So I have an 89 Toyota truck with a rebuilt 22re from S&J Motors out of Spokane, WA. I had them install an RV cam while building it for me, and I did an egr delete because I broke one of the solenoids accidentally when I pulled the old motor. I did a gm alternator upgrade on it as well.
I have spent the last month and a half fighting with getting it timed. My issue is I run out of adjustment on the distributor before I get close to the marks on the timing cover. I have verified that I have the engine at TDC, dropped the dizzy in on #1 as directed by several different videos, and have verified that the camshaft is straight up via the dowel on the cam gear bolt. I did jump the terminals on the connector to put the engine in timing mode as well. I tried moving the dizzy a tooth both ways, but no dice. I'm currently trying to use a degree wheel to verify true TDC so I can put an adjustable cam gear from LCE, but I'm having hell getting the degree wheel attached, and I feel like I'm missing something. I shouldn't have to go this far for a new motor professionally built by a company that does this for a living.
I'm using the same distributor that was from the old motor, because even knocking the old motor ran perfectly (had a motor rebuilt because old motor had been bored out to the max and wasn't rebuildable), and the gear on it doesn't seem to be loose, or twisted, but the body has over 268k on it, so maybe? I also wonder about the harmonic balancer. It came off the old motor as well. I'm just tired of ordering parts for it already.

I'm trying everything I can before I rip the timing cover off and redo the timing myself. The cam is from Delta Cams also out of Spokane. I know the cam in the motor is a regrind, and I'm hoping it was done correctly. If need be, I'll stick the cam from the old motor in this new motor, but I'd rather not. If anyone has anyone suggestions, lmk. I'm at my wits end with this truck.

Thank you a thousand times in advance. I'm planning on enjoying this truck for a little bit before giving it to my nephew as his first vehicle. I want it perfect for him, because he's a damn good kid, and deserves to drive a kick ass vehicle to school.

 

I don’t understand from your explanation 1) if it is running or not running, 2) when you jump the connector, does anything happen?

You really shouldn’t need a degree wheel. Just veryify tdc #1 by compression/finger and carefully find tdc with a screwdriver in the hole. Where does the timing mark land? I always line it up about 8* Before TDC NOT ZERO, then drop the distributor in on #1 because if you start it at zero you are going to advance it immediately to make it run smoothly anyhow. Set your distributor body so you have equal swing advance and retard with the lockdown bolt in the middle of the slot. Other than that, watch out for vacuum leaks on the egr delete or elsewhere.

 

And don’t change the cam without a new headgasket. The headgasket won’t survive long being untorqued and retorqued.

 

Yes, the truck is running, and idles great until I try to rev it up, then it bogs down like crazy. I figured it was because the timing was off. So when I tried setting the timing, I couldn't get the timing mark aligned with any of the numbers on the timing cover. I advanced the distributor as far as it would go but the timing mark wasn't on the scale, if you can understand that. It's like it was way retarded. Way way retarded.

The idle doesn't drop when I jump the terminals on the connector, and I even cut the two wires off the connector and wired them together just in case the terminals were bad. The cel does flash though, so I think the computer understands it's being timed.

My only other idea is I have the Ect sensor for the computer wired backwards because when I got the truck, the previous owner has broken the original plug off and just had crimp on spade terminals going to it. I found the original connector online, and I wired it in so it had a factory style plug, but idk if I had the wires ran correctly because I stupidly didn't pay attention to the Ect sensor wire colors after I pulled the engine out. I'm wondering if maybe the ecm thinks the motor is still super cold and has it retarded too much even when it's warm?

Also, does the harmonic balancers on these trucks ever go bad or move the timing mark? Do the distributor gears ever move?

I haven't completely ruled out vacuum leaks either, but I did use rtv when I installed the block off plates for the egr delete. I spent at least 6 months slowy cleaning off the old motor parts, painting them, and installing them on the new motor, being careful on alot of stuff. That's not to say I may not have missed anything.

I forgot to mention the block was zero decked and the head milled, but idk how much. I was told by the engine builder they take this into account and use a 0.10" head gasket to bring it back to stock.