Nik

Hey all, just replaced my head gaskets on the 3.0 and have the heads back on and am running into serious gummy bears, literally 75% of the bearing cap/exhaust bolt holes are stripping out when i try to torque them down and am running out of room for bigger bolts. This is my DD and I'm in the job hunting process right now and have very limited funds, should i cut my losses and swap in a 22re?? Im sure its only a matter of time before this bastard child of a motor pulls some other mechanical voodoo nightmare on me and im in this mess again, what do you guys think? Im about to go postal

vital22re

iTrader: (2)

easiest cheapest is find another used 3.0. waaaaaaaaaaaaay more work in swapping in the 22re. If you swap anything in it should be a 3.4 5vz. You can reuse your 3.0 trans if a manual. If auto you run the 3.4 auto and run an adapter to use your passenger side drop transfercase

Sturmcrow

Are heli-coils not an option for you?

MudHippy

Cam bearing cap bolt torque = 12 ft.lbs.

Hint: What I did was to install studs in the stripped bolt holes(x4) on mine. Then used nuts and lock washers instead to secure the caps on. This works well because the bolts aren't long enough to strip out all the threads in the holes. With a long enough stud there's still plenty of threads left at the bottoms of the holes to keep them from pulling out under tension. And WAY less risk of stripping out those remaining threads, since you're not turning the studs(just the nuts). I also used a little blue loctite on the studs, to keep them from backing out of the holes(just for good measure/safety's sake, probably not required).

Not too much you can do about the exhaust studs though(already studs there, and bolts would be an even worse idea). Sorry to say. Just pray you can drill-out & retap...if necessary. I've always been lucky enough there to get the old ones out without messing up the threads for the new ones.

Nik

Thanks for the help mudhippy, I used studs a few studs on the bearing caps and that worked well. I had to use a few bolts instead of studs on the exhaust manifold but they worked fine. Helicoils were not cutting it. also my torque wrench was off by 10 pounds I found out, stupid me haha. As for the 3,4 swap, ive been wanting to go through with that for a long time now, ive spent a good 80+ hours of my life gathering info and planning it but i dont have the funds or the space to do it until i move. As soon as i get my hands on a 3.4 motor you guys will know about it, ill start a swap thread. Thanks again for the help everyone, this site is a gift from the heavens