Hi all
happy christmas
While I was out of town recently a relative took my 83 pickup down the street (literally 100yds) and the timing chain broke.
He tells me there was no noticeable noise, it just stopped.
Its now in a local shop, and I've been told the chain is broke and valves in two cylinders are mashed.
But I've also been told the 22r is a non-interference engine. (But I've seen on this forum that there is some discussion of this.)

I bought this old truck from a neighbor who'd had a brain injury. Truck had sat for 4 years. I have no service history but I was *told* its a rebuilt engine.
I know its a pre-June83 engine. I'm told some engine details changed as of June 83.
As I understand it, if the block has been shaved, it may now be an interference engine.
So how can I tell if the valves are mashed?
thanks for any advice.
(If its just the timing chain, I'll replace both chains, timing chain cover and guides.
If its a head job, its not something I have time to do, so I may be looking for a mechanic in east LA.)

 

You could do all the timing work that you outline and then do a compression test.

You'll very likely find that several valves are indeed bent., and you'll have to take the head off anyway.

If you remove the head, you can pour a little kerosene in each valve port and look for seepage thru the valve face perimeters.

Good valves will hold the liquid.

I'd bite the bullet and take the head to the machinists.

I recently worked on a 22re that broke its chain and all 4 intake valves were bent.

 

yeah .. no question .. 22r series engine IS an interference engine .. you defiantly have bent valves

 

> yeah .. no question .. 22r series engine IS an interference engine .. you defiantly have bent valves

thanks, that's not great news
But - out of interest - How come there is so much discussion about whether is interference or non-interference

 

Because hope springs eternal in the human heart.........

 

>Because hope springs eternal in the human heart.........

very true, very true

 

You could probably buy a new head for what it will cost to have yours rebuilt. Not sure on the quality of the valves in the repop heads, but then again your rebuilder might not use the best parts either.

A head swap takes a day max. Not a hard job to do at all. I bought my 85 with a blown head gasket on a Friday evening, pulled the head that night, dropped it off at my machinist to have it surfaced the next morning and had the truck running by dinner.

 

It's true that buying a new head is possibly cheaper and definitely easier than rebuilding the original, but can you even get a new pre-'84 style head anymore? The exhaust ports are a different shape and there might be other differences that cause incompatibility. I've heard you can bolt a 20r head on an early 22r block.

 

I was unaware of the differences between the pre and post 84 heads, but I know for a fact that people swap 20r heads onto 22r blocks. It's quite common. You have to run a 20R intake, as the intake ports are different.

Looks like you're right though, all of the new heads appear to be for post-84 22R's.

 

Thankyou for all replies
I'm no expert on the 22r, but I do know mine is a first half of 1983 version, (and it has a carburetor).
I don't want to get lost in the weeds regarding minor but deal-breaking differences (I've been there),
so I'm looking at having the head refurbished, valve job, and timing chain kit.
I'll look into the possibility of getting a new early '83 head
happy new year

 

It's always best to rebuild a genuine Toyota casting, if possible.

Every aftermarket head I've seen is chinese slave labor goods.

 

point taken, thanks.

 

It looks that aside from the exhaust port shape, the early 22r block has a lower overall deck height (I've seen figures of about 0.20" from reputable sources). It used domed pistons instead of flat like later blocks. This means the early 22r head has a deeper combustion chamber. They really aren't compatible, so try to find a shop to rebuild yours. This is the only source for reman'd '81-'84 cylinder heads I saw.
https://www.yotashop.com/1981-1984-toyota-22r-cylinder-head-complete-1000-010/

 

I ran into the same 83 head compatibility issue last year... couldn’t find a reasonably priced reman.

But what caused the chain to fail?

 

> couldn’t find a reasonably priced reman.

right they're getting rare. Got a negative from two los angeles shops.