I have a tired '85 22RE with a severely blown head gasket. It has over 300,000 miles on it wihich wouldn't prevent me from just doing the head gasket in itself but when I pulled the head off I found some pitting on the block, so now the block has to come out for machining. At that point, I better go ahead and rebuild the thing so I have been weighing my options. At this point I am leaning toward ditching the fuel injection and throwing on a weber carb because I love a simple clean engine bay. This motor is being built for a street truck, not off road.

First I was getting excited about doing a performance build of some sort. I was looking through the LCE catalog and came up with a bunch of great product but they are pretty cost prohibitive. I would like to run a set of their oversized valves in my 22R head, but then I saw engnbldrs OS stainless valves and they are a way better deal, although they don't list oversize seats for them, which I would think you would need, but I guess they are probably not too expensive (LCE has over size seats for $10 or so). I will probably keep my stock valve springs as I believe the fuel injected models had a beefier spring anyway. Engnbldr also has a really interesting sounding cam(270/430H/O). I am going to gasket match and do some minor proting and polishing on my head myself. I would just buy a engnbldr head, but my head has already been straightened and surfaced and I'd like to use it. I would like to run some sort of upgraded pistons, but $500 is way out of my price range for them. I was looking at Keith Black pistons but found a bunch of really bad reviews about them online, so now I am back to some cast stock style pistons again unless I can find a high performance option for a good price. From everything I have reaqd so far, h-beam connecting rods are totally overkill for what I'm doing and stockers will work fine. I am going to have them resized by a local machine shop (re-boring them so they have the right shape). I'll run engnbldrs moly ringsand oil pump. I'm hoping the crank is still in decent shape, we'll see when I get it out.

So now my performance build isn't really looking quite so performance, but it should work. Most of the improvement will come from the valve job with the os valves and the cam. I should gain some compression through the milling of the block, but I know I can only go so far before I get below the minimum height. Can I remedy this problem with a adjustable cam gear, or is there just going to be too much slack in the chain if I mill it past the minimum height? I know the pistons stick up just slightly on my motor too, like .015 or something. There might be a true flat topped piston I could swap in with a lower clearance height, the ones that came in this motor are called flat top I think, and they are compared to the early style 22R's, but they really do have a small raised up area on the surface of the piston. If I can get my compression up around 10:1 or so, I was thinkiing it would also be a good idea to maybe upgrade to a set of ARP head studs.

So that's where I am at right now, still weighing all my options. If anyone knows of any reasonably priced performance goodies I might have missed, please let me know. Thanks!

 

Back when I built my 86 22r (it's been years,though) Engnblder was my choice for everything, except exhaust.

I used my stock block (deck was good, so no machine work), stock rotating assembly with stock pistons, and engnblder Chrome Moly rings. I also used Ted's Master engine kit, it came with all needed bearings, thrust washers, oil pump, valve seals, etc. Back then, he had a lightweight titanium lock and retainer kit for the valves/springs, but last I checked, he no longer has them. I got his OS valves, the seats were purchase and installed through my machine shop. Also, I used the manganese bronze guides, and RV springs with the 270/430 cam your speaking of,and a single row timting chain. The exhaust was a tri-y header from Northwest Offroad Specialties, and straight pipe ( literally, it had 2 45* bends to get around the tranny x-member and was STRAIGHT out the back with an 18" cherry bomb). I used the NWOR ignition re-cure spring, as well. Stock intake and carb. Dry shot of nitrous, MSD 6AL/blaster coil and a 4x4 clutch.

without nitrous, power came on pretty hard @ ~ 2k, pulled HARD all the way to around 6200 or so, and revved surprisingly quick with the stock flywheel.

With nitrous, I'd hit the button @~2k, and release it @ 5300 or so, then shift at 5700-ish. It was a street terror! It was a blast!

My friends and I did all the work, except the machining for the vlaves. Total cost was 2k +/- a couple hundred.




If your wanting higher compression, look into a 20r head swap using stock 22r valves, seats, etc. The 20 flows better than the 22r, and has smaller chambers, win win if you ask me!

