mx73cressida

typo...... i stuffed up the car has a 5MGE not the early 5m.. the car is the last of the late box shaped model. with the twin cam update from the factory.. and the replacement motor if we end up using it.. is a 6MGE twin overhead came out of a 1988 toyota cressida. round body

mods feel free to move in if i put this in the wrong section.... ok here goes... im trying to get some info on my mums 87 mx73 toyota cressida... does anyone know of anything that could go wrong in the bottom end of these engines?? its currently got the 5MGE efi n\a 2.8 litre engine in it. twin overhead cam. with the electronic 4 spd auto. with 202000 klms on the clock. yep its all original too its picked up a nasty knock. down low. i recon its midway to the front of the motor. and i noticed its now blowing oil smoke on startup, but that could just be the valve stem seals tho pulling the plugs off the dizzy one by one doesnt really tell me which one is the noisy bearing. it doesnt get any quieter or noiser. but it does get noisier when theres a bigger load on it. its overdue for a service i admit embarrassed but mum hasnt had the money to get the oil and filter to do so. theres oil in it.it used maybe 1\2 litre which i topped up with some new oil.. me and dad think shes managed to kill one of the big end bearings. were having a very close look tomorrow tho. mum doesnt want to get rid of the car. i dont want her to cancel the rego. its simpler to keep it regoed whilst its off the road. a while back the alternator scored a noisy bearing.... but the waterpump\ alternator\ aircon are disconnected atm to rule out any possible clash with the noise. but the other question is..... will a 6MGE 3 litre twin overhead cam engine bolt in with little fuss? its a n\a 6m not the turbocharged model... but the oil feed lines are there tho. if so.... were going to give it new belts (inc timing). plugs, leads, fuel filter. etc if we do an engine swap were thinking of putting the 5MGE manifolds on it so it looks like its still original. then we dont have the issue with having to swap sensors over so the computer has the correct ones.. and considering its going up in displacement.(not by much. but enough for vicroads to get upset with us) from 2.8 to 3.0 the 2.8 manifolds have efi cast in the inlet manifold. the 3.0 has 3000 cast in it were swapping the exhaust manifolds just incase theres a slight variation in the offset of the flange to the catalictic convertor. but that isnt likely putting in a 1JZ isnt a option..... considering we have the 6MGE engine and auto sitting in the shed doing nothing thats low kays too.