Cam removal and head cleaning
08-21-2016, 05:14 PM
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Cam removal and head cleaning
I got the valves out and I wanted to take the head to get resurfaced tomorrow but I need to clean the head so they don't charge me $35 just for that. It's just dirty with caked oil .
I have a plastic tote, a few gallons of purple power cleaner, a mildly stiff nylon brush and a can of carb cleaner.
Can I just spray the head with purple power cleaner while brushing it and rinse of within minutes or would it damage the valve guides or anything on the head?
Could I clean the combustion chambers with a rag with carb cleaner?
Another question,
if I removed the cam, can I just lube it with assembly lube and bolt it back down after I'm done cleaning it and I get the head from resurfacing or does it have bearings I would have to replace similar to rod bearings?
I have a plastic tote, a few gallons of purple power cleaner, a mildly stiff nylon brush and a can of carb cleaner.
Can I just spray the head with purple power cleaner while brushing it and rinse of within minutes or would it damage the valve guides or anything on the head?
Could I clean the combustion chambers with a rag with carb cleaner?
Another question,
if I removed the cam, can I just lube it with assembly lube and bolt it back down after I'm done cleaning it and I get the head from resurfacing or does it have bearings I would have to replace similar to rod bearings?
Last edited by lalojamesliz; 08-21-2016 at 05:30 PM.
08-21-2016, 05:55 PM
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Are you ONLY getting it resurfaced? Aren't you going to have the valves re-seated, and the head pressure tested? If you're going to get work done on the valves, you really can't clean it well enough in a tote. The $35 is money well spent. Heck, it's a good investment even with NO work done.
Purple Power has a pretty high pH, which means that it can damage aluminum if left in contact for some time. You should be okay getting it off "within minutes," but if it were me I'd squirt a little on a machined surface and see if anything happens in 2-3 minutes. (You won't be able to see anything on non-machined surfaces until you eat up a lot of aluminum.) The valve guides are steel; what you need to worry about are the machined aluminum surfaces.
The cam does not have removable bearings. If you are having the valves done, someone has to remove the cams anyway to get to them. DO keep track of the location and order of the cam caps. (They're numbered, but on my rig someone had reassembled it out of numerical order. I wanted to preserve the order, whatever it was.)
If you have the valves done, you CAN remove the cams first, but by all means be sure to send them with the heads. The real big advantage of having a machine shop do the valves is that they have a set of valve shims and can adjust the clearances much more easily than you can. And they need the cam for that.
Purple Power has a pretty high pH, which means that it can damage aluminum if left in contact for some time. You should be okay getting it off "within minutes," but if it were me I'd squirt a little on a machined surface and see if anything happens in 2-3 minutes. (You won't be able to see anything on non-machined surfaces until you eat up a lot of aluminum.) The valve guides are steel; what you need to worry about are the machined aluminum surfaces.
The cam does not have removable bearings. If you are having the valves done, someone has to remove the cams anyway to get to them. DO keep track of the location and order of the cam caps. (They're numbered, but on my rig someone had reassembled it out of numerical order. I wanted to preserve the order, whatever it was.)
If you have the valves done, you CAN remove the cams first, but by all means be sure to send them with the heads. The real big advantage of having a machine shop do the valves is that they have a set of valve shims and can adjust the clearances much more easily than you can. And they need the cam for that.
08-21-2016, 06:18 PM
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The guy told me if I take the head dirty he would charge $35 just to clean it, not pressure test it.
On the cam caps, yes I will keep them in order.
I have a friend that let me borrow everything I need to do my own valve job and he will help me if I need it. Seems easy enough.
I know I'm not doing this the the proper way but if I wanted to spend $200+ on a valve job/inspection and cleaning them I might as well just get a new head from enginbldr.
I already have spent 600+ in this truck since I got it a few weeks ago and I've only driven it a few times because I was worried about that timing chain.
The only reason I took the head off is because of the blown head gasket.
If this truck had a nice paint job and a transmission that didn't have problems I would have just bought a rebuilt engine.
To make things worse I'm using the money I saved for my 69 mustang project on this truck.
c'mon guys, this is a tight budget light rebuild.
