So after moving back to Texas after being in NYC for a couple of years, I needed a new dependable ride. I had a friend tell me to just go ahead and buy the car that I would buy...if I had just won the lottery - so I did. I looked for several months for a 1st Gen 4Runner or truck with little rust that had recently been re-done and wouldn't require much work if any to be a daily driver.

I finally found an '86 4Runner on C-list in Lorena, TX (near where my parents live). By the time I called, it had already sold, but a month or so later, the same guy that had sold the '86, had and '89 up for sale that just had the engine and transmission overhauled and although it was a little more than the '86, it sounded like a good deal. To avoid it selling out from under me again, I sent my dad over to buy it sight unseen...he's a good judge of cars, and I know if anything was off, he would have let me know.

Here is the images of the '89 4Runner from the original Craigslist ad., and the ad is listed in it's original text below:
This is NOT an ad to sell my 4Runner, I'm just giving a brief history on why and how I purchased it.

 

Soooo....the whole reason I had become a Toyota guy is for ease of maintenance and reliability. I like things that aren't overly complex or have "extras" that constantly break, and it seemed like a good fit.

However, about 2 months in to driving it, it started overheating one day while I was on lunch. I always keep an eye on the gauges and know instantly when something is up. The radiator was bone dry, so I filled it up at a gas station, and the temp went back down, but it was still riding pretty rough.

It finally cut out completely and left me stranded. I knew it was major engine failure, and when I went to check the oil to see if there was any water in it (muddy dipstick), I noticed there was oil and water dripping out of the air filter.

After spending several weeks taking it apart and researching the most common issues with these engines, I was hoping it would be just the headgasket. I had purchased all of the gear to change out the headgasket when I decided it would be best to go ahead and pull the oil pan just to check and see....and man, I'm glad I did. What did I find? Two bent thrust washers, some unidentifiable metal parts, and all of the broken plastic timing chain guides.

Here's the picture of it the motor with the head removed so I could see down into the timing cover to see that the guides were completely gone, had rubbed a hole into the timing cover - right where the water pump is, and had flooded the motor.

 

Same thing happened to me, I replaced timing cover, got some metal chain guides, bought the toyota oem head gasket. Truck still running well two years later. I have put a new radiator in, I am also replacing my fan clutch.
Take good notes and search the forum there is a lot of good info here. This forum is the reason the truck still runs today. Good luck.

 

Thanks Skoob, after I found thrust washers that looked like curly fries in the oil pan along with some unidentified metal and what was left of the original timing chain guides, I decided to snatch the block, and do a full rebuild. The initial reason I bought the rig was because of it's reliability and ease of maintenance, so when doing the rebuild I wanted to do it right (like it should have been done the first time). I sort of set out to create the most bulletproof 4 angry Japanese squirrels I could, on somewhat of a budget. I did a ton of research on the common issues with these motors, as well as what parts were available, from what suppliers. Most of my searches lead me to this forum, and I'm now about 3/4 of the way through the rebuild and am trying to catch the build thread up to where I am now. Hopefully, I'll be able to contribute some of the things I've learned on the same forum that I've come to rely on for solid information.

I'll be posting a ton of pictures and information over the next couple of weeks trying to get caught up, and will be listing IMHO the best parts, suppliers, manufacturer's part numbers, and cheaper places to find them. I also had a nightmare of an experience with the performance machine shop that did some of the work, and wanted to warn people of those types of situations as well.

Check back frequently as I finally have some down time while waiting on parts and funds, so I should be updating like a champ over the next week or so.

 

So, if any of you were paying attention to the picture of the headless motor above, you've probably already realized......that's not an 89 22RE engine block in my '89 4Runner. It has the doughnut topped pistons, and is missing the turbo outlet boss, commonly referred to as the "spaceship" on the exhaust side of the block as shown in LCE's image below. Also the head has the round exhaust ports instead of the "pear shaped" ports, and the combustion chamber of the head is round and much larger than what it should be (also see identification below).

