lc engineering posted this tech note and i was wondering if anyone has suffered from this amount of severe wear caused by the timing chain. "In 1985-95 22R/RE, Toyota introduced a new designed engine family, changing the distance between the cam to crank centerline ie: shorter head and shorter block. This required a shorter single chain with plastic guide rails. "When introduced, LC Engineering experienced problems with this in their high performance R&D department. The chain will stretch beyond the tensioner's limits allowing the chain to slip against the plastic guides resulting in breaking the guides (that's the noise heard on cold start up). Prolonged engine operation will result in the chain wearing through the timing cover allowing coolant to leak into the engine crankcase." my engine is at 200,000 with the original chain and im about to rebuild my engine but im thinking of doing the dual row conversion... is it worth it though?
you can only do the dual chain upgrade to pre-84 ish motors or a non laser block. as for the wear, you would know your doing it from the ticky valve type noise that comes and goes. pretty common at that, the plastic guides only last 70-100k usually.
You can get it done. if LC is to pricey and dont want to work with you i would says go talk with TIM @ DOAracing
I would just go with a normal single row with metal backed guides. It will be plenty strong and is waaaay cheaper than converting to dual row. I got mine from engnbldr. The timing chain had almost worn through the cover on my 4runner that I just bought. The Prior owner whose dad (a professional mechanic for a power company) made the mistake of not putting on a drivers side guide though so in 15k miles the chain had almost eaten all the was through.
There ya go Nolan make it all sound lika bolt on adaptation and totally ruin my excitement witha engine builders bible. How about I just have you build my engine and come pick it up. . . Great write-up man, you never cease to amaze me with all your engine knowledge and toyota knowhow, truley an asset to this site and us enthusiasts. I was serious about the motor too. . . Looking for mild performance upgrade and using 32/36 weber DGEV or 38 weber DGEV. Im saving all winter for engine and paint man, and I gots lots of 4th gen parts too : )
Yes - I agree with got a great many toyota enthusiasts here on the site and its a very kewl place to meet new people, learn new things, and show off our TOYS! Thanks for your thoughts man. I actually have 2 22r engines hanging around screaming for a project ( like I need 1 ) - ones outta a 85 and the other an 87 both carbed. So plenty of projects for me, was always curious about the timing chain have heard so many things about it and have dealt with its issues first hand a few times and Im sure it wont be the last . . .
X10 on keeping it a single chain but using the metal backed guides... If your original timing set lasted 200+ miles, I don't see the need to spend the extra money on something you don't really need... Just my .02
