, but if the freeze plug is bad, is that real bad? I know it's hard to tell without seeing it, but.....

GTSSportCoupe · Post by **GTSSportCoupe** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 9:16 am

Carguylen wrote: I found out it's a 1988. Is that any better? Or worse? I figure if I can get the freeze plug thing fixed, I can always sell it. It overheated and then they shut it off immeditaly, had it towed home. I've had cars overheat, but if the freeze plug is bad, is that real bad? I know it's hard to tell without seeing it, but.....

The 88s are my personal favorite. The engine that is in there (the 5mge) is nearly invincible. I don't see why the freeze plug would be a big deal to replace. The same thing happened to my parent's in law's 88 Cressida. I've never replaced one myself though. If they shut the car off as soon as it got hot, the engine is probably fine. Replace the freeze plug, fill with coolant, and away you go.

In case you did not know, Cressidas are basically Lexus before Lexus. Also, they are built on the Supra platforms. So the 88 Cressida is built on the Mark 2 Supra platform. Same engine, same auto trans, same rear end (IRS with LSD) etc. Very very nice cars.

If the rest of that car is in good shape, I'd totally pick it up if I were you.

Check out this forum for more info: <a href='http://www.thermactor.com/forum/' target='_blank'>Cressi Forum</a>

20vtercel · Post by **20vtercel** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 12:49 pm

42mm freeze plug (should be anyway) and it must be metric if it is. The equivalent in imperial will pop out on you.

They cost about $0.15 or so and can be easily popped in with a rubber mallet!

7mgte swaps are very common and can produce good power!

Have fun and good luck

GTSSportCoupe · Post by **GTSSportCoupe** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 4:16 pm

20vtercel wrote: They cost about $0.15 or so and can be easily popped in with a rubber mallet!

Haha! There ya go!

Carguylen · Post by **Carguylen** » Thu Jun 16, 2005 8:25 pm

Wow. When you look at a car, look at it all the way around. It looked real nice on the drivers side, but the passenger side is trashed. I was doing some electrical work at the house and I saw the spider webs under the car so I asked if they wanted it, they said no, and I didn't look all the way around it. By the way, do the 88's have separate low and high beam headlights? i thought they were composite.

GTSSportCoupe · Post by **GTSSportCoupe** » Fri Jun 17, 2005 9:07 am

Carguylen wrote: Wow. When you look at a car, look at it all the way around. It looked real nice on the drivers side, but the passenger side is trashed. I was doing some electrical work at the house and I saw the spider webs under the car so I asked if they wanted it, they said no, and I didn't look all the way around it. By the way, do the 88's have separate low and high beam headlights? i thought they were composite.

They are composite. I think they use 9004 bulbs.