Ernie Leimkuhler wrote:

I tried posting this over at the Toyota truck newsgroup and got no
help, so back to RCM is it.


3 weeks ago my 85 Toyota 1-ton blew it's rod bearing.
snip
What I want to do is bring the truck back to life.
I have to choose how to do that.
It currently has the Fuel Injected 22REC engine.
A good rebuilt one is around $1500-$1600.
A junkyard pulled engine is like $400-$700 as far as I can find.
snip

I am thinking about rebuilding the engine myself.
I have a metal fab shop, and since I have the '86 to drive for now there
is no immediate hurry.

On the '85 I have done everything except the engine itself,
I have been leery of actually getting inside the engine without
training, or at least supervision.

I can buy a rebuild kit for around $400, but is it better to rebuild
the engine in the truck or on a bench?
The tranny was last done about 150,000 miles ago, but can't be tested
until I get a working engine on it.
The truck has 265,000 on it.
The factory engine died at 185,000, and I got about 80,000 out of the
rebuilt one I bought 7 years ago.
I have had this truck since 89, and it has been cared for, but also
USED a lot.
snipped
Hi Ernie;

I'd say rebuild it. Make SURE the rebuild kit has Felpro gaskets! The
World / Beck Arnold / Joes Taco Stand and Gasket Works... head gaskets
are pure crap. Double check that the plenum to head gasket and upper to
lower plenum gaskets are correct, it isn't unusual to find the gasket
provided isn't correct for these two places. Usually a water jacket is
either not gasketed or is blocked off. No idea why so many FelPro kits
that are supposed to be for a specific year get this wrong, but I've
seen it with kits for the Toyota 2TC, 3AC, 22R, and 22RE engines. Saw
the same thing with the one for a Suzuki Samarai once also.

You can probably have the crank ground. If the shop wants the block to
verify fit, that's fine. When you get it back though, tear it back down
and verify the sizes with plastigage and verify all the grinding grit is
really out of the oil passages in the crank. I've found grit more than
once in the crank "installed" with the new bearings in the block by the
machine shop. No excuse for it, but something that many shops just
aren't careful about.

The only really "special" tools that come to mind that might not be
already in a well equipped shop a

Ridge Reamer (may be needed, may not)
Piston Ring Pliers - maybe 10 bucks
Piston Ring Compressor (for putting the pistons back in the bores)
Seems they're around $20. The tapered ring style are really nice, the
style with the ratching steel band work OK too. Just oil the ring
compressor well before tapping the pistons through.

Bore Hone - to put the cross hatch on the bore. If you have to have the
block bored the shop that does the work should do this. Another $10
bucks. Use a low speed and plenty of kerosene or WD40. I like using an
air drill for this, the speed is low enough to get a good cross hatch
without having to move like a spastic hamster having a seizure.

Valve Spring Compressor. As the head will be off the old simple large C
clamp style works fine for this engine - maybe $30 or so. Have a clean
area when using this, the valve keepers love to drop off when you least
expect them too.

And here's the weird one - a long T handled metric hex key to get the
cap screw out that holds the plenum assy to the head. I have the Blue
Point set, they are just long enough. There isn't enough room to use a
hex bit on a ratchet on this engine, the only thing that works is the
long T handle. Sorry I don't recall the size, but the Blue Point set
was only around $16 from the Snap On truck.

A few lengths of plastigage in the 1 to 4 thou range, don't think this
engine needs the thicker stuff. Maybe a buck a length, one or two
lengths will probably do the entire job. The PlastiGage I've bought for
this size has been green, don't know if that's still the case.

The Bentley manual is excellent, the Haynes is pretty good for this
engine. The Chiltons wasn't so hot. Good enough to give most of the
info to a guy who has rebuilt a lot of engines, not enough info for a
first timer.

You may need to turn some seal drivers if you don't have the Snap On or
Mac seal driver kit. I cloned my neighbors set. The dimensions are in
the Snap On catalog, they make doing a rebuild quicker. I've used
pieces of pipe faced cleanly quite a few times before making a full set.

You HAVE to have a good torque wrench, most likely you already do.

I'm surprised you lost a bearing with this low a mileage, and very
surprised you have already had the engine done once. Not using Castrol
by any chance are you? The engines I've torn down that were run on
Havoline or Valvoline are usually really clean inside, the ones on
Castrol are a varnished mess.

Do the job on an engine stand, trying to do it in the truck is more pain
than the cost of an engine stand. It's just so much easier on a stand.

Buy or borrow an engine crane if you don't have one. Don't know how
much they rent for where you are, around here a weeks rental was about
the cost of just buying the darn thing. Once you have one you'll wonder
how you lived without it.

Check the clutch while it's all apart, and go ahead and replace the
throw out and pilot bearings while it's an easy job.

Don't laugh off the instructions to protect the rod ends while
installing the pistons, more than one crank has been scored by someone
who thought that putting bits of vacuum hose over the threads is for
sissies :-)

I'd go ahead and do a valve job while it's all apart, at least to the
extent of inspecting the valves and guides, lapping the valves and
verifying they seat correctly. The rebuild kit should include the valve
seals. Check the valve spring free and compresed heights while you're
at it.

Replace all of the vacuum hoses while it's an easy job. Don't use the
no name import stuff, CarQuest brand is made by Gates if you can't get
the red spooled Gates from your local supplier. I buy it by the 50 foot
spool, it's cheaper than by the foot.

Not really a tough job, just a few minor skills to add to the
collection. The first rebuild is always a source of apprehension. I
was really scared that I'd screw up completely the first time I did one.
Once you've done one, you wonder what you were worried about. My
first rebuild went almost 100K miles when the vehicle got totalled by a
dork running a red light. The next one went 300K miles when I donated
the car to the local VoTech, still running well but in a body going to
hell in a hurry and an auto tranny starting to slip. I'm a computer
nerd by trade, not a professional mechanic.

Toyota engines are some of the easier rebuilds, the castings are nicely
made and well machined and the tolerances are close but not silly tight
as on a Samarai engine. Almost as easy as a Farmall engine, but the
parts weight a lot less :-)

A nightmare rebuild is a '85 Chevy 2.8 liter - a true POS design.

Cheers,
Stan