I recently bought an 88 4x2 with a 22R engine for a project to fix and sell. I fixed the original problem but I discovered that the driver's side chain guide is broken. I need to repair it if I want to have any chance of making money on it, but I need to keep it relatively cheap. Has anyone used a timing chain kit from somewhere like Kragen or Autozone? I have read that the non-Toyota guides break even sooner than the original plastic guides. Does anyone know how long will those guides last? I want to save money, but I also do not want to sell anyone a piece of junk.

 

I had a plastic guide on a rebuilt engine break at 12k miles.

And not only did it break, but when it did it fell down in the front of the engine and went through the bottom timing gear whick broke the timing cover, jumped the time, and bent all 4 intake valves.

Moral of the story, if you don't want to sell someone junk buy an OEM plastic kit or even better and probably cheaper, get an engnbldr steel rail kit.

www.engnbldr.com

 

I used the engnbldr kit for mine along with their steel rail kit and it worked very well and they were comparably priced. When I priced out the tining kits through the local autoparts stores, including Autozone, I was told they didn't even carry the rails. And like you, I couldn't bring myself to pay dealer prices just to get the same crappy plastic guide set up that broke in the first place. I don't know what Toyota was thinking with that one.

 

http://www.engnbldr.com/ToyotaHotLicks.htm

$65 for steel guide kit, $10 shipping

He also sells on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TOYOT...25409183QQrdZ1

56 buy it now (or 50 starting bid) and 10 shipping

For what it's worth, NAPA kit lists for $110 (but they usually sell below list over the counter)
Pic is NAPA set

 

Thanks for the information. I was going to pay around $65 for the plastic kit at Kragen, so I will just buy the engnbldr kit. I did not realize it was that cheap!

 

Yeah, and having fixed that , you could put a new timing chain in, making it much more marketable.