Okay, so here goes...

INTRODUCTION:
The 22R is widely considered to be the best engine Toyota ever made, period. Some might say, as I do, that it's the best IC engine ever made. Why? Because there's almost NO possible way to kill these engines short of blowing them (almost impossible),
seizing them (hard to do unless you run them out of oil and coolant) - [best way to accomplish such a thing would be to redline for 5-10 minutes in reverse doing donuts - I never have and never will], chronically abusing them (I don't) and/or just "being plain dumb". Maybe blowing them up with a nuclear device... don't.

The scope and purpose of this thread is to propose ideas for improving the overall design and construction of the 22R for better reliability and performance.

I. BETTER RELIABILITY

A short list would be:

1. Piston oil squirters.
2. Secondary and/or tertiary water and oil pumps.
3. Cast Iron head.
4. Thicker/stronger blocks/heads..
5. Stronger pistons/rods/bolts/crankshaft.
6. More water and oil passages for better cooling/lubrication.
7. Thicker/sturdier gaskets and rings.
8. Return to the old-style dual-row timing chain with steel timing chain guides.
9. Gear-driven fan and water pump(s).
10. Dry-sump lubrication.
11. Air/air and/or water/air coolant manifolds (but not to the point of overkill).
12. Improved head crossflow through spherical exhaust/intake ports (already achieved with the 20R).
13. Improved head cooling through a secondary rear intake-cam gear-driven oil pump at the top right corner of the head.



TO BE CONTINUED

Input and constructive criticisms are welcome.

Thanks.

 

For all highway automotive purposes in most of the world the 22R is an obsolete engine, yes I believe its still produced for industrial applications (forklifts, etc) so my question is why?

For hypothetical reasons, O/K. But a lot of this is just added complexity which ultimately could be reduced reliability. A lot of these issues are dealt with when the engine is radically upgraded for higher output. In its more or less stock configuration this engine is good for maybe 125 -140 horsepower tops.

If it aint broke don't fix it.

1. Piston oil squirters.
Moderately agree simply for better cylinder wall lubrication, but a 22R isn't a 3000hp diesel prime mover.

2. Secondary and/or tertiary water and oil pumps.
Over doing the plumbing!

3. Cast Iron head.
Why take a step backwards in engine design? Is it cracking issues that spawned this? Most can be solved though better metallurgy and/or heat treating and likely Toyota has already done this. The material is not at fault, its usually poor shape design. (Poorly radiused corners, thin walls, etc.; also poor down sprue, runner and/or riser locations/cross section by the foundry) Also see comments to point #13. Aluminium heads got a bad rap from mouth breathing knuckle draggers that used impacts to tighten up bolts and stripping the threads out, then blaming the aluminum! FYI...Aluminium is one of the few metals that actually increases in strength and doesn't become brittle at low temperatures...unlike steel and cast iron.

4. Thicker/stronger blocks/heads..
5. Stronger pistons/rods/bolts/crankshaft.
In its stock configuration the strength of these components is fine, even with mild performance upgrading. The stock crank is forged, how much stronger then that is needed? Yup forged pistons and shot peened rods if you're doing something wild. Why increase the weight of components that an already anemic engine has to haul around?

6. More water and oil passages for better cooling/lubrication.
Is there a need? The radiator and/or possibly the water pump is at the centre of any cooling issues

7. Thicker/sturdier gaskets and rings.
I'll buy that for a dollar!

8. Return to the old-style dual-row timing chain with steel timing chain guides.
Yup pretty dumb move using the plastic guides.

9. Gear-driven fan and water pump(s).
10. Dry-sump lubrication
Again its not a 3000hp diesel prime mover in hospital back-up generator, marine or rail service, so why over engineer it? The outstanding GM 567 and 645 diesel prime movers, those 3000hp diesels I'm familiar with (in back up generator service) and quoted, still have wet sumps (if I recall about 250 or 280 gallons). Yup piston engine aircraft and race cars have dry sumps, but you're not driving your truck upside down at 10000RPM!

11. Air/air and/or water/air coolant manifolds (but not to the point of overkill).
No idea what you mean by this.

12. Improved head crossflow through spherical exhaust/intake ports (already achieved with the 20R).
Yup the 22r head was a bit of a step backwards.

13. Improved head cooling through a secondary rear intake-cam gear-driven oil pump at the top right corner of the head
See #1,2,3,9 and 10...over doing it for really few if any substantial gains. Also this seems to be an about face of point/improvement #3. The improved cooling of aluminum cylinder head(s) negates the need for this (#13)...off hand I cant think of a gasoline fueled engine made today that doesn't have an aluminum head(s). The thermal conductivity of aluminium is roughly 3 times that of cast iron and is only exceeded by gold, copper and silver.

 

Install a 3rz /thread lol.
on a real note to address you ideas. DOA and lcengineering have covered how to get these little power plants to make reliable power. As Old83@pincher pointed out they are outdated engines. To build one is reasonably priced and easy to keep reliable hence the reason they are still at work in many rigs today.