I am rebuilding a 3vze and have it all the way down to the removal of valve covers and want to take out the cams but cant get the bolt out... Any help would be awesome I have read about using blocks of wood and the such but cant quite picture it so if anyone has a photo of how to stop everything else from turning while reefing on the wrench it would be awesome......

Pete

 

take your #1 plug out, position your #1 cylinder part way down the stroke, and stuff a nylon rope into the spark plug hole. Then loosen the cam bolts a bit on each side and remove the rope.....

 

Another way that has worked for me is to take a socket and a extension. There are smaller bolts just behind the cam sprocket. 10 or 12mm heads maybe?

Anyway, socket on the head of this bolt, pass extension through the spoke of the cam sprocket and use this bar to keep the sprocket from moving.

Those bolts can be very stubborn. Multiple methods may have to be tried.

 

Will the threads of the smaller holes get damaged much. If I am correct they are simply to help hold the back of the timing chain cove in place. So maybe only one bolt is really needed?

Pete

 

on your cams there is a area to put a wrench on to hold it while you remove the cam gear bolts. just put a wrench on it and put a piece of wood against where the wrench might hit the head and use a breaker bar on the cam gear and you'll be golden. oh and when the cam gear breaks loose it will sound like you broke it but you wont break it

 

The smaller bolts will still be tight to the cover, so no thread damage can occur.

76ANTHONY also has a very good method.

By the way, be careful with those cams, they are easy to twist when you are taking them out and break the bearing guides if the cams are still under load of the springs.

 

That's exactly how I did it on a 3rzfe. Looked funky, but it worked good:

 

Why didn't anyone tell ME?!.....

I used the method Evolta described. That one above would've been easier.

 

not trying to be an a$$

but didnt the 3vze's have timing belts...

Jw ?

 

i didnt know either and i went through here and found it somewhere it was a heck of alot easier than some of the other things i heard

 

yep, belts

 

Well it is off>>>> But wow what a struggle I didnt get the wrench and bord till it was to late but after I took the belt off and started reeeefing on the bolt I realized that if I unbolt the cams and bend the back timing cover a bit they both will lift right out. SOOOOOOOOO thats what I did, may not be the right way but now I have to deal with the exhaust cross over the morning so I can get the heads off. SUGGESTIONS

Pete

 

WHAT THE HELL IS A 3RZ-FE?

 

UNBOLT THE CROSSOVER COMPLETELY AND PUSH IT BACK. i have a body lift on mine which allowed me to use a really long etension, a swivel and a 14 to get the bottom 2 or 3 out. for the driver side i have to use a ratchet and a slightly short socket for the top bolt that is up against the firewall. for the passanger side i just used an air ratchet and the same slightly short socket.

 

I think the 3rz-fe is the 2.7L 4cyl from the 96+ yota's, but i'm probably wrong cause i dont know 4cyl's very well.

 

I have some doofy tool that has two larger (3/4") daimeter knobs on it. I put that in the holes on the cam wheel and hit the bolt with the Milwaukee Cordess Impact wrench... works every time...

Also allows tightening to OEM spec

 

Like someone else said, it is the 2.7 litre 4 cylinder.

 

ok, im lost on this thread, why are you taking the cams out and the exhaust cross over while the egnine is in th vehicle???? this would be a heck of alot easier if you pulled the engine. why are you not pulling the engine? i mean the first one i did, i screwed up and pulled the heads and exhaust al together as one unit, that was a pita....

 

Well my original idea was to pull the entire motor out.... Then I got the bright idea to not try to fight the top tranny bolts I would just dismantle while it was still in the truck. And now the heads are finally off. 1 &1/2/ days later.

Now Holy cow it is my first time having a motor this far down and first hand get to see what 325K miles does to a motor Okay now help me out here guys.... My assumption as far as next steps would go is to put the heads in the wifes truck and head to a machine shop to get them redone.... yes. Heres where the question comes in....... Would I be better served to find a different motor like a 22re and shove in or is the 3slow worth putting the money into and do a total rebuild?????

Pete

 

It's debatable as to whether the 3.0 is worth a rebuild, but at this point it's going to be your best option.

Swapping in a 22RE is going to take more work than swapping in a 3.4. So if you did want to swap, look into 3.4 swaps instead.

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f160/