After much research I found out the "recently rebuilt motor" that was described when the car was sold to me, was an assembly line built motor where the PO dropped off his blown motor, and picked up a fresh longblock. Because he wasn't paying attention, the block they gave him in return was an '84 Celica 22RE, which has a totally different deck height, head, etc. The problem then, was that he mixed and matched parts from the different year motors for the timing chain, which more than likely caused the premature breaking of the guides, and overall failure.

For those of you who don't know, the early 22R and 22RE motors (81-84) are completely different from the later 22RE motors (85-95) as far as the block, head, timing chain / cover, and pistons go. Although the intake and exhaust will bolt up to either (lots of people change out their carb setup for an EFI), it is very crucial to identify what year block you have in your ride, and then use the CORRECT parts for that year block. Otherwise, you'll end up in my situation where the motor was rebuilt with a bunch of different year parts, and will eventually cause total engine failure.

 

My first major task was to find a machine shop that would do the work, but still allow me to purchase all of the parts needed. I contacted dozens of shops in the Dallas area that gave me outlandish quotes because they really didn't want to do the work, or were more focused on "performance / hot-rod" motors and not little 4 banger foreign jobs. Obviously, with me purchasing the parts, they couldn't up-charge for their parts, and would only be able to charge for the machine time. For those of you who have found reliable machine shops, please share, because that was one of the more frustrating things for me during this entire build, and as you read on, you'll see why.

I finally found a place in Waco, Tx (close to where my parents live) called Ledford Performance Machine on 18th and Austin ave. They had done some carb work for me years ago, and had been recommended by several yotatech Texans.

Upon inspection of the block, I got some VERY disheartening news....the block was trashed and would need a ton of work and would have to be sleeved to even be able to rebuild it. Apparently, when the thrust washers had come out, that allowed the crankshaft about 1/4" of play front to back and it had been bouncing around, grinding against the block and changing the angle, pitch and orientation of the pistons and had caused severe gouging on the sidewalls of the cylinders and damage to the areas where the crank had been banging against it's cradle - minus the thrust washers to keep it in place.

At this point I was pretty pissed off, but only had several options. I could spend the extra $400 of machine work to sleeve the cylinders, and regrind the block, hoping to find thick enough thrust washers to get it back into stock tolerances, or I could get another block.

Because I like things the way they're supposed to be, the fact that I was trying to rebuild an '83 Celica 22RE to put into my '89 4Runner, I decided to find a different block, and preferably one that was the correct year for my ride....so that no other issues in the future or for future owners would arise out of this mismatch.

I signed up on www.row52.com, a search engine for junkyards and after a week or so, found an '88 2WD truck that looked like it would make a good donor. I took my little toolkit and having just pulled the motor in the 4Runner, was able to get the block out of this one along with the entire wiring harness in a couple of hours. I grabbed the wiring harness JIC the one on my ride WAS for an '83 celica.

Side note, people that go to junk yards are generally just like yourself. If you're going for something like the motor or trans, don't be a dick and cut all of the wires and hoses or damage a bunch of other parts to get what you need. And if you want to be a real hero, put all of the parts you take off in the cab or bed of the truck so they're not sitting out rotting, and it's easier for the next guy.

Pictures attached are of the motor at the junkyard I pulled. it was the correct year, 120K motor on what I imagined was a "grandfather's" 2WD truck. it looked pretty decent, although it had the headgasket blown, and had been sitting for a little while with the coolant/oil in it, causing some rust.....which hopefully wouldn't be a problem later. I think I paid $80 for the shortblock at Pick n Pull, and another $20 for the ECU and wiring harness.

 

So I got the new short block to the machine shop and the next day went out of town for the next 7 weeks training for a new job. Luckily my tax return had just come in, and my old company had to pay me out for almost 3 weeks of unused vacation pay, so I had some $$$ to sling around and do this right.

