22RE rebuild

[Shifty]

Hi guys

I am about to rebuild a 22RE that has done 250,000km - what stuff should I be doing while it's apart? I've not done a rebuild before but the below is what I believe I will need.

Piston rings
Pistons if necessary (likely)
Big ends & main bearings
Rear main seal
Timing chain kit
Crank oil seal (if not included in timing chain kit)
New water pump
New water outlets

Anything else?

Assuming it's in fair nick then the head is easy, I know a good cylinder head shop so I'll just drop it off and pick it up when it's done which will only be a few hundred bucks including the VRS kit.

The bottom end I'm not 100% sure on - cylinders honed/bored as necessary, crank machined to accept new bearings, block decked, and the whole show chemically cleaned. Anything else for a garden variety rebuild?

[o_man_ra23]

Dont just get a few seals and a VRS kit, get the full kit. The full kit will include all gaskets, seals etc, vrs kit, pistons, rings, bearings. From there you need to get a timing kit, make sure you get the guides, chain and sprocket. I would say throw in a new water pump for good measure, and a new oil pump. You probably wont need to get the crank machined, just linished, but i would say that boring and honing the block to accept oversized pisons is the way to go. Also, getting new gudgeon bushes and fitting them will help too. These will need to be installed by a machine shop. Get the crank and flywheel balanced, and get the flywheel machined. New engine mounts including gearbox are the go. Balancing the con rods is a good idea too. The valves should be either replaced or re-seated, and new valve springs are a good idea too. While your at it, maybe look into a camshaft with a more aggressive profile (either higher revving or torqueyer, the original was conservative, and restrictive). Porting is a good idea too, but this can be done at home. All the head shop will need from the vrs kit is the valve seals, so make sure you give them over with the head.

It can be a big job, but if your gonna spend the money, might as well do it the whole hog.

Cheers, Owen

[wraith]

Ahem. Well, if your intending to race it, maybe all of the above is the way to go. However, if your just looking for a couple of hundred thou more kays out of it go with some fresh bearings, a hone and rings. Get the head shaved & valve stem seals replaced. Seriously, if the pistons are OK why replace them? If the timing gear doesn't make lots of racket, what needs fixing? Probably not a bad idea to put some new chain guides in, but new chain and sprocket? BALANCING? The 22R head is fairly restrictive, I very much doubt your going to reach the limits of Toyotas (actually quite good) factory balance. Hey, you want to burn cash- go the whole hog. You want to keep the ute/forklift/celica going- don't fix what isn't broken.

cheers

Ash

[Shifty]

Thanks for your response Owen.

Despite my other thread asking about head work I've decided that will just turn into a money pit (aftermarket computer, fuel system, etc) so I'm going to stay away from it entirely.

As such a fairly basic rebuild is on the cards and I just want something, as Ash said, to squeeze an extra 150-200k out of the thing. I'm thinking of a fairly basic rebuild as the motor runs beautifully, just a little tired.

If I had money to burn your option would be great but that sounds like it's going to cost me $1500 for the bottom end.. I was thinking more like half that DIY.

[o_man_ra23]

Mate, its not hard to do most of that DIY. But in all seriousness, when you said you wanted to go a VRS and just the front and rear crank seals, you really need to get a full gasket kit. The 22RE pistons are a long item, makes them quite stable in the bores, but it also causes them to wear a lot down the bottom of the skirts. It cost me $600 for a full ACL rebuild kit with pistons, so add the cost of new timing gear, gudgeon bushes(if not already in the kit) and welch plugs to that, and theres your parts cost. Boring, honing, decking, fitting gudgeon bushes, acid bath, shaving the head and seating the valves shouldnt cost more than $700. The rest you do yourself, ie the porting etc. New valves and springs and the like, i threw that in there for your turbo idea, so that can be discounted, but the rest will give you a very good freshen up. And the reason you would want to change the chain and sprockets is that after 250k the chain will be stretched, so it needs replacing, and if you dont replace the sprockets at the same time, the old ones will age the chain very quickly and will make it start to rattle before its time.

Cheers, Owen

[Norbie]

In all seriousness, why would you waste all this money on what is basically a $750 shitter? Just keep it well maintained and it will serve you well for another 100,000km. We both know you'll sell it long before then, so why the rebuild?

[Shifty]

This from a man with an RA23 project car that's worth less than $750

Seriously though it sounds like it needs a timing chain, and it's running hot so it probably needs a new water pump.... those things combined with the fact it's done 306,000km suggest that it might be worth doing it properly. It doesn't smoke and it starts first go, but while I'm going to the trouble of replacing those bits I'd like to check it all out and while it's already out & apart then it'd be silly not to do the extra work on it.

My gf and I are mad bike enthusiasts, so we need a reliable tow car for our track outings. The money wouldn't be wasted if it meant that the car did another 200,000km without any mechanical issues! I just know from past experiences (*ahem* Supra *ahem*) that patching up one thing doesn't mean that something else won't fail a few weeks later. I'd rather get it all done in one hit - besides it's cheaper that way - rather than chasing my tail on maintenance once a month when something else needs doing.

I'm still toying with ideas at the moment so we'll see what happens. I may just pay a mechanic to do the timing chain & water pump and hope it holds together