TennYota

I've got an 85 pick-em-up with an 84 motor in it. Had to put the motor in due to the original being locked up. Only problem with that swap was drilling a hole to fit the EFI exhaust mani on the carb head.

Truck ran great for three years (it was a used motor with who knows how many miles on it) until a couple of months ago when #3 and #4 bearings spun. I got the EB kit and 261C cam after reading several posts here on how good his stuff is. I got the block bored and decked, head shaved and checked, conn rods squared up, crank cut etc....basically all new machining. I can be another one to throw my gratitude to EB's kit. Everything was measured three times going back together and all tolerances were smack down the middle of specs. Guess I got a good machine shop too!

We took it on a short break in drive, after some running time in the shop. It feels kind of sluggish (not that an automatic 22RE is a speed demon anyways). Checked ign timing again to find that it 'looked' seriously advanced. I couldn't get it to start any other way though. So I figured I'd degree the crank and cam and make sure everything's in place there. After getting the center of TDC, I found that the mark on my crank pulley is back about 22 degrees (21.875 by the math), which corresponds to about why the ignition timing looked so far advanced. Made a new mark on the pulley for absolute 0 TDC.

Now I'm going to degree the cam. With the crank at TDC (the real TDC), it looks like the cam gear is in the right place though. I'm still going to degree the cam, but what should I come up with for the intake centerline on the 261C cam? I think I've seen the number 110 degrees around somewhere, and EB says that they run best 2-3 advanced (107 or so?). If I come up with my lobe center at 117, would moving one whole tooth give me the 107 number (36 teeth on cam gear, 10 degrees per tooth)?...or am i way off base? Of course if I get the 110, I know i'll need an adjustable to change it, or do the drill a new dowel pin hole somewhere.

Thanks for any advice...

TennYota

Welp, went ahead and degreed the cam. Intake centerline was at 114.5 degrees, so I figured it was slightly retarded. I advanced it one tooth on the cam gear and re-measured. It came in to 106.75 degrees, slightly less than the 10 degrees of advance I thought it would get (made damn sure that the pistons wouldn't hit any vavles too!). If the intake centerline is supposed to be at 110, and EB was recommending 2-3 advance, I figured 3.25 degrees is right about where it needs to be. It does feel quite a bit different now. I also bumped the ignition timing up from 5 to about 8 or 9, that got just a bit more snappy also. Still not pinging either, may try a couple more degrees on the ign timing.

Got a bit over 100 miles on her now. It's better, but still not quite where I'd like to be. May have to look at gearing it next. It's running 31s on the stock 4.30 auto gears.

87 'runner boosted

Hey man, im in the process of rebuilding mine too (just pulled the engine yesterday), found I spun #1, 2 and 3 rod bearings, not sure if i got any mains yet, gonna find out today. How much did the machining cost you?? Just wondering if I should bother punching it out .30 and doin all that fun fancy stuff or just hone it out...kinda on a budget as im trying to sell the rig and dont want to invest a whole lot of money.

TennYota

Machining came in about twice as much as I thought I was going to spend. I don't have the break down of all of it in front of me, but it ran about $650 all together. That's having the crank cut down on mains and conn rod journals, removing and replacing the plugs in the crank for cleaning, boring and honing the cylinders, having all the conn rods squared on the big ends and honing the new small end bushings, decked the block to get rid of some scratches, planing the head, hot tanking everything.

I think you can find crank kits online for less than what I spent putting my old stuff back in shape, but who knows what you'll get in a kit. I figured the devil I know is better than the one I don't.

The engbldr kit ran me $379, with the cam included. The '85 kits are a bit cheaper, but wouldn't have fit this motor. And Ted answered a couple of questions for me quickly. Definitely a high quality, complete kit and top notch service from him. Like I said, everything fit perfectly after all the machining and such when I was expecting to have to remachine something or get a different part to make it right.

I don't know that I could have gotten away without doing it all, I wanted it right. But I wasn't expecting it to be that much. Figured as long as I was in there, just do it. Probably won't have to be done for another 25 years now though!

87 'runner boosted

Good Grief!!!! WOW. ha, Thats more than I had expected to hear...Ive got 3 spun rods on mine and going to be going through the engine as well...but damn, that machining hurts...

TennYota

Well even with three spun rods, the crank is probably still usable. Damn things are just hard! As were my conn rods. I figured they (crank and rods) were completely shot....it was not only knocking, but squeaking. Never heard a rod do that! They all cleaned up beautifully though.

In the grand scheme of things, I think it was worth it. I figure that if I had bought a long block somewhere with the same specs and quality, i'd have paid about twice as much. This truck (for some reason) is special to a few people around me (first project with the girlfriend, her son's first car to drive to high school, indestructible fun to the guy that sold it to us etc.) so it was worth putting the money into. Heck, when it broke down, the seller was going to be the one to come get it at my work parking lot. Girlfriend told him we needed it picked up, and he says "Ok. Oh, wait....you're not taking it to the scrap yard are you?....'cause i don't think I could be part of that!". Plus, it's our old beater, tow anything, garbage hauler, get my (way to large to tow with this truck) boat to the river / lakes and occasionally a mud / fishing hole runner. Everyone loves this little thing, and tax money came in, so better to do it right and enjoy it for many more years....it's a Toyota thing....jeep owners wouldn't understand!

Machining prices may be different in your area, I imagine machine shops are all over the scale as far as their work goes. Mine might have been a bit high (they're the only one in clarksville, tn.), but for the quality of the work, i'd say i came out ok. We had another shop in town that I used a few years ago just to put a valve guide in a chevy head, and it was so ˟˟˟˟˟˟ed up. I could've saved the 40 bucks and hammered it in myself with a sledge, which is how they must've done it.

I'd say to talk with them and see if you can bargain a bit. Good machinists love their work, and sometimes don't mind cutting a little (of the price)....'course, being machinists, it may be in thousandths! I'm planning on driving the ol' girl by the shop just to show the guy what he did...nice work.

Let me know what you find out, and keep me posted. The 22R(e) is such a workhorse, and a great motor to rebuild. Very simple to do, parts are reasonable (if you go cheap), and will run even if you mess it up bad! ) It ain't no speedster, but it'll do work and just keep going.