I got my 2000 Toyota Crown Estate Athlete V about 2 years ago now, on 19 February 2023.
I thought document everything done on the car since I've bought it, so here is a overview of what I've done so far.
Here are some listing photos:
I swapped my old 91' Eunos Roadster for it, plus cash their way of course! Still I was pretty chuffed with the deal. Finished in 1C0 Silver with dark grey interior, 1JZ-GTE engine, 1 NZ owner, and 165,000km. Optioned with monsoons, 7 speaker 'Super Live Sound System', 6CD changer, and the EMV.
It was completely stock other than these hideous 18x7.5's and some Mitsuba Alpha sports horns.
It was not perfect by any means, but a good, solid base to start with.
As soon as I got home, the first thing I did was install my old wheels.
I've had these since my old 300ZX, and these were spec'd perfect for a JZS171, at 19x8.5 (+29) and 19x9.5 (+34).
Unfortunately, one of the rears was bent, and the 275s on the rears were definitely too big!
I also installed an Oscar Distributors 300mm blue-tinted convex rear-view mirror, something I keep for every car I own.
And I also did the first thing every JZ owner does, and unplugged the BOV.
From the very next day of ownership, I starting addressing the Crown's issues.
Firstly, on the way back from Oamaru, where we picked the car up, the CEL came on and there was a slight hesitation. I cleaned the MAF with CRC MAF Cleaner, but there was no improvement.
I also removed my fender liners as they were rubbing on the wheels.
The next day, the CEL situation got a whole lot worse. As soon as the car turned over, it would die. With the help with a mate Mike, we diagnosed this issue to a broken coil-pack connector.
The next issue to fix was the water leaking into the spare tyre well. We determined that the water was leaking from the outer sides, so that the roof rails were the most likely cause.
Here is my $25 D.I.Y roof rail delete kit, consisting of thread tape, grub screws, sponge foam, and Flex Tape.
Grub screws and tape in the holes.
Flex Tape to cover the holes.
And sponge foam to cover the centre stud area, once the stud was pulled out.
Unfortunately, the overnight rains shows that the roof rails weren’t actually the cause of the water leaks. Turns out, it was hairline cracks on the seam under the trunk lid. With a layer of Selley’s Storm Seal, all the leaks were gone.
The next thing to address was the dirty engine oil. I got some Valvoline VR1 Racing 10W-40 and a GReddy filter.
Last ‘major’ issue to solve was the fact that my EMV was faulty, so the A/C and radio couldn’t be controlled. To solve this I got myself a base model manual climate/radio unit. A simple depin, repin, and rewire got the new unit installed and working.
I also got my bent TE37 repaired at Royce Clive Engineering so that I could comfortably run the wheels on the car without any wobbles!
Next up came another maintenance piece. When cleaning the MAF sensor, I noticed that the air filter was old and dirty. Therefore, I got myself a replacement one on RHDJapan, a Blitz SUS Power LM.
Now that all the boring stuff was done, I got to having some fun with some mods! First up, a Tom’s stainless-steel muffler.
A quick clean got it looking much better.
Bolting straight on, this wee unit is not only super rare and cool looking, but also makes the exhaust a wee louder and deeper.
I also got some new rear tyres that wouldn’t rub, in preparation to lowering the car.
235/35R19 Achilles ATR Sport 2 tyres, fitted and balanced by TyreCare NZ.
Speaking of lowering the car, at this time, after searching from day one of ownership, some lowering springs came up locally. They were good ones too!
Tanabe Sustec DF210 springs with KYB New SR Special.
The seller also kindly included an OEM coin holder as mine was missing.
The suspension went in fairly smoothly, and I managed to install them without removing the FUCA!
The result… a 30mm all around. A huge difference from before!
I also installed a Swinging Hand Pop ‘Bye Bye’ as a finishing touch.
When picking the springs up, I also noticed that the sellers Crown he was parting out had a mint condition drivers seat and centre arm rest, with the car only having around 80,000km. As my drivers seat has a large cigarette burn hole and my armrest is worn, I snapped the two up as well.
During a monthly Jessestreeter shipment, I also copped myself a Blitz Racing 1.3-bar radiator cap, a nice touch to the engine bay.
Unfortunately, after a short period of fun, the Crown developed a new issue, as issue that was stubborn for many following months. After a cold start, the car would run super rough and refuse to accelerate, returning to running perfect once warmed up.
The Facebook pages told me that a faulty ECT sensor causes this, so I ordered a genuine Toyota one.
Unfortunately, this was not the issue.