 

http://www.toyheadauto.com/PerformancePages/ToyotaPerformanceValveTrain.html

 

Thanks for the input guys! I guess there's a couple more details I should have mentioned. As far as the 20r head option, I was looking into it, but I don't have a 20r head handy, and I do happen to have a straightened and surfaced 22r head. I know the 20r head had a straight shot on the intake and all, but I was kinda figuring that with some os valves in the 22r head I could do alright just porting that, seeing as how the stock 22r valves are larger than 20r valves anyway. Another factor that has me leaning away from a 20r head swap is that I think with my 85 block and early pistons and 20r head I'd have 11.5:1 compression or something and I really don't want anywhere near that high of compression, somewhere more like 10:1 would be good, and these trucks had fairly high compression to begin with.

I wish engnbldr still offered the ti keepers. Anyone know a good place to get them (cheaper than LCE)?

I am planning to lighten my stock flywheel by removing the large ridge on a lathe. What's the 4x4 flywheel like compared to a stock 2wd one?

Nam, those cams are pretty expensive! That's up in the price range of LCE stuff. The engnbldr cams are $90 or so. Don't forget guys, as always, I am on a super limiting budget so all the performance goodies I can add have to find some kind of balance between high performance and affordability. I know the two things don't really go hand in hand...

Again thanks for the input! This will be my first motor rebuild. I have studied up on it a lot, plus there is a really good local machinist that has given me a bunch of advice already, but advice from all of you with experience building these motors is greatly appreciated!

 

You don't want a 4x4 flywheel, just the clutch and pressure plate, it's a little stiffer than the 2wd unit and costs about the same from the parts stores....usually with a warranty because it's "stock"

Check prices on a 22re-t oil pump, I've heard it's a good performance upgrade for N/A carb'd applications.

A lighter flywheel will allow the engine to rev quicker, and accelerate quicker, which is good. Downside is that there's less mass rotating, which can cause a loss of speed going up hills due to the loss of available inertia. (think 70mph with the cruise on, then coming up a hill and losing a few mph, that kinda thing, only a bit more dramatic). Several people on here have them, and give great reviews. I want to lighten mine, keep me posted how it treats you!

If you've got a 22r head to use, so be it. The placement of the valve in the runner is not exactly ideal, but the price is dead on! Be sure to check the pads on your rocker arms (where they ride on the cam lobes) for even wear. There's no sense putting in a new cam if your gonna wipe the side off a lobe in 100 miles.

I notice LCE is selling "outlaw ported" stock manifolds with a carb adapter on them for some insane price. Might be able to have your intake "outlaw ported" for cheaper, and use a weber 38 for around the same total cost as the LCE intake alone.

Get rid of power steering. Lose the A/C. No smog pumps or CATs allowed. Plug, block off, or delete everything not necessary to run. Might be some ponies hiding in all that parasitic stuff. Unless you've gotta pass smog, in that case..I'm sorry.

 

Several threads started very similar... one currently 3 spots down.

 

Sounds like good suggestions! I'll check into those when I order parts!

Will do!

Yeah, but this is MY engine rebuild thread! Plus it's going to fill up with pictures and information here when I do this rebuild which will be helpful for others down the road hopefully. I have actually been gathering information from many many threads and forums in the last few days and I waited until I had a decent idea about what I was thinking about doing before I posted anything about it. I'm just looking for advice and opinions based on my specific rebuild.

 

i doubt the 20R bolts to the 85+ 22R blocks.

 

Actually, that's the combo you want to really gain compression, with the early style domed pistons. The shape of the block is basically the same where the head bolts on, but it's 2mm shorter from 85-up. If I just swapped the 20r head and didn't switch to domed pistons though, I would actually lose compression as the 20r head has a cavity recessed into the head to accept domed pistons and the 85-up style head does not. Like I said though, then we are talking somewhere around 11.5:1 compression ratio, at that point pump gas is out, that doesn't sound so fun. Plus I don't have a 20r head. If I had one sitting around I might consider it.

 

Good luck with your build man. Im about to tear into mines as well. Wish i had more time to do more engine work but life goes on.

