I want some other opinions other than my own.

I have a 22re with 234k miles on it. It's going to need new piston rings. I planned on doing those soon, but the snow is starting and I may have to put that project off until 6 months from now. It also has a seep from the water bypass. Seemed like a badly made gasket, so I made another...and another...and coolant still seeps out. So I'm losing radiator coolant as well. (If I do the rebuild, I'll use silicone gasket material)

I have been thinking about just selling the engine for what I can get out of it, and then buying a stronger engine to replace the 22re. I figure if the engine is coming out to be fixed, I'll just replace it with something stronger at a greater cost on my wallet.

I can find some good chevy suburbans for sale for below $1000. I can remove the engines in those and replace those worn parts, and sell off the suburban (minus the engine) to make up for lost costs.

So what do you guys think? Is the 22re worth keeping and repairing? Or would you recommend taking the extra time to get something more powerful? One thing to keep in mind, It does have a fresh head job. It has new valves and a seals and a new head gasket.

 

Unless you plan on running some insane tires and need monster hp to turn them then I'd say find another 22re and rebuild it, then swap it in. Or pull the one you have and re ring it since you have already done some work to the head. I'm a firm believer in the 22re. Look at it this way that motor made it over 200,000 miles and is still running although it needs a little work to get back up to snuff. How many miles will a refreshed 350 or 400 small block last? Then you're back where you started.

Just my opinion but Toyota builds some durable stuff. Stick with the 22re.

 

might have to agree with Junkers88... or at least suggest getting a reman'd 22re. you'll spend quite a bit trying to adapt some other engine in, possibly more than you'll get parting out the rest.

 

hmm. I was leaning towards keeping the 22re, as I share your point of view. The 22re is a good, solid and reliable engine. Not sure how much better a chevy small block would be. I think I'll just re reing the pistons and rebuild the same engine.