i might be nuts for thinking this....
 

Can a M116 engine and 722.3 tranny be swapped into a Toyota Cressida? Reason why i was thinking this is because i have more respect for MB than Toyota for engines, Toyotas just eat through timing belts and in some engines, head gaskets like crazy.

You didn't say what year Cressida but I imagine all years are too narrow between the strut towers to take an M116.

You must have a 7MG if you're complaining about head gaskets.

Sixto

drop a 22R in it. that was the only really reliable engine toyota ever made.
The ford 302 is a narrow V8 and is a popular transplant into tight spaces. They stick then in the old jaguar mk2's

Toyota also put a good engine in my 68 FJ55 Landcruiser. It was a 1950's GM six cylinder (230?/) which Toyota bought the tooling for and put in the Landcruisers.

My brother in law put a 302 in a Toyota.

That's funny...I had a 230ci straight-6 in my old '65 Chevelle.

Was the Cressida a RWD car? I was under the impression that almost all Toyota passenger cars were FWD...?

The Cressida was RWD to the end. The FWD Avalon replaced the Cressida in 95.

Sixto
95 S420
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD

I believe the 230ci in the 65's were a newer model. The one that Toyota bought was the earlier one without the hydraulic lifters. They did some modifications. I think they added an oil filter which if memory serves me correctly, GM did not put on that engine.

I had an exciting moment with that engine. A fan blade broke off while I was driving down the highway at 65mph. It cut up through the radiator slicing it wide open, straight up through the hood and out into the stratosphere. The shaking was so violent I thought I had thrown a rod. Never again will I stand in line with a rotating fan!

The Cressida is a 1983, powered by the 5M-GE, if the car was the last one imported to the US, i would consider the Lexus V8 swap.