gsp4life

I had my machine shop clean and rebuild my injectors. The truck has never run that well and I didn't want to leave anything to chance. If yours ran great you probably don't need to do it if you'd rather save $100. Anytime you pull the injectors your supposed to replace the o rings especially if they're old. Also, the insulators can be replaced cheaply and yours are probably not soft rubber anymore.

As far as I can tell I'm never getting rid of this truck. It started life with us as my girlfriend's dream truck - she always wanted a clean 1st gen 4runner so we sold her car and bought the 85 in Flagstaff. I think the owner knew he was getting rid of a time bomb but it's taught me everything I know about auto repair and maintenance.

Here's the build thread: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f115/22re-rebuild-thread-295743/

Wyofunrunner

This beauty showed up a couple days ago. Wow it looks so nice I don't really want to touch it haha. Not really, I can't wait to dive back into it, between the holidays and a new baby I sorta got distracted but I'm back and can hopefully start putting this thing together as parts show up. More to come...

gsp4life

Looks great! What all needed done machine-wise? Did you get the block decked? If so, I hope the timing cover went along with it. I'll try to chime in before you make any of the same mistakes I nearly did throughout the whole process.

Oh, and check to make sure they put the 4 oil galley plugs back in. My shop almost got me with that one and another thread I read had oil pressure failure and eventually realized one of the plugs didn't make it back it, so it happens! One large plug in the front, another in back, a small one on the bottom just inside the lip where the pan bolts up, and the other small one on the side opposite your photo just before where the oil pressure sender threads into.

Wyofunrunner

Thanks for the pointers. Those are definitely things i would miss since I had the shop do the entire short block (new pistons, rods, bearings etc). I was waiting for them to give me a quote on the price before they worked on it, but they just ended up doing it and then calling me. Fortunately it costed a little less than I was expecting, but I couldn't ask about the timing cover. He said that he "barely" took anything off when he decked it and that it shouldn't effect how it all lines up. That being said, he also told me I could take a file to the timing cover to shave it down a little if there is a noticeable height difference. I don't like that idea at all so I bolted the cover on to see the interface and a straight edge just barely "clicks" if i slide it from the top of the block to the cover, if that makes sense. I'm tempted to bring it back and have him look at it, but then again I don't see a noticeable height difference. I'm thinking about having my head rebuilt there instead of a new engine builder one, so i'll be talking to him anyways. thanks again

gsp4life

Good call on not filing the timing cover by hand. Way too imprecise, we're talking about a smooth, level surface approximately one-hundreth of an inch under stock height. It's an amount that would be difficult to feel, so your level is even barely catching it, I'd persuade them to level the cover to the block.

I don't know enough to exactly quantify the difference it would make and it could be fine to leave it, but the FSM is very specific about decking them together. I imagine it would stress the bottom surface of the headgasket and who wants that? With their experience they probably did a better assembly job than you or I could've done, but I've been through it enough to watch out for any shortcuts. For example, the machine shop I used told me to reinstall my beat-up and backwards-installed old thrust washers cause they couldn't find a new set in their catalogue so therefore, "they must not make them anymore".

Wyofunrunner

After a long break from the build I'm back at it. I took the head into the very busy, but good machine shop and when he finally got to looking at it and cleaning it he found multiple cracks in it. So no bueno on getting the original rebuilt, back to plan A and I'm expecting the engnbldr stock head in the mail tomorrow. On the upside the shop milled the timing cover to match the block and on top of it all he didn't charge me a dime I installed an Aisin water pump, a Hylift/Johnston oil pump the shop gave me, Toyota timing cover gaskets and low profile front seal, and the Engnbldr timing chain kit. All for now, much more to follow

Wyofunrunner

Big day for the the ol runner', The head showed up yesterday and I dropped my stock cam in and bolted on the EGR block off plate to it. Today I put the Toyota head gasket down along with the fipg where the timing cover meets the block and settled the engbldr stock head into its new home for hopefully a long time.
This part of the build is awesome, putting big parts of the motor together and watching it take shape. I used new engnbldr head bolts and torque them down to 62 ft lbs. it seems like there's a lot of numbers out there for torque spec but I decided to go a little closer to the fsm spec.
I used a brass drift to gently ease the timing gear onto the cam while I rocked the crank bolt back and forth, pretty easy. And I then held my breath and watched the whole engine effortlessly turn over making the nice swoosh sound it did when I pulled it.

Wyofunrunner

So I got everything buttoned up on the engine and lowered it into the truck yesterday. After lots of shaking and grunting I got it lined up enough to get almost all the bolts to line up and reach the engine and started the exhausting job of tightening them. I got the passenger lower bolt most the way tight and started on the top two notorious bolts that are really hard to get to. I also got the lower driver side bellhousing bracket started. I got on a role and tightened the top two all the way leaving about a half inch gap on the bottom. When I started tightening the bottom up I heard a loud snap... turns out the bell housing bracket I was using to line up the driver side broke in half and was dangling. And now the big 17mm bolt right next to it doesn't really want to turn?? I could understand binding if it was really misaligned but I've got maybe a 1/2" gap on the bottom, you'd think I could suck that in. Any ideas?

gsp4life

Sounds not good. I had a bad time getting the input shaft into the friggin' engine! After a few hours, what I figured out was to remove the lower half of the engine mounts and that allowed me to lower the engine hanging from the hoist another inch or so. Everything lined right up. The bolts were easy after that but don't tighten any till they're all in.

