So my 3.slow is toast. Headgasket is gone, it has a rod knock in there somewhere and so on. Now I love my truck, and after the accident (over a grand in frame work there) I have an arrow straight truck with brand new 31's on it (800 on sale) and a pretty solid body (minus the front corner from the accident). Now I figured that I could remove and reinstall the engine myself, i've removed numerous engines, and i'm pretty sure I can slide it all back in. Now when I called about the remanufacturing, its 2600 bucks uninstalled, and 4900 removed/installed, but comes with a better warranty. Did I mention i'm a poor college student. I need my truck back, and I have garage space and access to all the tools i'll need. So how hard would it be to rebuild this motor? I've dissassembled lots of motors, rebuilt heads, done lots of top end work and timing. So I have a reasonable amount of mechanical knowledge. So hardness ratings anyone??? Would it be a pain in the back side like a clutch on a 1990 celcia or impossible like reassembling the automatic hubs on a old ford bronco???


Thanks for you input

 

Not so hard most Toyota engines are rather simple to work on. Get the engnbldr kit with his headbolts and have the machine shop set-up the heads. I'd buy a set of P&P heads from me while you're at it . Hopefully you can save the crank and rods. Have it machined and balanced and you should be good to go.

 

Ya but I sit up here in Alberta, Canada (for those of you who are shocked by the prices) So how much are those heads and shipping? And I can prolyl get the same type kit from Canadian Hi-Performance and not pay us dollars, duty, shipping and the whole bit. Next question, should I look at new pistons/camshafts? if thats the case what about con rods, wrist pins, and so on?

 

You have to see what the machine shop says about what you can save. EB's kit is very very high quality and very fairly priced, I've been quoted over twice his price for the same parts.

 

Well the complete gasket kit will cost $235 through Fel-pro. The reman. crank kit will cost nearly $500. At that you are just getting into the basic parts to do the job right. I was in the same spot you were in. I decided to go with the 3.4 swap. I thought long and hard and realized that I didint want to go with the same old 3.slo. So what I am doing is a 3.4 engine swap. So far I have got $1,400 in the whole thing and I believe that the new engine is going to be worth the hassel. I have almost everything to do th job.

 

Deffinately a good option if you can find a good motor. I have had a hard time finding anything up here for good mills for a swap. If you can find a complete engine, harness and ECU with decient milage and at a good price then deffinately do it. Seems like the price for the 3.4 can very by over $2k depending on where you live.

 

When it comes to the 3.4, I have thought of it, but the sheer fact that I have to redo the harness and vac lines, find a bellhousing to mount my tranny and xfer case. As it is I am a lil intimidated by even putting the stock engine back in myself, the extent of modification it would take for the 3.4 swap is well beyond my grasp for the time being. But within the next couple of days I will be calling around local junk yards looking for a 3.0, i wonder what toyotas policy is if the engine vin applies to the v06 and the body to the centerlink

 

Honestly I wouldn't waste my time with a 3.0 from a junker. You could end up tearing into that HG in a couple months and hot be any further ahead. Unless you wanna go a gasket set on it then maybe you would be ok.

 

I was thinking that, get a junker engine, prolly out of a truck that was rolled, make sure all the compression is up around 160 psi, then toss it on a motor stand and throw in new fron and rear main seals, and head gaskets, give the motor a good scrub so she looks all pretty in my baby. Prolly do timing belt, thermostat and waterpump while i'm at it.

 

So basicly you will rebuild it. The only thing you're not doing is machining, if you take the heads off you will be most deffinately better off having them rebuilt and ensure there is no warpage. If the bottom end is good then while your there may as well get a bearing kit, hone the cylinder walls and new rings. I mean when you're that far in and its on a stand why cheep out?

 

Just don't get the Felpro headgaskets - - they're junk. They are really generic gaskets packaged under the Felpro name. There is a thread on this subject as to which is the best HG to use on the 3.0.

 

do you live near me by chance? It would be great to team up with someone on rebuilding these engines...i plan on rebuilding mine when she hits 300,000 miles..

 

THe route i went is a rebuild with no lower end machineing. THis keep cost down by not haveing to buy new pistions and not having to pay for the addtional machineing.

enginbldr gasket kit, rings, bearings, head bolts ~$300
I had the heads surfaced and 3 angle valve job w/ new stem seals for $300

If you got an extra $600-800 might as well get headers and new exhaust.

bank on another $300 for misc parts. (timming belt, upper lower hoses, water pump, idler pulleys, plugs, wires, cap, rotor, misc other hoses you find brittle and cracked)

For another $80 you can have your injectors cleaned.

Ive found the rebuild to be quite easy. The hard part is taking it out and putting it back in.

 

Get the injectors cleaned for sure, I mean why wouldn't you? IMHO if you have scoring that you can't hone out (a good machinest will tell you if you can) then have the machine shop do the machining. Anything that is within spec don't have done. No need for pistons if you don't have any serious scoring. Unless you plan on dumping the truck in the next year or so then there is nothing to be gained by skimping on work that should be done. I mean when you invest all the time to get in there don't you wanna make sure its done right?

 

I had my injectors cleaned for peace of mind alone. Thankfully they were in awsome condition even before cleaning!

 

You have to remember the engbldr kit is 300 USD, so then i have to pay shipping, plus duty, when it crosses the border. So i'll have to run the numbers, which will be cheaper, engbldr or Canadian Hi-performance. So my last couple questions. Replace the cams? Steel rings or moly? Try to hone myself (the big brush thingy, not the solid one) or let a machine ship do it? I can have the motor reman'd for 2600 bucks, rebuild myself for a grandish, or save for reman? Of course while I save that involves driving the truck, so it will prolly end up being a junker engine I have rebuilt anyway, as by then my motor will be unsaveable, although I may try replacing with a junker now while I save for the reman. So many choices, what a headache

 

The real question is what do you want to end up with? Do you want something that you threw together as cheeply as possible or something you can feel confident driving for the next few years? I'll sell you one for less then $2600 and warrentee it too. Heck for that I'll sell you one with P&P heads.

 

Suprathepeg if you can send me an engine that has a warrentee on it, for less than 2600 buck CAN I would definatly go with you. But, where are you, an engine is a very heavy thing to ship, plus if you have to send it over the border (I live in Alberta, Canada remember) there is duty as well. So 2600 bucks to me is more like 1700 for you.

 

I'm in Winnipeg. Shipping won't be too bad.