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Recently joined Yotatech, but not new to Toyota's. Just sold my '82 wheeler and I'm still recovering from that. Used to spend alot of time on Pirate back in the day, which in my poor college days got me to this point:
Unfortunately had to part ways with it... just didn't have time for it anymore and with 2 kids and a 3rd due in less than a month, needed something a little bigger if I wanted to keep playing.
So I picked up a '92 4Runner with 22RE to kill 2 birds with one stone - replace my truck as a light-duty off road toy, and also replace my aging '98 Lexus ES300 as daily driver before the engine falls out and the tranny quits working on it. Still to be determined if I'll be successful or not.
Anyways- bought the 4Runner back in August. Already have done a decent amount of work on it. Late to get started with sharing with the Yota Tech community, but not much to see so far. I DO wish I had taken a couple before pictures.
The interior was a hot mess
The carpet was a disaster
I'm surprised the rear u-joint didn't explode on my 2 hour drive home (bought in Tacoma, I live in the Portland area of Oregon, about 160 miles)
Drivers side rear axle seal was shot
Exhaust was rusted out
Front wheels were LOOSE (hub bolts/keepers wrecked)
1 bolt holding the transfer case to the crossmember mount
Lots of little issues
BUT the A/C blows cold, and it's basically complete
Since purchase, I have done the following:
New Marlin standard duty clutch
New rear drive line u-joints
Upgraded V6 front rotors and calipers
Replaced front wheel bearings and rebuilt hubs
New carpet
Replaced a bunch of interior and dash parts
Replaced the rear seats
Installed an Alpine bluetooth enabled stereo
Installed a lightly used Pacesetter header and 2-1/4" exhaust with Flowmaster
Marlin shifter seats
Started driving it!
EDIT: Stopped driving it.... lol see below.... it's how they all start I think, ha ha....
Once I got it into production (daily driving duty) I noticed it must have an auto-parts store thermostat in it, because the first warm-up cycle of the day it would peg the temp gauge in the red before dropping back to normal. I recall this issue with my old truck when I used a Napa brand thermostat. So a week or so ago I figured I would do a "real quick" thermostat swap. Not so...
One of the bolts broke right off in the intake. So- 15 minute job sprawled... and I'm going to pull the head, timing cover, etc., and go through the engine and at least make sure all the gaskets are good, stick a metal timing cover in there from engbldr, etc. Also planning to clean up and paint some components in the process. I will be replacing the tie-rod ends, balljoints, and shocks too.
Here's how it sits at the moment:
Just to add to it.. the paint is in TERRIBLE shape, so my goal is to paint it next year once my dad gets his shop built and I've got a place to do it. Going to replicate this look and color as close as a garage paint job and my amateur body work skills can accomplish without a total disassembly:
Anyways, thanks for the read, I'll shoot for more tech in future updates!
Last edited by Reluctanse; 03-21-2016 at 09:06 PM.
Reason: edited because reasons
***PARTS NEEDED*** List current as of 4/3/16 - help a brother out!
Steering column shroud for non-tilt wheel (top and bottom plastics with screws)
Intake manifold support rod (runs from passenger engine mount to manifold)
Rear window switch (mounts in center console)
Rear cargo area interior plastics (the WHOLE large piece, looking for local only on this one)
And I am looking for the little clip that holds the gas door latch on the end of the cable... if anyone knows a place to get something that will work for this, or has one they are willing to part with, let me know!
BUILD PARTS LIST (WIP) - for future reference for others etc:
Hoping to get a dedicated hour or so this week some evening to pull the head. It's going to engbldr to get check out for square etc etc.. his shop is about 18 minutes from where I work. Pretty lucky living so close to such a well known and recommended Toyota resource!
Also getting my injectors shipped off to Witch Hunter for some freshening up. They look a little iffy to me..
Then, I've got this going on in the #3 intake port:
Getting with engnbldr tomorrow to see what he says.
Parts pile starting to build:
More to come!
Last edited by Reluctanse; 12-01-2015 at 10:24 PM.
Sounds like you are getting a lot done and getting it back into shape. Surprising at how some get into really bad shape but a little time and you get one back into shape.
Seen you have some question on keeping a list on your thread. No problem there. In fact these build threads are a great way to keep track of what you need to do or a parts list. Another thing that you will find out later on and usually by accident is when you are looking at other threads, you will find "How To Do", vendor information or just information that you may want to refer to with out having to go search for it. When you find something like that, post a link in your build thread.
You do have a post count minimum and also a length of time minimum to meet which I cant recall right off what it is, ( I think 2 weeks) but it will happen soon enough. It saves a lot of problems for us.
Lucky you living so close to Enbldr. Welcome to Yotatech.
Well, pulled the head tonight. Found more evidence of abuse.. I really don't know what goes through people's heads when they do this kind of repair work, but it makes me more and more glad I'm tearing down to this level. I'll be much more confident the thing isn't going to blow up on the side of the road.
I think whoever installed the water pump did it with a hammer.. Two of those bolts are completely wrecked. I'm not removing that tonight - but will be a beast when I get there.
The timing chain and guides look pretty new... but as they are plastic and I trust nothing the PO did at this point... its all coming out.
Here are the spark plugs, how do these look?
And the block.. looks to my uneducated eye like it might have sat for a long period of time? I'm not completely sure what I'm looking at, it almost seems a bit corroded? Any cause for concern? Just scotch pad, clean it up, and move on? Any input appreciated.
And the head, ready to go to engnbldr tomorrow:
Next up, pull the timing cover.
Then clean up the my parts, paint some stuff, order a bunch of goodies... and reassemble!
