andlours

iTrader: (1)

Well, I'm off at school in Oklahoma (originally from Denver), and I have a month off for Christmas break. My 22RE has approximately 180k miles on it. I would love to do a full rebuild on it (pull the engine, take the block to a shop etc.), but I just don't know if I'll have enough time to do it all. I have some other things like body work and suspension things that I think I'll need about a week to complete as well. That leaves me with three weeks to do the rebuild. Would I have time? This would be my first experience with the whole rebuild process. Should I take on a full rebuild in three weeks, or should I just replace my timing chain and head gasket and get the block resurfaced (if necessary) and put in a new cam? Any advice would be helpful. thanks for taking time to look a noob's post too. I'd love any input.

Thanks,
Andy

Discombobulated

Don't rush squat, wait till you have time and then do it you will feel way better when you get it done. I myself get very disgruntled when rushed and things get overlooked or not done so I don't do it. When you pull your motor many other things could creep up on you and then your doomed. Just my opinion though

andlours

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Discombobulated. That's what I've been thinking. I just figured some other input would be helpful.

TrikeKid

Depends on how fast you work but more importantly how fast your machine shop works. The engine is at worst a day to pull and a day to install if you've got the tools.

ezalycasaid

From what I understand there pretty simple and easy to work on. One of the guys I wheel with did an entire tear down and rebuild in 1 day, a very long day, but 1 day. It still runs like a champ till this day. Like previously stated, if its your first time, just take your time and youll be fine. Good luck.

JJ'89

Ummm...why would you "love" to do a rebuild on a relatively low mileage 22RE? And what do you mean "rebuild"? My advice don't fix if its not broken!

Now are you having a problem with it? Like it smokes, uses oil, knocking sounds, timing chain rattle, etc. that might warrant some repairs?

Do you have a spare if something goes wrong with your "rebuild" not uncommon for us shade-tree mechanics to put something back together and it don't work right or sometimes don't work at all?

NickB47

+1

From what I hear these are really reliable engines. If you want to take three weeks to do a timing belt/chain (if it has never been done) and some routine maintenance. If it ain't broke don't fix it... ESPECIALLY if you are relying on it to get somewhere at the end of that time.

If you really want to play with rebuilding an engine find a 22r/re out of something wrecked (minimal front-end damage) or at a junk yard, tear it down, rebuild it, and pickle it until you need it. It could make a cool coffee table in the meantime (which may be a decade or two).

NickB47

Also, if you have never done it before, it will probably take twice as long as you expect.

andlours

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for all the advice guys. Here are my two reasons for the proposed rebuild. First, I burn about a quart of oil every 1200 miles, and second,I also have timing chain rattle. I just want my runner to be good and reliable for my treks from Colorado to oklahoma and back.

Stu Pidasso

A 22re can be taken out and hauled to the machine shop in a day. The machine shop could have it done in a week. You could then get it back as a long block, bring it home and start assembling it the same day. Then finish assembling it the next day. So we are at 10 days counting machine work. Next you could drop the motor in and get it running in a day. Then tune it over the next day or two. So from my estimation you are looking at a total of 12-13 days provided you have everything you need to get it in. I would reccomend you purchase two different sizes of ziplock bags, 2 sharpy marker, 2 rolls of different color electric tape (no black) to make lables with; PB blaster, gallon parts cleaner, 2 empty buckets, 1 large bottle of blue loctite. The bags are for parts and fastenters. The markers are for labeling your tape labels and storage bags. One bucket should be to hold bags of small parts and pieces, and the other bucket for the degreaser so you can soak some of the parts. I will give you a list of what I used to perform the engine swap out/in. It took me 3 days all by myself not counting machine work.

2 boxes of zip lock bags
2 Sharpie markers
2 5 gallon buckets
1 can of PB blaster
2 new radiator hoses
2 new belts (1 for alternator water pump. 1 for power steering.)
1 large bottle of blue loctite
1 case of cheap oil
1 bottle of comp cam break in adative
2 gallons of pre mix coolant
4 spark plugs and wires.

I may have misssed something but that list is pretty much of what I used. As for tools I did a large ammount of the work with a deep well socket set. I ordered most of my parts and pieces from engnblder and LC engineering 3 weeks before I did the swap.

andlours

iTrader: (1)

As for getting parts prepared how would I know if I were to need to get my block bored over or not? And how much?

chuckr

iTrader: (1)

Pull eng and teardown 1 day
Drop off at machine shop and do your body work while it is there
Put the eng together about 1/2 to 1 day. do it on an eng stand will make everthing alot easier

All in all i say you can do both in about 2-2 1/2 weeks if you have someone to help you thats rebuilt an eng. or 2

Stu Pidasso

When I went to the machine shop they looked at my block and told me what their reccomendations were for boring it out and or replacing parts. I opted to bore mine .040 over. This was my first time to do an engine by myself. The most important thing was labeling all everything, and taking pictures of how the alternator, powersteering, tensioner pulley brackets mount on the engine. It was really not to bad at all. I said it was no harder than anything else I had ever done it was just that I was doing it all I had done at one time.

Stu Pidasso

Check out Superbleeder's build thread, he was my mentour when I did my build. He and I have never spoken or pm'd each other. His pictures and words of advice on his thread were enough for me to just read and learn. I also did searches for things that went wrong in other people's builds. I learned probably the most information by looking up other people's mistakes.

andlours

iTrader: (1)

My one fear about getting everything bored, is that I won't know what size of pistons and everything to get until I take it to the shop. I just can't afford to wait 3 weeks after I take it to the machine shop.

oldgold3vze

Yeah, it can definitely be done and there have already been some good pointers mentioned here. My time saving advise would be to not touch the intake or fuel injectors, fuel rails, or anything on the plenum. Unplug the engine wiring harness from the computer in the passenger side kick panel, pull it through the firewall and then pull the entire engine out. Once out, disconnect the intake and set it aside complete, this way you are only dealing with the long block, and you don't mess any of that stuff up. Also, replace the fuel filter while it's out, way easier.