Waal, I guess It's my turn.

Still running well, but obvious slow coolant loss and some white smoke on startup. Just the slightest milkyness in the oil when I put her in for teardown.

140.000 miles. about 30 thousand run since I bought it.

This '95 was built with the supposedly 'improved' headgaskets, so it was never eligible for the 3vz headgasket campaign.

Will know more when I get it apart and the heads to the machine shop.

I guess the valve adjustment future is secure, at least. ::

There are 4 or more of every size new, and many good used shims as well.

 

I just picked up a 3vz 95 runner project with a blown head gasket. 165K on the clock, guy sold it cause he didn't want to deal with it. I never shimmed the valves on my old 93 3vz, ran up 365K on it before I swapped in the 3.4. Maybe that's why I was down a cylinder. No matter, I am in love with the 5vz, probably be putting one in the runner as well.

 

That sux. Sorry to hear that news.

Where on earth did you get the shim collection?

 

I've had a search in on Ebay for several years. This is only the second 34mm shim assortment I've seen come up.

More than a hundred and fifty shims. More than a hundred are brand new.

 

Doesn't look like much, but the crossover is disconnected and the exhaust pipe has been removed.

Everything else is a piece of cake. I hope....... Disregard the date on the image. I removved the camera batteries and it reverted to default.;

 

Oh wow. You have 4 wheel anti-lock?

You should post random pics of, I dunno, say the passenger side inner fender.

Just in case somebody may have lost some brackets and can't figure out whats missing? LOL. Thanks in advance if you do.

 

Yes 4 wheel anti-lock. I'll try to post some images of the fenderwells tomorrow.

 

Here's some fenderwell images. Don't know if any will help. Just looks like a big mess to me.

Cams out, head bolts out, and heads off tomorrow.

 

Terrific! Thank you.

 

Heads are at the machine shop.

Block deck cleanup will begin.

The machinist imparted his wisdom about removal of the block dowels, and the Force was with me.

The ID of the dowels is just right to accept a 1/2 inch tap, and one of my slide hammer rods just happens to be 1/2"x13tpi..... Bing, bam, boom. All out with no pecker tracks or deformation..

 

Waiting on machinist for my heads and Witchhunter Performance for the injectors.

Put some new copper contacts in the starter and refreshed the grease in its gear reduction. Brushes and commutator looked good.

Put a new set of brushes in the alternator too.

No better time to do stuff like this, when everything is easist to lay hands on.

 

Never done one of these...why do you remove the block dowels?

How do the cylinders look now that the heads are off?

 

I remove the dowels to facilitate block deck cleaning and prep..

Like to be able to lightly drag a fine file over the block deck without having to deal with any obstructions.

The cylinders look great, with original cross-hatch still visible. No discernable ridge, but a little carbon.

Truck only has about 140,000 miles on it, but 25 years and thousands of temperature cycles have taken their toll.

The coolant leak/leaks were just beginning to become apparent. There was never full blown coolant loss to the oil, or overheatiog. Just some rough starting and persistent small coolant loss.

 

Well, stuff happens, and I'm a Gold Medal winning procrastinator. This truck lay in the garage with the heads off for the last 15 months.

I've got another awesome 4x4 Toyota that runs perfectly well, so no biggie, Eh???

My wife thought that it would lay there until I died.

I've been pecking at it for the last couple weeks and I wrapped it up last sunday. Runs great.

Ishino Gaskets, Aisin timing kit, fan bracket and fan clutch. All new factory ignition parts and plug wires. Mostly new coolant hoses and new drive belts.

Looking forward to measuring fuel economy.

On the road again.................

 

cool! i’m a gold medal member myself. my ‘48 dodge sat in front of my house for almost three years with a rod through the block. had a spare motor in the garage, too. when i finally got around to pulling the motor, i had the truck back on the road in just over a month, running as good as ever.



pulled the old motor


that’ll buff out, right?


back on the road

 

Gotta love those old flathead Dodges.

A '49 B1B was my daily driver thru most of the 1990's. I had a '52 with fluid drive for several years back in the '70's.

 

i still have a ‘52 three-quarter ton with fluid drive! my father bought it circa 1985 and i drove it in high school. hasn’t been out of the garage since 1988.

 

250 miles run on 13 gallons fuel. Mixed highway and town.

Just short of 19.25 MPG. 87 octane 10% ethanol fuel. Factory 10 degree timing setting.

After a couple more tanks, I'll advance ignition timing two or three additional degrees and see what results that gives.

 

pretty good for a 3.0 4runner.

 

Second tank: 275 miles on 15.5 gal. 17.74 MPG.

A bit more aggressive driving and near a hundred 20 to 30 MPH dirt road miles.

I'll run another tank and then move the base timing up.