YouTuber thinks he's committed the 'ultimate automotive sin' with what he did to this Toyota Crown

This YouTuber tasked his team with a week-long challenge involving a Toyota Crown, in what he described as ‘the ultimate automotive sin’.

Sam Hard, the host of YouTube channel Hard Up Garage, wanted his pal Dave to take on an automotive challenge in his absence.

While he was off snowboarding, Dave was going to perform an engine swap on a Toyota Crown.

In its place would be a BMW M57 3.0L diesel engine – it’s no wonder Sam anticipated that this challenge would be controversial.

Could this challenge be the ‘ultimate automotive sin’?

Sam, the host of Hard Up Garage, is no stranger to a car challenge.

You’ll know that he’s taken on some interesting cars before, from the ‘worst and cheapest Lambo on Earth‘ to the ‘worst Christmas present ever‘ and even three abandoned Fast & Furious cars.

But this time around, it wouldn’t be him at the helm of the project in question – that honor had gone to his buddy, Dave.

While Sam was on vacation, Dave had been given a week to perform an engine swap on a Toyota Crown.

Out would go its much-loved 1JZ engine, and in would go a BMW M57 3.0L diesel engine.

On the channel, Sam made no secret of the fact that he thought this challenge would ruffle some feathers.

Describing the challenge as ‘the ultimate automotive sin’, Sam anticipated this would turn the comments section on the video into ‘a warzone’.

But upsetting purists aside, could Dave complete the swap before Sam got back?

There was a lot at stake.

If he was successful, he’d get to keep the parts put forward for the project – which included a standalone ECU, a modified sump for the Toyota subframe, and a 5-speed manual transmission, clutch, and flywheel.

Clearly, time was of the essence here.

“I had confidence it was going to be done, I was just concerned about the amount of work that [Dave] had to do,” Sam told Supercar Blondie.

“It was a tall task. Dave’s my main man, but I still had reservations.”

What did this Toyota Crown look like at the end of the week?

It didn’t take long for complications to crop up.

For one thing, the engine mounts of M57 had perished, meaning Dave had to get replacements from a Lexus IS-200.

Then Dave realized that the sump he’d been left wouldn’t fit the oil pump, leading to modifications.

By the time he got to day five of the challenge, it looked like he was in the clear.

But an attempt to start up the car proved to be fruitless.

This is when Dave realized that he was missing a critical fifth relay on the ECU that would power the injectors.

Fortunately, he managed to find instructions online that saved his skin big time, and he was able to build the missing relay himself.

By the time Sam returned home, the car started successfully and was drivable.

And boy, could it drive – a full straight-pipe exhaust meant this thing was seriously loud.

The finished, as predicted, product drew some mixed reviews in the comments.

One labeled it a ‘travesty’, while another branded it ‘epic’.

As the saying goes, ‘You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time’.

This was, of course, something that Sam anticipated.

“The JDM [Japanese Domestic Market] community are going to be p***ed that we put a BMW German engine in a classic Japanese car that is still a sought-after vehicle,” Sam explained.

“I feel like this is where I am in the community. Sometimes the best things in life are the ones that don’t fit in.”

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