 

the engnblder oversized valves are not that much bigger then stock but anything helps and the price is great. i put them in my head when i built it and i also used the 270/430 cam i plan to build another head and use same valves and port it a little better i just cleaned up the casting but i will be using a more aggressive cam. i did gasket match my intake manifold... anything helps just don't go to far ted is a great person to deal with and will be doing busness with him again planing to build another motor


And the 20r head will go on the 85+ 22r-e blocks major machining is required though

 

please, please be sure to use a quality head gasket, even if it costs a bit more. This is a lesson I've learned from experience. If I had waited only one more week ( for my next pay check) I would've been able to afford a better quality head gasket, and without a doubt, still be driving my nitrous fed '86.

I used a stock style Fel-pro from a normal parts store. Others have had great luck with them. I've even had great luck with them on other engines, which is why I got one for my last build. It just didn't stand up to my use. ( My "use" = most people's "abuse")

 

maybe a idea?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7KW_QJyRyQ

 

my .02



go to your trusted machine shop, have a good talk with em.


odds are they can re-grind your stock cam to what you want. and i bet most of your motor is rebuildable. valve seats/seals, cyl rings and gaskets and i bet your golden. then as a added bonus id have the shop gasket match the ports and clean the castings.

there really isnt any worthy upgrade to a 2Xr. better to just try and make whats there work better, or swap to something better.

 

Thanks Josh! No worries man, these things take time and money... My situation is I have plenty of time but money is going to be the hold up. Hopefully it won't be too long though before I can at least get started on having the block work done.

Yeah, I wish www.engnbldr.com offered larger oversized valves, but for the price the ones he has seem way better than stock.

I wonder why you say that major machining is required to bolt a 20r head onto a 85+ 22r block? From what I understand it will bolt right on, but it takes swapping the pistons to domed pistons to make it advantageous. I wonder how much you gain from swapping a 20r head onto an early style block? If anyone knows about what you would be looking at compression-wise I'd be really interested to know. It might be about the same as stock compression but with the straight shot on the 20r intake ports, but I don't know. I have only seen estimates for compression on the shorter 22r blocks with early style pistons and a 20r head, and that was estimated at 11.5:1. There is a way to figure your cylinder volume mathematically and calculate your compression ratio.

http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/calculate_compression_ratio/index.html

I also ran across a couple neat calculators on the internet like this:

http://www.csgnetwork.com/compcalc.html

But I don't honestly know how to do the necessary calculations myself. I'm no mathamagician...

Damn, I was planning on using a regular old fel-pro gasket. So what would you suggest for a better alternative? MLS?

Nah, I'm not interested in going that route at all. I just got out of the full size thing into Toyota's a couple years ago and I'm not looking back at all. I had a big ass lifted full size Blazer on 38" Swampers. That thing sucked. It's time to go small! I don't know about where you guys are at, but out here people are dropping full sizes like hot rocks. Gas is too expensive. At some point I want to do an old school mini build with a small block in it, but that's a long ways off.

That's funny Ryan, I already talked to him extensively, and basically he said pretty much the same thing you did. But you guys know me, I love messing with stuff... I am also into from the hot rod mentality. I know it's just a little four banger and it's not gonna produce a whopping amount of power, but I'd like to say I built it and ht rodded it out a bit for performance, just to say I did it if nothing else. But I don't want to go to far that it's not reliable and street-able.

Anyway, thanks again for all the good advice everyone! I will be taking all of the points brought up into consideration before I build this motor!

 

I really don't want to discredit Fel-pro gaskets, like I said I have used them before without any issues. In this particular application I don't think was the right choice, though. A stock style gasket wasn't meant to endure high levels of N2O use, high rpms, AND daily driving all at once. To that end, it survived much longer than even I expected. 2 years of daily driving, high rpm runs, and one of those was had SEVERAL 10lb bottles ran through it.

If by chance your thinking of boosting or spraying it down the road, I'd personally go with a MLS to ensure that it's not a weak link. On the other hand, if your reasonably certain you won't rev it to 7k, or spray copious amounts of giggle gas into it, or boost it...then MLS might be overkill.