[David Hodgson]

Sly,

I haven't modified mine as yet as it hasn't been begging for it. I’m running the original front springs cut down by 1 coil with Koni adjustable shocks, HQ disc’s and callipers and no sway bar.

The biggest down side is the slow steering, much slower than a rack & pinion. In the early days I toyed with fitting a power steering box to it, which is a faster ratio, but didn't want the eyesore of the pump and hoses, so it never happened. I think though I will graft a rack and pinion in. There's two ways to achieve this; either a suitable standard style rack with tie rods picking up the Ackerman arms or there's kits out there for converting Mustangs etc in which you retain the original tie rods and drag link. The rack then acts directly on the drag link. This retains the original geometry and bump steer etc.

I have played with different geometry and found that about 2 deg neg camber with a bit more caster worked well on the track. Any more seemed to play up on the street, unduced bump steer and wander.

Have you got vented disc's or the original 13mm solids? Later Crowns (MS85) had 20mm vented disc's, but HQ-HJ disc’s and callipers are a relatively easy swap. This gives you a thicker, 25mm vented disc and wider choice of aftermarket discs and callipers and also changes the stud pattern from Ford (4.5”) to match the Jag rear (4.75”). I can let you know details if you like.

You could go all out like Rotax98 on this forum with fabricated control arms, coil overs, different stubs etc, but that’s just given him a bunch of grief. He may have sorted it by now, I haven’t seen him since ’12 Nationals.

Not sure about that VIN number. The original Toyota chassis number should be stamped on the drivers side of the cross member just below the upper control arm mounts (looking into the engine bay). It should read MS65#### or MS85####. Those first 4 characters are the model number.

I'm also curious where the chassis has been shortened. The early ones simply took a chunk out of the side rail. Mine has the bulky steel pressings where the trailing arms mount removed. this gets the seats down to the correct height, and best lends itself to the Jag rear end.