Your plugs look good to me. They were not burning oil and they will get that color with a few miles on them when they are new. Just for future reference, I would suggest replacing with Denso or NGK. I get my plugs, cap, rotor, and oil filter from the dealer. About the same price as part store and much better quality. You can get Denso wires off of ebay.
It did kind of looked to me the motor may have sat for a while. From what I have seen a couple of times on motor that I knew sat for a few years, the rings can rust to the cylinder walls. Yours did not look like it sat very long.
I have seen it twice when a motor sat for years and it is exciting to hear a truck run but from now on for mysef, I will not fire a motor up as quick as I can. I will soak the cylinders in Marvel Mystery Oil for a few weeks and see if it will turn over with a wrench. A starter is strong enough to break the rust and what I have seen twice it will break a ring. Eventually the broken ring will get squezed betwen the piston and cylinder wall and gouge the wall requiring a bore to correct the issue.
As far as the head, have it checked at a machine shop. Depending on what all repairs it may need, you may be better off getting a new head. Some may need minor repair and others you are just better off replacing.
Whelp.. took my head to engnbldr... the good news is the head is fairly new and in great shape! Bad news is looks like my rings are toast. At his suggestion, I'll be doing a full bottom end rebuild.
Just going to send a quick update, had a baby 2 weeks ago, our 3rd, so nothing to report. Block and heads are still at engnbldr, got a parts list together now I just need to pull the trigger on.
Should maybe start making progress in the next couple weeks.
I had a baby / been busy etc so no posting, trying to start being better about this message board thing . Anyways slowly been getting some work done on the engine build. Got my block and everything back from Engnbldr with the 261 cam and everything, mostly just been spending time cleaning and cleaning and cleaning parts....
Got the block and valve cover painted yesterday:
prepped and cleaned:
primed:
chevy orange!! (you can see the valve cover lurking in the back)
Been scrubbing parts non stop it feels like, especially the intake. It's clear no one had probably ever cleaned in. And since the block was .040 over when I took it in, it's been rebuilt at LEAST once if not 2-3 times in some manner.... and no one ever bothered to clean it. Needless to say it was completely disgusting. Spent 10 hours probably scrubbing it on the parts washer etc.
So along those lines, I can't figure out how to get the throttle body looking decent. With all the paint and shiny scrubbing I'm doing, I don't want to put it back on looking like this, but am struggling to get it cleaned.
Any pointers?
Also started working on my battery cables. Using 1/0 cable, because its what I have. Clearly massive overkill, but whatever!! Should not have grounding issues when I'm done!
I've got some studying to do for my PMP test on Friday this week that I don't want to fail because it's expensive... but once that's done I'm going to start spending some real time on getting this project completed, and documenting the process. I have quite a list of purchased items and little nickle and dime stuff that I think would be useful to compile for the future.
In the mean time, still looking for some parts, if anyone has some lying around, especially the support rod that goes from the upper intake to the engine mount on the passenger side, really looking for one of those before the engine gets wrapped. Anyone have one please send a PM!
Cleaning dirty parts sucks. I've spent at least 8 hours over the past 3 weeks cleaning a dirty dirty engine. I'll admit you did a much better job than i, good work.
I know what you mean about the cleaning. Mine was the same way, 20 years of no cleaning at, I probably had more time cleaning than I did wrenching on my motor. Sadly enough it's already thrashed again, I really need to keep a better eye on it.
Makes me really want to EGR delete... but pretty much been talked out of it because it causes other issues, rear head gasket, fuel milage, etc... really rethinking the EGR delete.... hmmm......
In the reviews someone talks about using it on their intake with good results, so it seems like it'll work for your throttle body. You could always just try a little bit on a small area first then see what happens.
Whelp, made some headway today! Feels like this project is stalled out sometimes, just getting the time to work on it is a chore. Had errands all morning so didn't get started until about 1pm, but made some good progress once I got to it.
Got the intake painted. Prepping and taping everything off took over an hour... least favorite part of the job.
Looks good though!
Cleaning is the most important part of any engine build (so I'm told)! Scrub scrub scrub... also hit it with a pressure washer, got a nozzel on that thing that will etch concrete! Should do the trick.
Give it a good hose down with some brake clean (on sale at Napa!) and scrub with newspaper - a tip from Tod at engnbldr. The newspaper has a tiny bit of abrasive and doesn't leave any lint. Works great!
Time to get to work!
Using some Permatex assembly lube. Stuff looks like cherry syrup, and is about as sticky. Applying it liberally wherever I can.
Hosing down the pistons with Brake clean (did I mention it was on sale?) in the parts washer. Everything must be cleaned!
So once you clean or pressure wash or whatever you want to use compressed air to clean up all the little nooks and crannies. But you want to use dry air, like you'd use for painting. I bought a pair of these, but I would NOT recommend them. 2 for $20 bucks, and they last about 5 minutes before they change from blue to red (which is how you tell they are "used up"). Not worth it I think. Probably would just recommend buying a good air line drier filter thats reusable. They aren't cheap, like $80 or so, but if you do any of this, its the only way.
Getting the pistons ready.
Crank installed!
Pistons in and ready to rock! Turns smooth as butter!
The only other item I'll add if you are rebuilding an engine yourself... is the FSM is your best friend. Pretty much step by step instructions on what to do and how. Read it, know it, love it!
Last edited by Reluctanse; 04-02-2016 at 10:10 PM.
12-01-2015, 09:40 PM
Two of those bolts are completely wrecked. I'm not removing that tonight - but will be a beast when I get there.
. Anyways slowly been getting some work done on the engine build. Got my block and everything back from Engnbldr with the 261 cam and everything, mostly just been spending time cleaning and cleaning and cleaning parts....
