Hello!

This is a great forum and I've found it very helpful so far.

I'm working on my wife's 94 4runner. It blew the headgaskets after overheating a couple weeks ago and I decided to fix it myself. So far it's been a decent experience (I'm used to working on older engines, so this has been a learing experience)

here's where I stand:


The heads have been cleaned and surfaced:


Here's the question. I want to reinstall the camshafts myself. When my machinist took off the lifters he found these washers sitting on top of the springs:


Now, from my manual it says I should be using shims to get the gap right between the cam and the lifters (shims under the lifters)... This was a "rebuilt" engine when we bought it, and I'm thinking these washers were a poor substitute. Can anyone give me the procedure for figuring out the shim size I need and where to get them?

Thanks,
Nate

 

Geezus, what a stupid thing to do! I believe www.engnbldr.com has the shims you want:

email: engnbldr@engnbldr.com

If not, then you may be stuck with the dealer...

 

Here's a 93 FSM too: http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...fsm/index.html

 

Looks like the proceedure starts here on page 13 of 41 (EG2-61) http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...68cylinder.pdf

 

EB is a great guy, be sure to ask him about his special headbolt torquing proceedure.

 

excellent! That's much more detailed than my haynes manual.

 

It just makes me wonder why anyone would put those washers in there? Is that what the shims are supposed to do, take up that space? Do I need to get my camshaft in there and chek with a plastigage?

 

Are you sure those are not the washers from the head bolts and they just fell into the head when the bolts were removed? I wish I could have been that lucky. I dropped one into the head and it fell into the oil pan. I ended up pulling the oilpan to get it out...

 

Yes, to adjust the valve lash correctly you will need to install the camshaft and measure the clearance. This is not that diffecult, just time consuming. If the clearance is not in specs. there are different thickness of disks that can be placed into the buckets to achieve the clearance. When you measure the clearance the camshaft will need to be rotated so that the lobes which you which to test clearance are pointing straight up. Use a feeler gauge and measure the clearance and write it down. You will be able to do two valves at a time. Write down the clearances and then rotate and check the next one and so on. Check this against the valve lash specs for your vehicle. If they are not in specs you will need to replace the disk with one of a different thickness to obtain the correct clearance. You can use a micrometer to measure the disk and calculate the difference and which thickness disk you will need. This may take a few trips to the dealer.