The next issue I was told about was a faulty ignition system, so I tried on a new igniter and some good condition coil-packs.
Unfortunately, this too was not the cause of the issue.
Next I tried some new NGK BKR6EK spark plugs and NGK ignition leads.
This also did not help.
I then got a Subaru WRX MAF sensor, a direct replacement for the OEM one which is said to be more reliable.
This too was not the issue.
At this point, I got desperate, even trying out an HKS earth grounding kit, routed according to the Net’z ‘Club Racer’ instructions, a kit Toyota themselves offered for the JZS161.
As a last resort, I decided to clean my VVTi solenoid filter.
To my surprise, the old one was full of gunk and very dirty.
To my amazement, after cleaning the filter with MAF cleaner, the car ran beautifully, fixing my issue!
However, with one issue fixed, three new ones appeared.
Firstly, the car seemed awfully rattly at the lights. Therefore, I knew my engine mounts were shot.
Therefore, I got some genuine Toyota ones through Jessestreeter, and sent the car to Garage 5 to install.
The next issue was that my caster arm bushes had failed upon inspection. Therefore, I got myself some upgraded TRD hardened rubber ones.
After removing the old arms, I cut the rear bushes out using a drill, a hacksaw, and a flathead.
And then I got Garage 5 to press my new bushes in.
To be completely honest, these bushes transformed the way the car drove, making the steering a lot tighter and responsive feeling.
The third issue looked to be the most expensive - faulty a rear knuckle to LCA bushes, which I was told would require me to buy new complete rear knuckle assemblies.
Luckily, I found out that many after-market companies such as Serialnine and Ikeya Formula sell upgraded bushes individually. For me, I ended up getting some Silk Road reinforced spherical bushes. Made in collaboration with Car Make Rasty, I got these through Jessestreeter.
My D.I.Y bearing puller method failed, and so Charlie and his dad helped me by installing the bushes.
At this point, I decided to list the Crown for sale, and so a few small issues got tidied up, the first being a new MODE servo motor as my last one was left permanently blowing air to the feet.
Another issue fixed was the ‘tail light’ dash warning light. This was solved with new brake light bulbs and a new third brake light socket.
In the end however, I decided to keep the car, and so the mods quickly began to continue again!
First of all, a Blitz Racing Meter i-D 52mm boost gauge, installed via a fuse tap.
I also decided that the TE’s had been looking ratty for long enough, so went down to my local panel beaters and after looking at all the different colours, got myself a similar match.
Using this paint, I painted the lips of all four wheels, to cover any chips, scratches, and importantly the repair marks on the one rear wheel.
The results came out way better than I expected!
The very next week, I left NZ, going to Japan for the end of year holidays - and of course, I had to buy a few parts for the Crown.
As soon as I got back, I got to installing the smaller things: Max Orido leather seat belt pads.
Genuine blue Rays Engineering valve stem caps to replace my generic plastic ones.
And a Project Mu brake master cylinder sock.
And then I installed my new boost gauge… a very rare and cool Trust GReddy Super 80mm boost gauge.
I loved this look, and even made a wee bracket for it to fit better.
However, in the end, I determined that due to where it was mounted, too much of the speedo was covered, and so I went back to my old Blitz one in the end.
One of the most exciting and big things I bought in Japan was a HKS CAMP2 from UpGarage. After getting a generic 5-inch monitor to hook it up to, I turned it on, and realised that I had struck gold. The CAMP had come out of an old Revolf S.A. built vehicle, with the screen housing their iconic logo.
And for those wondering, this is how I did the wiring by the OBD2 connector, taping off of the positive for my boost gauge.
And as my CAMP didn’t come with a positive wire, a quick read of the instructions showed that I needed to add a 1A fuse to my positive wire.
Here are a few of my favourite screens.
The CAMP2 is super cool, allowing you to set warnings, monitor peak values, data log, and tune if you have an F-Con.
By this point, it had been about a year since I had bought the Crown, so I got to doing some more maintenance to it.
Firstly, an oil change. This time I used Penrite HPR10 10W-50 oil and a Blitz Racing filter.
I also got a new panel filter… a way overdue change.
A PIAA Comfort EVC-T2.
The next change I made to the car was a big one… new personalised plates. Reading ‘MOBVAN’, I got them printed in black.
I personally looked the way they looked, and thought they were super cool, however, a little too much interest from the cops resulted in me to remove them.
However, I really missed the P-Plate look, and so I got some new ones, new ones with a slightly less aggressive meaning: R SLIDE.