After all of my initial research, and talking with DOA, and Ted from engnbldr, as well as many of the tech experts at LCE, I ordered up the following parts from their corresponding shops in the quest to put together the most bulletproof, lowest maintenance 22RE motor I could. Hindsight is 20/20, and after the fact, I realized there were probably cheaper channels for many of these items, and if I've come across them via less expensive vendors since then, I will try to let you know.

Engine:Head:INTAKEExhaust

 

In doing my research, I came across the following photos of engines I really liked. I want the engine bay clean and neat, so if there's a leak or something I know exactly where it is coming from. Mad props / bump to anyone that's reading this and see's your engine pics....really inspired me to go all out (of course I also had 5 months of waiting while my motor was in the shop and nothing to do but paint things and make them pretty)

 

Here are some other guy's setups I came across and really liked.

 

The machine shop had my motor for almost 5 months, and when I finally went to pick it up, I got home and realized they had machined and put all of the parts on the wrong head (the original 81-84 head from the blown motor....I had taken up there in case they needed it for parts or reference). They also tried to charge me almost double what I was quoted, but luckily I had documented every call and email as well as when parts arrived and how long they'd had it, along with my original WRITTEN quote. This really helped when negotiating with them over the price increase.

So major lessons learned so far:

***Identify your Engine***
***Take a ton of pictures as you're disassembling the motor***
***Label everything and stay organized***

 

Also, while waiting for the motor to be machined, I bead-blasted the intake and painted it, along with installing the bored-out LCE Throttle Body and LCE TB Spacer that creates a vinturi or vortex effect with the air as it goes into the chambers. After bolting up the larger TB and spacer, I noticed that I would also need to machine out the intake, as it was now the choke-point. Instead of just opening it up, I decided to get a die grinder and a 1/2" round burr and just continue the vortex pattern down into the intake. I've attached some pictures of what it looked like afterwards, and for doing it on my front porch with just a die grinder, I'm pretty pleased on how it turned out.

Eventually, I'm planning on switching the battery and intake sides because it makes more sense if you're trying to get cooler air, to not have to go over the radiator (as it was originally designed). I may even do a passenger's side 3" snorkel into a sealed air box, and upgrade the MAF to an '82 supra Mass Airflow Sensor as it has a larger 3" intake and still works with the stock EFI. However, those will hopefully make it on the build thread at a later point, I'm just focused on getting the fresh motor back in at the moment.

 

and here's what the assembled intake looks like now....I'll try to get some better images up later.

 

just a little look into what I went through with the machine shop. What a nightmare.

 

One of the keys to long engine life is cool clean high quality oil, and proper pressure and open passageways to get that oil where it is needed. This is one of the main reasons I got the oil filter relocation kit and cooler (LCE / Summit) along with the dual filter adapter, and plan on running Royal Purple break in oil (before installing the cooler / adapter), and 8 quarts of RP 10W30 regular oil after that (with the cooler / adapter / and dual larger filters). I also got the upgraded rocker shafts with extra holes drilled and countersunk in them to provide more oil to the rockers.

To make sure the oil doesn't foam up in the pan, and to keep the pickup tube totally submersed, I also decided to install a crank scraper (LCE). This is more of a circle track type mod for people trying to reduce the weight of their rotating assembly, but I figured it couldn't hurt in my case. Here's some shots of what it looked like going on.

 

Here are some comparison shots of the high oiling rocker shafts. As you can see, the extra holes drilled, the larger diameter hole, and the countersunk area are going to provide more oil to the right place, plus I noticed that the shaft itself has a smaller diameter ID running the length, which should increase oil pressure at the at specific location, which should help too.

 

I also found my worn through Timing cover, and thought I would show what started this whole debacle.

Although I had a single timing chain, you can see the two different gouge lines from before and after the thrust washers came out....and that's how much front to back play my crankshaft had, and why it ended up trashing the block.

 

Ugh, not cool! I wish I had a pic of mine. You could see the hole. :-)

 

Rest of the parts come in Wednesday...I'll finally be able to finish assembling the head and springs, along with the rocker assembly, get it bolted up to the block, and then get the intake, exhaust, and remaining brackets installed, and run the new silicone vacuum hoses.

