What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

Ok good you'll need an extra set of hands with placing the head. It's a heavy bitch when your trying to reach to the middle of the engine bay (well I'm short and have t-Rex arms) Have a bungee cord ready to hook the sprocket and chain to when you take off the head. Good luck if you run into any questions hit me up.

 

I've got them on my dd! They are about the same width of a285 just a bit taller. Of the ones you suggested I would go with 285s

 

255s

 

I guess he was saying I might need still need a machine shop to mill the block surface, so at that point it would need to be at a shop anyway.

 

I might have to go this route.

 

Subi's have aluminum blocks, your 3RZ does not. There is very little chance that it is warped, but before reassembly it would be best to check it against a real straight edge, and use feeler gauges to gauge the run out.

I should clarify and say that you should follow the FSMs recommendation for checking the block surface, and by straight edge I mean a machinists straight edge, not an average household ruler.

 

The head gets resurfaced. I've never heard of the block needing resurfacing. When I did mine I bought a replacement head with head gasket and threw it on. Done. The old head went to recycling.

 

That's good to hear. So how much am I looking at for a fully assembled head? At this point I'm thinking with a little help from you guys and some time and patience we can get the head off the block. What sort of adjustments am I looking at after that? And I am told I'll have to get a new timing chain/kit to go with the new head?

 

Sounds like we're going to need to buy more than a few tools for this job..

 

You don't have to get a new chain, I didn't. That being said if you're up for it, it's a good thing to do although Toyota regards it as a lifetime part. That requires more disassembly, mainly taking off the front timing cover which is a pretty big job itself. You could get the head off without removing the cam gear from the chain, most people zip tie the two together to avoid them coming apart.

 

Feeler gauges are good (and not expensive) to have and a good straight edge is great if you ever plan to fab stuff. If you decide to use your head you'll probably want to have the valve clearances checked by a shop or do it yourself as it sounds like they've never been done, and on the RZ engines they are really important to keep up on to avoid head cracks on the exhaust valve side.

 

Have you regeared? And you're a v6, little tougher on the 4 banger.

 

That's what I'll probably go with.

 

You don't need to replace the chain at all. But what you should check are the chain guides. They are made of plastic. Check the sprocket for uneven wear and the chain for any wear. If you don't see any wear then your good. Don't buy it unless you need it for sure, that will save some money. You'll also need new head bolts to play it safe. vvvvv everything he said.

 

Haha, if I use my head. That's all I'm trying to do here man. Haha. And yeah they've never been checked so I'll be sure to get those checked. Should I do that before we start tearing this thing down?

 

This is a very rare sight. Just washed my truck in the middle of December (or close to it.) it was a VERY cold 74 today, most of the time I hate this bipolar weather but today I took advantage of it

 

LOL, not how I meant it but much funnier You can do it at any time throughout the process, provided the cams are installed in the head that you are going to be using.

 

Haha! So I found this and it makes me wonder how a brand new motor can be this cheap!
http://www.toyotatruckengine.com/1995-2004-2rz-3rz-toyota-brand-new-engine-tacoma-4-runner-t100/

 

Not sure, I'd imagine cheap parts considering it is a complete "NEW" engine and not a reman. Also (don't know why I just thought of this) when you have the intake plenum off it is a great time to change the fuel filter as it is super easy to reach.

 

Haven't re geared yet, the v6 does help though.