So I found this today..

Pulled the oil pan this morning for a sand blast and powder coat and found this gnarly bastard klinging to my oil pump strainer..

 

The strainer did its job!

Cool incidental finding.

 

This truck has low miles, but there's clues that it was rebuilt once. For example, all the camshaft caps are labeled with where they go and most of them are not in the position they are labeled for. I'll be swapping some shims. All the exhaust are on the tight side of the range and a couple are out of spec tight.

 

Probably won't run right without it. I'd put it back in.

 

lol. I've decided to just park it out front and turn it into a squirrel zoo where I will have a squirrel circus.

 

Are you sure this isnt a 2023 Tundra?

 

Why? are they known for squirrel nests in the oil pan?

 

Yes, Toyota is replacing every motor in Tundras due to machining operations that left debris like what is in your pan. You seem a good enough tech, if it was me I would pull one main and one rod cap and look at the bearings.

 

It's sitting on an engine stand so I will be looking at whatever I can short of tearing the whole thing apart.

The previous owner swore this thing has had an easy life and there were no issues with the engine, but he's my bro-in-law, bless his heart, and so far I haven't been able to corroborate his story.

A quick look at the cam lobes and I didn't see any scoring. However, there is a spot on the edge of one of the #2 intake lobes that looks like a small bit chipped off. But then I look at the edges of all the lobes and they all look rather "rough". Not as bad, but it kinda gives me the impression that they weren't that concerned with the machining toward the edges. The bit that's missing looks polished inside. Maybe that's what makes me think it's always been that way.

This is my second Toyota engine I've been in. The first was an inline six out of a 82 or 83 Supra I used to have. That engine was a peach to work on.

When I get a chance I will pop the oil pickup and the splash plate off and have a look under the caps.

Is there anything unique to these that I should beware of in popping crank caps off?? Can I just remove one/reinstall and then torque it back down to spec and move to another? Or will that screw with the sequence. Usually I'm torqueing them all at once and there's a sequence/order to it.

 

If the chip on the cam isnt in the "swipe" area I wouldnt worry. Yeah, just pop the caps and retorque.

Those Supra 6's were pretty damn fast in the day. I likes the Celica GTs because of the 4 wheel independant suspension.

 

I never got to drive the car after I finished the engine. At the time I was in my mid 20's and evidently didn't have enough patience. It wouldn't stay running for more than a second. I ended up selling it to someone for about $900. A steal. A few months later I ran into that guy at a store. He told me I did a terrific job on that motor and all he did was replace the ECM. He said the car was a beast. Unfortunately, he went on to tell me a week or two earlier some old lady rear ended him at a stop light and creamed the car. Totaled it. What a shame. I loved that car as briefly as I owned it. Probably the coolest car I've had, and I've had my share over 30 years of driving. I wish I had kept it.
This wasn't mine but is the exact same including color.

 

speedbeagle.....i liked post bc of the car! not tht she was totaled/u sold


so at 1st i thought the debris was a SS Brillo pad......like what a tech cleaned block/pan surface with. portion of pad dropped in OP

but
strings dont look uniform.....are the shaving strings found hard?....like could cut your finger?

 

I didn't poke at it much before I had to run to work, but you are correct, I thought of brillo when I had it in my hands. It definitely looks like bearing material though. silver and brass colored

 

Hmmmmmm

eager to see a pic with OP removed

Internet guess
-bc I see “curly-cue” effect on the debris

I interpret that as something round was getting shaved off
Guessing that one crank cap(s)installed/torqued incorrectly.
Maybe wrong cap part as well
The protruding cap lip caught edge of crank shaft……got milled off. Like a cut to fit thing…..once clearance achieved, no issues!

as far as cap bolts
I would inspect each one…..then tighten barely…..then torque in sequence per manual
That’s just me

 

I would take a borescope and look at the cylinder walls

look for shine or scored.....hopefully all clean crosshatching

a stuck or seized ring might would shave just like that

 

If she was rebuilt... looks like shavings from when the cylinders were bored to me.

 

The crank has a one piece cap block that is captive to the rear seal plate so I wasn't able to get it off to look at the bearings. I spent quite a lot of time picking shreds of whatever out of the oil strainer with a needle. They were small enough not to be seen and wrap around the individual wires of the strainer. Don't think any of it was the block steel because I couldn't pick them up with a magnet. Some bearings did some self clearancing is what I'm thinking. I'm not going to lose a lot of sleep over it tho. As I have said the previous owner and the owner before him have both told me this truck always ran great.
I'm just not sure why they are surprised when I tell them I believe it was rebuilt. There's a lot of signs. Especially in the top end where cam bearing caps are disorganized. I can't believe Toyota would let that pass at the factory. There's also some writing on a cam in yellow paint marker. Can't quite make it out.
I think I will end up putting a sandwich adapter on the oil filter if there is room. Then I can add my own oil pressure and temp guages and keep an eye on the oil pump.

Now I just have to find valve shims. I need 12 of the damn things. I had an intake and an exhaust on #1 that were out of spec tight and just about all the exhaust were at the bottom limit of the spec so I'd like to loosen up those exhausts too.
If anyone is sitting on a stash of them and would like to make some moola mic'ing them and sending me what you got I need:
2.779
2.832
2.855
2.893
2.896
2.898
2.901
2.916
2.918
2.923
2.931
2.944
Their all sized for the middle of the range so if you have one slightly thinner that will prolly work.

 

I'm sure you thought of this but are you able to swap the shims around to other valves to get the clearances back in spec? might save you from having to replace all the shims.

 

Well I thought about that too, but I didn't figure I'd take care of half!
revised list
2.788
2.832
2.901
2.916
2.918
2.923

 

speedbeagle

if you have time.....could you post a pix of top/bottom of a taco shim
(just for my knowledge)
last time i was this deep in an engine....cam lobes rolled on 'buckets' with same measuring labels (2.788/2.923/etc)
just wanna see the difference....im pretty sure just looks like a wafer or something
cheers my man