I also made a custom rear licence plate backing to clean the rear end up.
Made out of PETG sheet.
During this time, the Crown also developed a new issue: a rattle/rumble in the front suspension. After some close inspection, the culprit appeared to me a faulty drivers side FUCA bush. For this, I got a replacement arm from an Altezza.
Following this however, the Crown was once again back to its reliable and practical self. I started to get bored with the car, and so took the big leap and decided to get new aero… but with a twist.
Genuine Wald International Sports Line side skirts and rear lip for a JZX100 Chaser.
I decided to get some custom aero made up, and that these skirts and the rear lip would be an excellent base.
The parts ended up going over to Rick Turner at Downforce Customs, who extended and modified the parts to fit. He also made a one-off roof spoiler and front lip to match the kit.
After I prepped the aero… the pieces were then sent off to Dave at D.A. Classics and Customs for paint.
The paint came out perfect, and the results speak for themselves…
The skirts and front lip were screwed on, and the rear lip and roof spoiler are cemented on with some Sikaflex 123. As finishing touch, I got some stickers on the rear…
And made some new roof rail delete covers out of PETG to replace the poorly aging Flex Tape.
Lastly, just last week (at the time of writing this), I installed got myself a MAF adaptor, and made a custom 3-inch dose pipe, utilising and modifying an old intake pipe off an EK9. When combined with an A’PEXi Power Intake pod filter, the sounds the trusty ol’ 1J makes are amazing!
And just like that, just under two years of ownership is summed up, bringing us to present day.
Here is a brief run-down of everything I have done:
ENGINE
- Toyota 1JZ-GTE VVTi, 2491cc, straight-6
- A'PEXi Power Intake pod filter
- custom 76mm aluminium dose pipe
- Tom's stainless-steel muffler
- NGK BKR6EK spark plugs
- NGK ignition leads
- Turbo timer
- Blitz Racing 1.3-bar radiator cap
- custom blow-off valve block-off plate
- Project Mu reservoir sock
DRIVELINE
- Toyota A340E, 4-speed, automatic gearbox
- Toyota A04C open diff
SUSPENSION/BRAKES
- Tanabe Sustec DF210 Dress-up Form springs
- KYB New SR Special shocks
- TRD hardened caster arm bushes
- Silk Road x Car Make Rasty reinforced spherical rear knuckle to LCA bushes
WHEELS/TYRES
- F19x8.5 (+29) R19x9.5 (+34) Volk Racing Rays Engineering OG TE37 wheels in OG Bronze
- 235/35R19 Vitour Formula Spec Z front tyres
- 235/35R19 Achilles ATR Sport 2 rear tyres
EXTERIOR
- Toyota Silver Metallic 1C0 paint
- aero painted by Dave at D.A. Classics and Customs
- custom fibreglass front lip by Rick Turner at Downforce Customs
- custom-modified Toyota Chaser JZX100 Wald International Sports Line side skirts by Rick Turner at Downforce Customs
- custom-modified Toyota Chaser JZX100 Wald International Sports Line rear lip by Rick Turner at Downforce Customs
- custom fibreglass rear spoiler by Rick Turner at Downforce Customs
- custom roof rail delete kit/covers
- custom rear licence plate backing
INTERIOR
- Blitz Racing Meter i-D 52mm white-face mechanical boost gauge
- Revolfe S.A HKS CAMP2 Ver1.18 with 5-inch monitor
- Max Orido leather seat belt covers
- Oscar Distributors 300mm blue-tinted convex rear-view mirror
- OEM manual climate control/radio unit
MAINTENANCE
- New genuine Toyota ECT sensor
- New genuine Toyota engine mounts
- New genuine Subaru WRX MAF sensor
- New genuine Denso coil-pack connectors
- New NGK BKR6EK spark plugs
- New NGK ignition leads
- New TRD caster arm bushes
- New Silkroad rear knuckle to LCA bushes
- New PIAA cabin filter
- Cleaned VVTi solenoid filter
- Replacement coil-packs
- Replacement igniter
- Replacement drivers FUCA
- Replacement MODE servo motor
- Polish and wax
- Polished headlights
- Penrite HPR10 10W-50 oil with Blitz Racing oil filter (every 7000km)
Welp, this happened 😖
I was backed into by a friends mum, who was at fault.
Luckily damage is isolated to the rear drivers door, and the Crown should soon be back to full health after a visit to the panel beaters.
While at the panel beaters, I'll treat the Crown to a fresh underseal, floor stiffener repairs, and jack point repairs...