This is my 4th car and my wife is giving poop about it since I now have 2 big projects and several small ones and have no time ha ha ha
On the cam caps, yes I will keep them in order.
I have a friend that let me borrow everything I need to do my own valve job and he will help me if I need it. Seems easy enough.
I know I'm not doing this the the proper way but if I wanted to spend $200+ on a valve job/inspection and cleaning them I might as well just get a new head from enginbldr.
I already have spent 600+ in this truck since I got it a few weeks ago and I've only driven it a few times because I was worried about that timing chain.
The only reason I took the head off is because of the blown head gasket.
If this truck had a nice paint job and a transmission that didn't have problems I would have just bought a rebuilt engine.
To make things worse I'm using the money I saved for my 69 mustang project on this truck.
c'mon guys, this is a tight budget light rebuild.
This is my 4th car and my wife is giving poop about it since I now have 2 big projects and several small ones and have no time ha ha ha
Last edited by lalojamesliz; 08-21-2016 at 06:28 PM.
08-21-2016, 07:34 PM
#4
i don't think that the 22re has valve shims like the 3.0 does, it has lash adjustment on the end of the rocker arm, like a vw.
the reason for cleaning the head is to find cracks, will the guy give you a break if you disassemble it yourself? the best way to get the cheapest rate for machine shop work is to bring in a bare head, with the valves in box, and then re-assemble it yourself, after they do a valve job... and oh yeah, don't forget to replace the valve stem seals in the head... cha-ching! it starts adding up.
what the shop means by cleaning is probably bead blasting, it's the best way to clean a head for crack inspection, see the video that i posted.
the problem here is that if you pay $35 to have the shop clean it, and it's cracked, the head is junk, that's $35 that you'll never see again, and you'll still have to get another head.
if the valve guides are worn out(see the video), you probably aren't going to want to pay to have them replaced, plus the valve job and stem seals, so once again you'll have a junk head, you'll be out $35 over nothing, and you'll still need another head.
those things are why it just makes more sense to simply replace the entire head with a brand new one, with new valves, for $348 plus $12 shipping, from engbldr.
the reason for cleaning the head is to find cracks, will the guy give you a break if you disassemble it yourself? the best way to get the cheapest rate for machine shop work is to bring in a bare head, with the valves in box, and then re-assemble it yourself, after they do a valve job... and oh yeah, don't forget to replace the valve stem seals in the head... cha-ching! it starts adding up.
what the shop means by cleaning is probably bead blasting, it's the best way to clean a head for crack inspection, see the video that i posted.
the problem here is that if you pay $35 to have the shop clean it, and it's cracked, the head is junk, that's $35 that you'll never see again, and you'll still have to get another head.
if the valve guides are worn out(see the video), you probably aren't going to want to pay to have them replaced, plus the valve job and stem seals, so once again you'll have a junk head, you'll be out $35 over nothing, and you'll still need another head.
those things are why it just makes more sense to simply replace the entire head with a brand new one, with new valves, for $348 plus $12 shipping, from engbldr.
08-21-2016, 08:08 PM
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I watched that video a few times 
The valve guides are tight and I ordered some new valve stem seals.
I didn't think of asking the guy about a break since I am doing all off the disassemble and assembly. I'll try asking. If he wont, it's cool.
I've always wanted one of these trucks since I'm a huge Toyota guy. These are the cars I've had and in order:
98 camry 1st car in 2001
04 Tacoma
07 camry
06 tundra
08 sequoia
91 celica all-trac
Another 07 camry
2014 avalon
And now my 87 pickup that was my father's day gift
The 69 mustang was given to me from my dad. I grew up with that car so it's a family member and it's getting fixed up
The valve guides are tight and I ordered some new valve stem seals.
I didn't think of asking the guy about a break since I am doing all off the disassemble and assembly. I'll try asking. If he wont, it's cool.
I've always wanted one of these trucks since I'm a huge Toyota guy. These are the cars I've had and in order:
98 camry 1st car in 2001
04 Tacoma
07 camry
06 tundra
08 sequoia
91 celica all-trac
Another 07 camry
2014 avalon
And now my 87 pickup that was my father's day gift
The 69 mustang was given to me from my dad. I grew up with that car so it's a family member and it's getting fixed up
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