I'm starting a 22re turbo project, and my goal is 300-350 hp range. Going to turbo it, and run a stand alone engine management system, most likely mega squirt. But i'm curious how much i'm going to have to do to the internals of the 22re to make it capable of handling that much power. I did some searching in these forums and saw a couple different opinions, but there were some differences to my specific situation. 1992 22re w/ 200k miles. I've already ordered some pistons that are rated to 375 whp, 8.5:1 compression ratio, and I'm going to bore the block over a bit to fit the pistons (they're 93mm's). I've also ordered some ARP head studs. I'm wondering if anyone knows how much hp the stock 22re rods can handle? as well as the block? Does anyone have an idea of the amount of power the 22re block can hold before it needs to be sleeved?
This is my first time re-building a toyota engine for power. I've built a bunch of honda motors for the purpose of higher horse power, but they were all aluminum blocks.
Any advice is appreciated, thank you.

 

Couple links to check out:

Most of the links on the forum are broke but a little discussion is there, I’m sure you can find more and see what people have got out of their turbo builds.

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...ebsites-63236/

https://people.well.com/user/mosk/

I don’t know the max power the factory internals can take but these motors are not made for high horsepower applications. My advice is to look at a motor swap. Just to get in the high 200 range you’re looking at quite a bit of cash.

 

The 22R series of engines were overbuilt for about the 100-135 horsepower that they produced, but being that you are wanting to just about tripling the factory output and if you are dead set on creating a high horsepower engine, I would upgrade anything upgradeable. Why? I wouldn't want to put a ton of cash into an engine just for it to only last a few thousand miles, regardless of horsepower output.

Basically, with these engines, the more power you want, the faster the cost goes up, meaning getting 25 hp more than stock is relatively inexpensive, but adding an additional 25hp (50hp over stock) will cost much more than the initial 25 hp boost, just as an example.

 

I really appreciate the quick responses, those links were very helpful. I've budgeted about 2000$-3000$ for the build, but obviously i don't wanna spend money that i don't have to. Like, if I'm going to be making horsepower in the mid - high 200 range, and someone has made 350 without doing sleeves, that would be a good thing to know. I do agree that after doing all this work, if I try to cut costs by not dropping 300 extra dollars on connecting rods and a couple thousand miles down the road I'm pulling the motor back out because i just sent a rod through the side of the block, i would be very upset.

because i've already purchased the arp head studs, pistons, and head gasket I'm definitely going to pull this motor out, but i haven't spent too much money on it yet (only 365$ so far). so i'm still able to change my mind and do a swap of a different motor, and still build this motor, and drop it into something else down the road. Like a nice trail rig. I've been fantasizing about having a nice crawler for a while now, and a solid 22re is, in my opinion, the perfect motor for such a a build, being that it is so light and dependable. (Especially after having just been rebuilt with new HG, ARP studs, and pistons)

Anyways, thanks again for the advice. Anyone else out there who would care to share their opinions/expertise, all suggestions are appreciated.

I've only been on this forum for a couple days now, and so far it has been a great source of info and the members very helpful.

 

LCE can likely help you as well.

 

Engine management is always a big hurdle as well being your OBD1, the mosk site I linked you too has all his info and he made mid 200’s and what he spent was probably 3 times your budget but I’m guessing.

good luck keep us posted!

 

The 22-RE is a turd and will stay a turd. Just love it for what it is. There are much, much better Toyota engine options.

You need to spend 10K+ to get reliable, useable 350HP from a 22-RE. Call LCE and ask. Not only do you need low compression pistons, you really need to get a reworked head with bigger valves and porting (from a pro with a flow bench) et cetera et cetera.

 

Yeah, that isn't true.

The 22R series are far from being a "turd". They are low power, reliable engines.

 

Do a 3rz swap and then turbo that. Way more power potential and it will probably be cheaper

 

LC Engineering will have what you need in the way of improving the rotating portion of the engine i.e. rods. The head from the 20R has much better port geometry but they are hard to find from what I recall. Forced induction will make the head flow a bit less important as you can cover up the inefficiencies with higher boost pressures on your waste gate. Intercooler it for certain and perhaps inject water into the intercooler for a double dose in keeping the intake charge cooled down. At 3X the power the reliability will be forsaken as you discover the shift in living with a whole new set of weak links brought on with this project. I applaud the mission, keep us posted. I have 1982 22R engine lurking that I have been pondering what to do with as well.
You do not need to sleeve a 22R, the block is made of some of the best steel ever sourced for an engine. So a tad bit different from the Hondas!

 

3.4 w/super charger would probably be cheaper. And you can probably find a transmission to hold the HP easier. If you want to do it the by all means. I did it with a quad and had a single cylinder TRX"250"r that would mow down all but the biggest banshies. But for what I spent it would have been easier and cheaper to just swap a street bike motor in.

Just keep us posted either way.