Dude....you went through all that disassembly, machine work, painting, etc and then put it back together without giving love to everything else, like that dirty timing cover and water pump??? C'mon man....

 

Ouch, you really went there.

That being said I just fixed a stripped head bolt threading. While I had it torn down to bits I got to repaint all the steel parts with KBS RustSeal and top coated with BlackTop.


Yeah the bolts are rusty, but I think it turned out alright. The thumbs up is that feeling you get when you finally align the input shaft with the clutch spline and pilot bearing...solo.

 

Yes I did Brian. Just so you know I cleaned those parts, and that is the best I could get them. I spent hours and hours and hours and hours cleaning. Do I wish it looked better, sure I do, and I can keep cleaning it while it is in the engine bay. I know the engine will get dirty again due to the nature of the truck, so I can live with it for now. Remember this is a project truck and not a show car.

On to a happier note, I will try starting the engine tomorrow. I will be bleeding the power steering and filling the coolant. I did not install the electric fan yet, because it has not been delivered and I am tired of waiting; I can put the E-fan on when it shows up. In the meantime I will get this thing back on the road and breaking in the new stroker.

 

vroom vroom yet?

 

No vroom vroom yet. I filled the power steering which was simple, but I discovered my water pump is leaking at the gasket when I was filling it with coolant. So I will be pulling the belts, fan, pulleys and radiator so I can seal up the gasket with silicone.

By the way, it is super hot in my garage, so I will be working slow.over a few days.

 

So, last night I started the radiator, belts and water pump removal. Before removing the belts and water pump, I wanted to check to see the fitment of the electric fan ( https://www.summitracing.com/parts/flx-684 ) with the aluminum radiator. Tuns out it fits perfectly. The space is pretty tight, but is all the space that is needed. I am glad I do not have to mod anything in order too make the fan fit.

For ease of installation I will run the manual clutch fan until I am sure there are no coolant leaks. I will also have a chance to compare the 2.6L displacement to the 2.4L and then compare the electric fan to manual.

Anyway I am headed back to the garage, hopefully no more leaks.

EDIT:
So, turns out that my intake manifold is leaking coolant now that I pressurized the system. I am not liking the gasket set I purchased form "Low Range Off-road", I should have just gone with the Fel-pro set. Oh well, trying new things is how we learn what is good or not. My recommendation for the future to anyone else will be Fel-pro.

 

I wish I had bought brand new intake manifold bolts when i did mine. No telling how many times they had been taken out, and retightened. I do like the felpro intake gasket myself. Had one leak but it was my fault. Looking forward to your review of a 2.6 vs 2.4

 

I got the intake manifold gasket off. The gasket let go of a mating surface pretty easy; however when I was cleaning the coolant residue off of the gasket the front coolant passage of the gasket tore. So now I am finished working on it for the evening and hopefully I can find a place local that carries the Fel-pro gasket in stock.


I am slow close to cranking this thing over, I hope this is the last hiccup.

 

Priming the oil pump and build pressure.

I had issues starting the engine the first time, turned out I had the distributor 180 degrees out. Slapped the distributor back in and vroom vroom. It was a hard start the timing is quit advanced due to old fuel. I also discovered a small pin hole leak in the upper radiator hose.

 

I hate you...

 

I don't really. I'm actually super happy for you. Just frustrated and jealous. But hey, now you can drive it over and help me put the trans in!

 

Thanks man, it has been alot of work. I finished everything up tonight and drove it to fill up gas for the first time since December. This is a truly great feeling.

Tonight I learned that the fuel was not too old. I was kind of frustrated that the engine was just not running quite right. I heard this sucking sound near the intake manifold and thought it was the air injection for the exhaust, but it sounded to odd and constant. I thought it might be a vacuum leak, perhaps I forgot a vac-hose, but that did not turn out to be the case. Took me some time before I found the vacuum leak, which was at the bottom of the mounting surface of the throttle body. I pulled the throttle body and saw the gasket was not the right shape, there was a massive vacuum leak right at the throttle body. Luckily I still had the old TB-gasket and it was in good shape. I compared the two gaskets and realized that the new gasket was for the older style throttle body, which means strike three for the KP gasket set I got from Lowrange Off-road ( http://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/toyot...2re-22rec.html ). I will be sticking with Fel-pro for now on unless I hear about a set that is better.

Again, this is an amazing feeling completing my very first engine rebuild, and too top it off I now have a smooth running 2.6L 22re. I can already notice a difference with the displacement over stock and I only drove it too fuel it up. I am super excited too drive it to work tomorrow in the morning.

 

22RES. Like the RET but a Stroker

 

Awesome work, congrats!

 

I like that Troy, "22RES", ( 22R SERIES, ELECTRONIC FUEL INJECTION, STROKER)

 

Congrats, man!

​​​​​Years ago (1999?), the PO had my 85's engine swapped with an in-house rebuild. The shop used Fel-pro gaskets and that engine leaked all over by the time I got it (2012). My uncle rebuilt the top end the next year and also used Fel-pro with a Napa timing set. It was a well-sealed engine for just a few thousand miles.

From recent photos I'd say Fel-pro changed the gasket set. Their old exhaust manifold gasket looked like cardboard and burned like it too. The old headgasket was a graphite composite that made lots of enemies. Good for them, I was wondering when they were going to care about our 22re's.

I'm interested to see how rebuilds with the new Fel-pro set will hold up. From what I've seen, Toyota OEM gaskets are the best out there but cost 3x as much.

 

Today after driving it to work and back home, I noticed a super small coolant leak, almost seem intermittent. I put some dye in the coolant, so I should be able to track down the leak shortly.

I have not taken the 2.6L on the freeway yet due to wanting to get a good seat on the piston rings, however I have noticed much better throttle response and Fifth gear has come to life. For those who are local to Sacramento I drove the 2.6L up the steep hill on Iron Point Road just north and past the East Bidwell exit from HWY 50 in Folsom. Fifth gear was not usable on the hill but Fourth was, and I used to have too do the hill in Third. I will be excited to get this thing on the freeway and see how the 2.6L does on my way to the mountains. It is also time for me to head to Davez Off-road so to pick up my new front axle housing.

 

Glad to see everything's back up and running. I bet the stroker makes a nice difference when you're used to gutless 22re.
I've followed behind a few 22re trucks and 4runners going up the hill toward Auburn and Emmigrand Gap, to find out some of those rigs were stroked and cam'd - seem to have decent pull up the hills compared to my truck.

 

Imagine it stroked and turbod!

 

That would be truly wicked. It would just be nice if it was easier to do in Cali.