sooo????

OBVIOUSLY if ROCK products were a joke...then Ted wouldnt be selling them..because it would give him a bad reputation???..

this is THE FIRST time i've EVER heard ANYBODY having ANY problems with their rock products..could be coincidence(spelling??lol) i bought a head from Attarco..and 3000miles later the cam that came with it had like NO LOBES on it...yes the lobes had been eatin off..we have no clue what done it...it was not our fault because we checked and double checked and triple checked our work..and Attarco sent us another complete head with gaskets and all for free..and im still running it with no problems at all..

sometimes happens..im on my 3rd headgasket in about a year..but only the first one was blown the other 2 were ate up cam and full rebuild..i feel bad for you have put a LOT of work into this motor....but since almost everybody i talk to has had no problems with rock products..i doubt they are to blame??...

it IS possible you messed up ever so slightly when torque'n the head down..mistakes happen man...

 

well that's my point exactly, I'm not blaming engnbldr at all

 

I absolutly recommend Teds parts .. dont worry about the internals .. or any other gaskets .. except the head gasket .

22r series engines have traditionally had headgasket problems .. because of cooling of a cast block and alum. head ..

20R engines have NEVER had this problem .. but I dont know why? but I think it's because the heads are "thicker" between passages .



I will only EVER use a OE head gasket .. or MLS on a 22r engine



.

 

Here are my thoughts...I did my head in early Feb and put in a 268 cam. I have not had an issue and the pickup is my DD so I have put a bunch of miles on it. I should reset the valves but have not had a chance and I have never re-torqued the head (probably should). All the gaskets came from engnbler and all seems well.

 

Lumpy, you should check your valves and torque the head. I just built my motor, and have about 500 miles on it now. I check it all yesterday when I was around 380, and 2 of the 10 head bolts needed to be tightened, and 7 of the 8 valves were at lease .002 LOOSE! Things wear into place and change, you should check them! It takes maybe an hour from start to finish, get it done and be happy.

 

I know, I know...I've been putting it off for no other reason than I just am. I know I have a valve or 2 tapping. I'm going to try and do it within the next week or two. I have to change oil so I'll do it all at once.

 

I'm not sure how the original pistons on the 22 compare to the ones on the 3vze, there might be no comparison at all, but I went out and bought original pistons (and all the other parts) after my machine shop guy gave me an earful about the rock pistons I got at first for my rebuild. On the 3vze, the original pistons have something called fluted skirts, meaning that the skirts of the pistons have an ever so slightly smaller diameter than the top of the piston. This was not the case with the rock pistons I got.

Again, I don't know much about the 22 engine, and you probably need somebody with a real intricate knowledge of it to tell you exactly what's going on in there. But The difference in the pistons and the bearings that were out of spec (also happened to somebody else here) were enough for me to spend the extra dough on OEM parts. Sometimes you get what you pay for.

 

On my 88 I'm running a Kragen head gasket. It's been on 15K miles, no problems. This Rock head gasket looks 100X's nicer, so I have no doubt in it. The question is on quality, will it hold up when I boost 15psi to it?![/QUOTE]


UMM, NO. Not even a small chance of that happening

 

UMM, NO. Not even a small chance of that happening[/QUOTE]

I bet you it will

 

so the guy who is doing my engine work just called me and he told me that all the parts i dropped off to him looks good except the head gasket itself! he said the head gasket looks exactly like the blown one he took off which is stamped evergreen. well neither one of us wants to do this job again anytime soon so i just got off the phone with toyota, and my OEM gasket will be in tomorrow morning.

 

how much did the oem head gasket run you?

 

My OEM was $54

 

$48.35 for just the gasket itself. i didnt ask how much the whole kit was.

 

Robert m and Erik Beeman, thanks for the heads up on the price for the oem gasket. gonna give my buddy a shout tomorrow and see what his discount is gonna work out to be
any of you guys running arp head bolts or studs? for the $125ish it is for the extra secutity, im gonna throw a set in for sure. the question is.....studs or bolts???

 

I am running ARP bolts!

I highly recommend going with them!

I have never had to re-torque my head and haven't had any problems for 50,000 miles.

If you are doing the job you might as well do it right and spend the little extra money.

 

93YotaGuy, my thoughts exactly. go big or go home...i'd rather spend an 'extra' $125ish and have the peace and mind that my head is torqued down good-an-tight. why did you go bolts and not studs? what are the benefits or either one?

 

If you plan on boosting it, get studs. If not, gets bolts. Either or, ARP is the way to go.

 

ok cool. im definatly not to be boosting it. just dont want to have to go through this again. cost wise, bolts or studs are pretty close, correct?

 

I don't understand why people absolutely want a different brand of things like head bolts or the head gasket. What's wrong with the original parts? Stronger (or more correctly, stiffer) bolts will give you incorrect clamping pressure at the specified torque values, and the same is the case when you use studs instead of bolts.

 

There is nothing wrong with OEM, there is just other brands that offer a differnt product, and are just as quality.