After almost 5 months since I took it apart, I'm relying heavily on the initial images I took, and my blue tape labeling to be able to reconnect all of the vacuum hoses in their correct locations....especially since I deleted the EGR, PCV Valve, and got rid of the metal vacuum tube channel. We'll see how it goes, I'm sure I'll be scouring Yotatech for images, diagrams, during reassembly.

I'm also wondering if I should go ahead and drop the tranny, and bolt it up to the motor, and try to put them in as one unit, or should i just get it out of the way...install the motor, and then try to marry the trans to the installed motor. I'll be doing this all myself in a gravel driveway, so keep that in mind for any off the cuff suggestions.

 

Here's some shots of the block the day I got it back from the machine shop sitting in front of the '89 in my gravel driveway, and a shot of the painted and assembled shortblock / timing cover / oil pan, sitting in the middle of my living room - waiting for the head to be finalized and bolted on. Note the dual row timing chain and all new grade 8 hardware.

I got the ARP head studs, which were expensive - but if done correctly can solve one of the major weak points of this bi-metal engine - head gasket failure. For those who don't know the difference between your local hardware store bolts, or even the factory head bolts versus the ARP hardware.....those commercials you have seen with an F350 hanging from a chain with one bolt holding it up....that's the kind of hardware ARP makes and why each stud and nut are almost $20 a piece.

With traditional style head bolts, when you torque them down once, they're finished. It's not advisable to use them again, as they have stretched from being torqued down and wont have the same hold as they did the first time. For the ARP head stud kit, you can re-use them 100's of times, because it's a stud and a nut. So even if the stud has stretched a little bit, the nut can go further down the stud to accommodate, and restore the proper torque specs.

To make sure every base has been covered, and to ensure that I get proper torque wrench readings when cranking the ARP bolts down, I ordered a 12MM x 1.25 bottoming tap from McMaster Carr, and chased the threads. Some people do it with electrical wire, old headbolts with a notch cut into them, and various other shade-tree mechanic methods. I don't want my headgasket to blow later on, and always wonder if the jake-leg way I chased the threads might have been the cause, so I got the correct tool and did it right. The two most common issues on these engines that cause failure are the single row timing chain w/ plastic guides, and the headgasket. I tried to beef up both areas as much as possible with the dual row TC with both metal backed guides (some kits just come with the Driver's side metal backed guide), and by getting the ARP studs and buying the most expensive headgasket I could find short of an MLS.

I only have 6 of the 8 studs installed, A) because it will help align the headgasket, and B) because it can be a PITA to get everything aligned once you've laid down the ultra grey if you have all 10 studs in. I will add the final four once I've got the head aligned and on, and torque them down in sequence according to the FSM.

FYI, there are some perks to being single, and being able to assemble an engine from the comfort of your sofa in the middle of your living room is one of them.

 

I received the final parts needed to finish up the head Wednesday, and got the springs swapped out to the dual springs, and installed the EFI Pro-torquer camshaft. The pro torquer camshaft doesn't have a ton of lift, so I probably could have gone with standard or street performer springs, but I already had the upgraded high chrome SS Seats, Bronze Magnesium Pro Guides, and SS over-sized valves, so I went ahead and upgraded the springs as well.

Like I said previously, I'm not trying to build the world's highest performing 22RE, I'm trying to build an engine I can get 500,000 miles out of easily, and plan on using this vehicle as my daily driver for the next 10 years or so. Most of the upgrades I've done could be considered "overkill" for daily use, but I will sleep much better at night knowing everything is better than stock, and the highest quality parts I could find within reason.

Here is a couple of shots of me changing out the single springs to the LCE Pro Dual springs and chromoly retainers. These springs are rated up to 8500 RPM's for cams with a larger lift than .50, so they should work just fine for my cam, and running in the normal RPM range.