I think he's being cautious on my part. Since its not his engine, he doesn't want to be responsible for it. I am cool with that.
That's good info, and I will pass it on. He had mentioned the same thing, about blowing the air out if any shavings were left.
We'll see. I think I found a 20R head, but the more I read about the 20R swaps, it might not be worth the trouble. If I can get my engine running like it was before this ordeal, I will be happy.

 

The tool came in and it didn't work. The matco guy was there when they tried it on the #2 hole and didn't get past the 2nd thread.

I will be reading up on 20R head swaps if you need me

 

We (they) pulled the head. Its an early block 22r with a single row chain. I called ATK and verified its their engine, and the cam has EP32 on it. I am either going to find a 20r head and intake or just have my head checked and spark plug holes fixed.

 

What would you gain from the 20r head? I would just stick with the head you have, put steel inserts in all of the spark plug and header stud holes.

 

The 20r/22r hybrids were pretty popular for awhile. Marlin ran one with great results, but I am not sure if he still has it in any of his trucks. Done correctly, they are supposed to give a few more hp and extend the rpm range past the point where the 22r falls off. For me, I will take every bit of hp gain I can, if it doesn't sacrifice reliability.
The 20R heads flow better, some more than other,depending on year. It's a direct swap to a non Laser style 22r block. All that being said, I was interested.

However, the more I read about them, I don't like the idea that there is not one standard way to do it without having issues of pinging and having to run premium gas. Some people have had no problems, but it would drive me crazy to have to be tuning this thing every weekend to get it right.

I just talked to the previous owner of my truck and got the scoop on if any other performance mods were made to my engine, and it looks like it was just the cam, headers, exhaust, and weber, so I am just going to keep it simple and clean up the current head and get rolling.

 

I can't "keep it simple" as stated in my last post. My head has very small cracks in it. It doesn't cause it to lose pressure, but I don't want to put the money into it and then have it crack in a few months. My first replacement head that I found has more cracks than the first, so now I am trying for another.
NOTE: this is for a pre 1985 block, so I have to use the early 22r head.

Now that I keep running into stumbling blocks with the current setup, I started thinking about what other options are out there.
I have two non running 85 EFI trucks in my backyard, and one of them has a new head on it that was in the middle of a rebuild.
Would I be insane to rebuild one of them and convert over to EFI?

would it be cost effective to have one of those heads "decked" to work with my current block?

Since my truck is an 84, I should have a G52 transmission. Would it even work with a newer 22RE? I will search after I post. I have two W56 transmissions with the parts trucks, but I don't have any of the tools or expertise to do this type of swap. (no hoists, just jacks and jackstands, and only one carport!)

My last plan was to have my head rebuilt with oversized valves and reinstall with an offenhauser intake to work with my Weber 38, header, and cam. I thought about going to dual fuel down the road instead of doing an EFI swap.

Anyone have any other options or thoughts or ideas?

 

ouch, I was wondering what the status of this was...

EFI is nice, but to switch over all the wiring can be quite the task. swapping the motor and transmission is easy, but you would also need to redo your drive shafts from what I have heard. Not sure its worth all the trouble if you are happy with how it was running before.

 

Exactly.
I found a local with a rebuilt crate motor for $800, but I would rather have a solid head rebuilt like I want and put that on.

Damn. I miss my truck!

 

Might be worth calling up Davez http://www.davezoffroadperformance.com/

They do full rebuilt engines, and everything else Toyota. I would give them a call and see what they have for heads.

 

i know its after the fact guys...........but his compression was the dead give away. no way the truck runs with any power having that little compression. and the cylinders are supposed to be within a few pounds of each other right?

im curious.......who screwed up the threads on the spark plugs? arent they liable for the fix?
anti seize, putting the plugs into a cold engine, and ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS put the plugs in by hand turning them. no way you can strip the threads then

 

Looking back, I think my problem was that I couldn't get the #4 to seat correctly. Maybe the threads were just worn from years of plug changes. Who knows. Anyway, it sounded like a miss at that point, and if I unplugged the wire, there was very little change.

When I went to a shop that I was referred to, I asked them to check the compression and see if there was something simple that I wasn't thinking of. I am not sure if they had a plug type or thread type compression checker, but those were the numbers they came back with.

They put the spark plugs back in, and that's when I think they cross threaded #2 and #3, but they got #4 to seat. They adjusted the idle and timing around the issue, so it ran, but not like it should.

I might be picking it up tomorrow and I am eager to see how the modifications are going to effect it. The offenhauser intake made for the 38 will clean up the engine and should really let the weber work to its full potential and I am hoping the larger valves will help too.

If I am lucky, I will have pics posted tomorrow.

 

you follow all the advice about spark plugs in that aluminum head? you wont ever have a problem with cross threads or stripped threads........

not to burst your bubble about the offenhauser manifold? but the folks at the old Downey off road swore up and down in their catalog that other manifolds did not flow better than the stock ones.........and because of this? Downey did not sell them

just passing that along.......gl with the work and the posts

 

I am just curios, when all this started did you install the same heat range plugs ? Or reinstall the original plugs to see what happened?

 

Yeah, I used the recommended NGK's.