mountainbrew

Hi Yotatech!
I recently brought my 86 4R 22re 5spd into a mechanic friend of mine, and we both agreed that the engine was too noisy. We put a stethoscope to it and still couldnt figure out what the problem was. We suspect that the problem is either valves that need adjustment or a loose timing chain.

From what I have read on this forum, it seems that pulling the valve cover and checking the clearances is the next logical step. While at the same time looking down at the chain and checking for slack. I admittedly have very little knowledge of how the engine works, this is my first project vehicle and I am learning each part as I come to it. So this post is basically to show you guys my plans, and see if you would do it differently. Im sorry if these are stupid questions but I want to do this correctly.

Little background on the car. I bought the car a few months back with 200,000 on the body, and ~15,000/3yr on the motor rebuild. I will post the receipts from the rebuild at the end of this post. Can someone tell me what was done during the rebuild? I am having trouble deciphering all the different spec values.

From what I can tell from the rebuild invoice, the crankshaft was ground to increase piston stroke, the rods were resized to match the increased stroke, valve job i assume means the valve poppet and seats were resurfaced, resurfaced the cylinder head, and installed new guides (timing chain guides?). Also, i know he put an LCE header kit on it as well. After that Im not sure what anything means, especially on the cam shaft spec sheet. It seems to show valve adjustments of .010" on both intake and exhaust. Is this an adjustment from the stock valve clearances? My Haynes manual shows .008" intake and .012" exhaust. Can someone help me understand what the aftermarket cam did, especially in relation to my valve clearances.

Obviously if anyone thinks I am going about this the wrong way entirely, call me out on that too. Otherwise, I am planning to pull the valve cover, check the clearances, and then check the chain slack. Again I apologize if this is a dumb question, I am trying to learn more about my engine and still feel like I don't know the first thing.

edit: I just did an oil change and put RP 10-30 in with a Toyota filter, not sure if that matters for the chain tensioner or not.

Thanks!
I dont want to brick the engine up on Sugarloaf during a blizzard!

millball

Certainly a valve adjustment and exam of the t chain and guides are in order.

From the invoices, looks like you have a very fresh engine.

The crank was ground to refresh the bearing journal surfaces and to compensate for wear..

This does not change the stroke from stock

bswarm

The performance cam has different specs than the stock cam. The receipt for the cam says to adjust the valve lash to .010" on both intake and exhaust, so set it to those spec's.
Were the valve springs replaced? I don't see that on the receipts, and is usually required with a performance cam. My preferences when installing a performance cam are to replace all the valves, springs, valve keepers, and rockers. I've seen people do it otherwise but run into problems, like having the valves keeper grooves wear down causing the keepers to fail, or springs break, etc.

mountainbrew

Thanks for clearing that up!


OK, so both the intake and exhaust should be set to .010", thanks. And I hope the spring were replaced. It says right on the cam receipt "Springs required. Valve spring specs furnished with springs." I would assume that he didn't ignore that, but Ive been wrong before... a lot.

mountainbrew

So today I'm going to pull the valve cover and check the valve clearances... Based on the above suggestions I am going to set both intake and exhaust to .010 when the engine is warm right?
Also I can't seem to find a good write up on how to check the chain tension when the timing chain cover is still on...