I bought a timing kit with a steel guide and a camshaft from him. I'm extremely happy with these products.

 

Hey I know this is a really old post but I am running a similar set up as you described and was just curious how you liked that cam what did it do for your bottom end and top end?

 

I know this is a really old question to reply to, but it is relevant now and in the future.

I Installed a 270*/.430 cam when I rebuilt the engine back when this thread was still young. I owned the 4Runner until the Summer of 2010, when I couldn't afford to ship it back from Germany.

Bottom end was pretty close to stock, seat of the pants said a hair more torque. Mid range is where it built up steam, and it would pull harder and harder all the way up until the fuel cut at red line.

I discovered a few unconventional things during the time I ran this engine/cam combo (2.25" exhaust with 50-series flowmaster, of course): First off, if you wanted to pull gobs of torque off the line, the timing could be advanced one tooth on the cam sprocket. This allowed me to pull my 73 Buick on a dolly with ease from FL to TN, and the Monteagle grade on I-24 was no problem. Once I got there and unloaded, I retarded the cam back a tooth, as this setup fell completely on its face at 3100 rpm. If this were a dedicated wheeling rig, I would consider running this cam advanced a tooth permanently, but I really liked having the mid and high range power. Secondly, this thing pulled. And pulled. And pulled. I was able to run 110 mph on 31's (3" lift) on the Autobahn in Germany, and could actually hold 5th gear at 70 when my 33" muds were on, all with stock 4.10:1 diffs. 5th was worthless before the rebuild.

Looking back, I would build the exact same engine all over again. The only change I would have made would be to buy a complete head from him.

On a side note, I had problems with the head gasket blowing at cyl #3. Since it was the same place over and over again and I had the block decked during the build, it was suspected that there was a casting flaw or some casting sand caught in the block material that created a weak point for the failure. Had I brought the 4Runner back from Germany, Ted wanted to trade out engines for a fresh one so he could cut my block into slices to find out for sure what the problem was. 3 HGs failing at the exact same point bore investigation.

Finally, the last HG replacement was needed in Germany. He had no problem schlepping the kit down to the post office, since I needed it shipped to an APO address.

If you haven't already bought it, what are you waiting for?