looking for some ideas on how to get a little power from a 20R.Its stock & has a carburator

 

port and polish the head, throw on a header, throw on an electric fan, get a weber carb for it. The truth is these motors dont make much HP even when you throw a ton of money at em.

 

Swap in a V6
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or just put a 22r block (81-84 only) under the 20R head .. hybrid engine . I have done it many times




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Do this at your own risk.

You can advance the base timing to about 14 degrees from 8 degrees. Open up that spark plug gap a little too... Also heard good things about going with a Mallory distributor.

A solid tune up will help and is not risky at all.

I noticed a minor performance increase with the addition of a Mr. Gasket universal air cleaner. Maybe that was psychological...

If you have a catylytic converter (I think CA trucks had them in this year) you could cut it out or replace it with a high flow cat.

Remove the smog pump. This cuts parasitic drag on your engine. It is very easy to remove but watch the air injection on the exhaust as you will probably have to block it off. You may experience backfiring without the air injection (I doubt it though). Removal of A/C and power steering pump (if so equipped) can also result in a performance boost. Removing your power steering pump isn't a good idea unless you have a plan to convert it over the manual steering...


I think those are the "Economical" things you can do for your engine.

For more performance ideas you should be thinking serious machine work as any old 20R out there in stock form is probably hanging its head with age (as mine is). Maybe a bolt on header or a mild cam but honestly those kinds of things are expensive and not worth the performance gain on a tired old engine that has probably never been rebuilt... That's my opinion of course - your mileage my vary.


Overall you'd be surprised at how rapidly you can move around town in an old stock 20R with just a good tune up.

 

cam, header, upgraded air cleaner, weber carb, tune-up, and some gears

 

And you'll be lucky if 120hp out of the engine.
these engines aren't known for making any horsepower without lots of head work and high compression pistons. Gears will give you the biggest noticable improvement.

 

Just wondering if anyone could point me to a rebuilt toyota carb. I have a 1980 20r. Appreciate any anyput. Looking to put her in the shop and see whats all been done before. Got her at an auction from a retireing mechanic and wish i had asked him more about it. He hauled his engines an tranny's in the box. I changed the plugs and just now read a forum post...about increasing gap. He must of did that cuz they were like twice the gap. I replaced the cap an plugs too. Im thinking he knew what he was doing. cuz now i get a lot of backfire when she is cold. Any input is appreciated.