Back out the top 2 bolts, get a replacement for the snapped one and try again more the way I described.

Wyofunrunner

It's in! My problem was the bracket that broke was not lined up quite right and was binding up. Once it was out of the way everything came together like it should. I found a new bracket on eBay so I should be good to go. Thanks again!

Wyofunrunner

So I got the engine bolted up and everything attached. I had a small coolant leak from the timing cover to intake line which a little ultra grey fixed.
Today was going to be the big day where it would start.... not so much. After figuring out my battery terminals needed cleaning I got contact and bumped the starter. It engaged and just went thunk and there was an ever so slight bump forward with truck like you would get if you didn't push the clutch in and cranked. I installed a new aisin clutch that was the correct size and model. I get nice feedback in the pedal but it is difficult to move thru the gears. I can roll the truck in neutral but I can also roll it in gear with resistance and I can't turn the engine over with a breaker bar on the front crank bolt at all, it almost seems seized. It did turn over no problem with everything on it just before I dropped it in. I'm stuck, seems like something is wonky with the transmission to clutch interface? No idea, probably going to start tearing the whole thing back out now unless someone's got a miracle fix for me.

Wyofunrunner

Haha once I relaxed and started going through the checklists I cleaned up the battery terminals and wires and surprise surprise it started turning over. Crisis averted but I still can't get it to start and I may have smoked the starter in the process. It will pop and smoke but won't fire up. I guess I'll keep messing with the timing and let the battery charge up, again.

gsp4life

Wait a minute, did you find out why it wouldn't turn over with a breaker bar? A dead battery or starter won't cause that issue, unless maybe the starter is just completely fried and it's sprocket is engaged with the flywheel. Replace that thing asap before firing it up again!

Wyofunrunner

The starter is fine, the new battery was just dead from cranking. It engages and disengages like it should. The engine is definitely hard to turn over tho. It takes a lot of force with a breaker bar to make it move, it moved freely prior to dropping it in the truck. The starter does turn it tho.

Still won't start tho, it's getting fuel, the plugs are wet when I pulled them to check. All 4 grounds look good, I lashed the valves correctly, I get spark when the rotor moves. The timing is good as I can get it, I moved the pulley to tdc, pulled the valve cover and made sure #1 cylinder rocker arms were loose and installed distributer at 12 o'clock and it moved to #1 position. I didn't touch the tps or maf, I guess I'll just keep trying things and hopefully it will go. It will cough and sputter but that's it. thanks GSP for reading my lengthy posts and replying, I appreciate it.

gsp4life

I wouldn't touch the maf unless it's been messed with prior. The tps can throw things way off so check it's resistance fully closed and wot according to the manual. You can find it online also.

Not sure why it would be so much harder to turn over once it's in the engine bay, that seems weird.
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Wyofunrunner

Yeah I'm going to continue to leave the maf and tps alone. I was convinced there was something wrong with the distributor or coil but I couldn't find any problems, everything was in spec ohm resistance with the fsm and I'm getting a strong spark. So I moved onto the fuel since I know it's getting air. Remember when I was waffling over the injectors? Well I took the top off the intake and pulled the injectors and had my wife crank the key and proceeded to spray gas all over myself from the banjo fitting that I think is the return line. So after plugging that off I had her crank it again and I couldn't see any noticeable fuel spraying out of the injectors. Cheap gas must have varnished in there or something while it was off the truck. So hopefully I found my problem and they will be in the mail tomorrow to witch hunter. Time for a shower haha!

Wyofunrunner

So after a couple months of testing this and that and not really coming up with anything I decided to get a transmission jack and drop the transmission and see what was going on in there. Ever since I dropped in the engine I was suspicious of the clutch and why is was so damn hard to get the engine bolted to the transmission and why is was so hard to turn over after they were together. Once they separated, which took a ton of force, a bunch of metal and springs started dropping out, hmmmmm that's not good. Sure enough the disc was completely smashed and twisted inside the pressure plate. That's why it was so hard to get them together, question #1 answered. Upon further inspection I found that the spines on the friction disc were milled wrong and had a twist part way thru that stopped the input shaft and eventually broke even though everything was lined up right. I sent a pic to Aisin and they sent me a new clutch kit. But the input part of the disc was bound up against the flywheel and preventing the engine from turning properly thus not letting the truck start and maintain an idle.

LESSON LEARNED: always make sure the disc will fit on the input shaft prior to install!!

I then put the new clutch on the flywheel after I changed out the pilot bearing and had a buddy help me bolt the transmission on, SO much easier this time! I got the upper bellhousing bolts on, which are WAY easier with the crossmember gone and the back of the transmission lowered. I'll never go after those again without lowering the back of the tranny first! I got everything buttoned up and decided to bump the starter just to see what happens fully expecting it to surge and die again like it had been doing. To my complete shock it started after barely bumping the key and idled perfectly. I was so in disbelief that is was running I just sat there and listened to I hum afraid to touch anything thinking I would cause it to not run again. WOW! I am very pleased with this turn of events. I adjusted the valves today after it warmed up and I'm waiting to get a timing light to get that taken care of too. Pictures to follow.

gsp4life

Glad you found the problem. Never heard of that happening before so I'll file it away somewhere in my brain.