I am nearing the end of my 3.0 rebuild and am interested in painting the upper timing cover red to match the block and valve covers. Does anyone know if duplicolor's high temp engine paint would be suitable to use on the hard plastic or is there a better type of paint for hard plastic? I was not able to find any info on this. Here are a couple of pics of the motor as it stands now.

 

That is beautiful... im tearing up right now...
i dont know if you can paint it, but that is beaitiful...
so, whyd you choose red??

 

It was my sons idea. He is 16 and it is his first truck, so he picked the color. That is him holding my beer in one of the pics while I took the photos. My motor is soon to follow. It is a 91 22re. It is already apart and ready to go in to the shop for block and head work. My color choice will be blue. I will submit pics when I have them. We are also planning on running Downey headers. Any thoughts on keeping the original cat and muffler or should we just replace them as well? It amounts to about a $400.00 difference.

 

that. is. gorgeous.

I don't know for sure, but you should be fine with the valve covers painted like that

 

hes talking about the timing chain cover...
i dont think that it would be a problem seeing as they use that paint on calipers which get very hot...

 

thanks guys. I will give it a shot and let you guys know. Ishould be able to post up some more pics by the end of the weekend. Again, any thoughts on keeping the stock exhaust and cat with Downey headers?

 

no suggestions on the paint, but dang that this is pretty sweet. Very nice job and a great way to bond with your son.

As far as swapping your exhaust and cat (saving $400 is always good) why not wait until your rebuild is complete to see how it sound? I know it is easir to do it now while the truck is apart though..

 

Nice

Some types of paint to not go well with plastic so make sure you check it out carefully. I would not think that you would need hi-temp paint on a plastic part.

Those pics remind me of my first car; a '57 Chevy. My old man's new Ford sedan sat outside in the snow all year while I built a 425HP engine to drive to school with in the garage. He didn't trust me with his beer though..........

 

Well, I am definately doing the headers and bolting them on before the install. The reason I am asking is because with the downey headers, the crossover is below the tranny, not behind the heads. I am not too sure on the hook-up from downey's crossover to the stock pipe. I do not believe it is a direct bolt on as the entire downey system would be. I will give downey a call today and see what they say. I will let you know.

 

if worst comes to worst and you wanna save some coin, and it doesnt just bolt up to the existing exhaust system, then just take it to your local exhaust shop and have them re-route the pipe...

 

O.k. Here is what Downey said. Headers-$575.00, crossover-$120.38, header stud and nut set-$20.42, cat connector-$31.00. The cat connector is what is required to bolt the crossover up to the existing exhaust system. The cost of their new exhaust with cat is $389.95. I think I will hold off on the exhaust system at least until the motor is in and running good. $804.68 with tax for everything except exhaust and cat.

 

D'oh!!

 

Here are the latest pics. The high temp paint worked well on the plastic timing cover. I degreased it really good, scratched it up with scotch brite, cleaned again, and painted followed with a coat of clear. My son is really happy with it. I will be ordering the headers later this week and hope to be dropping the motor in thanksgiving weekend. I was thinking of painting the top of the radiator red as well. Has anyone ever painted their radiator with any success?

 

I would consider the LCE headers instead of Downeys stuff.. I have heard of many a fitment and quality issues from downey. LCE has only one downside, their customer service leaves a little to be desired. My friend has their street header kit and full exhaust.

Sounds and looks great! Crossover still hangs a little low IMO, (the automatic makes it worse) but thats unavoidable..

 

Now that is a beautiful engine. Almost makes me wish I had a red truck so I could have painted the block to match. Looks like you replaced pretty much everything. If you are going to drop the engine in with headers installed, you will most likely have to remove the fan, and pulleys. I had my engine assembled like yours and had to remove the pulleys to get it to drop in. There is a heat shield down low on the drivers side that you might as well remove before you try and set the engine in too.

I've heard bad things about Downey headers so I went with LCE. But like everyone says, their customer service isn't the greatest. Scroll down in this link to take a look at their product.

http://picasaweb.google.com/Green93Toy/MyToy#

Jason

 

Thanks for the info Jay and Green. What exactly have you heard negative wise about downey? I have seen a 91 with their headers on it. Loked and sounded great. The one thing I dont like is their crossover. It dips down under the front drive shaft. Ours is a 2 wheel drive, but they dont make a separate crossover for 2wd. I was thinking of just cutting and fabbing one myself, similar to your pics Green. By the way, your motor and header setup looks great. I plan on pulling the fan and pullys off for the install. It was my sons idea to put them on for the pics. Green, did you completely disconnect your fuel rail from the fuel line in order to put the plenum on befor install? I left the passenger side connected to the truck so far, but if it is easier to remove it and install everything outside of the truck, that is what I will do. No we havent replaced everything. We just spent alot of time cleaning and painting. All costs to date for the rebuild, including shop work on the block(new rings only) and heads(one exhaust valve replaced) is just under 2k. With headers and exhaust, it should come in at about 3k.

 

how much did this all cost u

 

Just looked at LCE's headers. About the same price but I live in CA and they are not smog approved. Guess I will stick with Downey. Also Green, Did you remove the firewall\ tranny tunnel heat blanket to clean up the look with the headers? I would think that it would not be needed since the crossover is relocated.

 

Awesome job!!!

I would also like to know how much this cost you if you don't mind. I'm weighing my options on either a swap or rebuild.

 

I know in the pics that the intake plenum is on the engine, but that was just for photos. I think it was just on with a couple bolts to hold it level. When I dropped the engine in it wasn't installed. The fuel rail and injectors I installed on the engine stand and just bolted up the fuel supply line after wards. The plenum cannot be installed beforehand because you need to lay the wiring harness underneath.

As for cost I am still scared to total it all up. I did put alot of aftermarket parts on so that raises the cost substantially. I'd say roughly I'm a little over 4K now. That includes headers and exhaust as well as all those damn hoses and sensors from Toyota. I am looking into a problem with low compression on a couple cylinders but once that is done I'll try and do a total.

Jason