I got a builder 3RZ cheap a while back that I am building to drop into my 1995 pickup. I’m going to be doing a complete bottom end rebuild, including boring the cylinders for oversized pistons and decking the block to get rid of some corrosion pitting. Anyway, a VERY important step with ANY rebuild is to clean the oil galleys in the block. But unlike other engines I have worked with, Toyota seems to have made this hard to do by blocking off the galleys with pressed-in balls rather than traditional threaded plugs. How can these be removed to clean the galleys? Is this something that only a machine shop can do? Or are the galleys generally accessible from the other side, allowing their removal with a hammer and long rod? Is it then common practice to subsequently have the galleys threaded for conventional plugs rather than using balls upon reassembly?

 

What did you end up doing? Did you remove the ball bearings? How did you remove them? Did you then tap the holes and plug them with threaded pipe plugs? Ive searched and cannot find any info on this.. If anyone knows?

 

How often do you change oil