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Discussion starter · #1,941 ·
Got over to work on the engine a bit today. My friend and his dad did some work on the block yesterday and they have the cylinder walls looking MUCH better. No scoring or odd wear on any of them, and they are smooth now. There is some discoloration and some rust still but doesn't seem like it'll be an issue. Also cleaned up the mating surface for the head gasket.

Also went ahead and hand threaded all of the ARP studs in, then gave them a little snug up with a wrench.

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Mounting the engine mount stands and placed the water pump pulley in place but not tight.

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Got the crank pulley gear on and hand snugged the oil filter adapter just to see how things look.

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Valve covers are painted and swapped over the TRD oil cap

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Also painted some other parts like the turbo heat sheat, intake manifold, and throttle body.

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr



We were going to pull the valve train out today but the spring compressor my friend had ended up being WAY too big for the valves. So trying to figure out the easiest way and it looks like I may just buy the tool from Valve Master

 
We were going to pull the valve train out today but the spring compressor my friend had ended up being WAY too big for the valves. So trying to figure out the easiest way and it looks like I may just buy the tool from Valve Master

The Toyotool works great on stock valvesprings. You can’t get enough leverage with aftermarket springs though. At least, not with the engine in the car. I recommend the Toyotool if staying with stock springs/retainers but if you go aftermarket look into one of the Subaru-style compressors. It’s slower but you get the needed leverage.

Your motor cleaned up nicely. I am impressed!
 
Discussion starter · #1,944 ·
The Toyotool works great on stock valvesprings. You can’t get enough leverage with aftermarket springs though. At least, not with the engine in the car. I recommend the Toyotool if staying with stock springs/retainers but if you go aftermarket look into one of the Subaru-style compressors. It’s slower but you get the needed leverage.

Your motor cleaned up nicely. I am impressed!
Yeah, I'll be staying with stock valvesprings at least for the foreseeable future so I went ahead and bought the tool and valve stem pliers. I may only use them once but whatever. If I need to later, I can buy the other attachments for more leverage. And with the ARP head studs I can pull the head if I really need to.

That’s a good thing thought. I just picked up another is300. 01 dwp, no sunroof, black cloth. I’m actually pretty excited to tinker again
Good to hear! Seems like there are a few OG members coming back which is nice
 
Discussion starter · #1,945 ·
Picked up the Valvemasters / Toyotool valve spring compressor and valve stem seal pliers. Everything I've seen makes it seem like these will save a bunch of time and effort with stock valve train so I figured I might as well just get them and be done.

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Also picked up a Supra TT throttle cable from my local dealer. They were able to match online prices so I got it for a pretty good deal. Obviously the Camry throttle cable a lot of guys run is much cheaper, but Supra cable just looks like it belongs and fits much better since it's shorter than the Camry cable.

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And picked up some cheap organizers for my valvetrain. I can label these and make sure all buckets, shims, springs, etc stay together in the correct order.

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr


Hoping to get over this weekend and work on the engine but I just came down with something last night. Felt like crap all day.

Progress besides putting the motor back together may be even slower now. AC compressor for our home HVAC went out Monday night. Had a guy look at it Tuesday and replaced it today. I'm getting closer but damn it still feels a long way from being done.
 
Discussion starter · #1,946 ·
Managed to work on some things this weekend.

Supra TT Throttle cable vs IS300 cable

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

I haven't seen anyone mention that the brackets are different between the two. The cables just pop off though and slip onto the IS300 bracket

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Honestly, replacing the throttle cable has been the hardest part of the swap so far. There's no real room to get to the bolts on the fire wall and I ended up taking off the gas peddle. That was a terrible idea since it is spring loaded and a pain to bolt back in place too. Finally got everything put back together and I'm glad that's done lol

Then went over and disassembled the head.

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Replaced all valve stem seals. Put everything back together. New head gasket. Put the head on the block and torqued the head down. Cams are just resting in place.

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Hoping I can get over there one night this week and get the cams bolted in and the timing belt on. Then I'll be ready to move it back to my house.
 
The valve seats didnt look too bad from what i could make out in the photos, was there any rust on the valve faces? Did the head look ok after the corrosion found in the bore?

Did you lap everything in again?

Sorry, not meaning to hound you or be nosy, just curious how it all looked ;)
 
Discussion starter · #1,948 ·
The valve seats didnt look too bad from what i could make out in the photos, was there any rust on the valve faces? Did the head look ok after the corrosion found in the bore?

Did you lap everything in again?

Sorry, not meaning to hound you or be nosy, just curious how it all looked ;)
No worries man, you may catch something that we missed so doesn't bother me lol

The valve seats weren't terrible. One or two had some rust on the valve itself but almost all of it wiped off. We cleaned them the best we could but we did not lap anything. The head looked must better than the block. Wherever the water came from looks like it drained into the block and that's it. Besides a few of the closed valves.
 
Discussion starter · #1,949 ·
Finally brought the engine back to my house a week or so ago.

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Seeing how some things look

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Got the cams in and torqued. Just sat the cam gears on to see how it looked.

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Got cam gears mounted and made sure everything was timed, put the timing belt on.

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Lower timing cover and serpentine tensioner (Don't put the tensioner on until the crank pulley is on. Crank pulley has to go on first.)

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Fluidamper crank pulley, tensioner back on, upper cover on, water pump pulley back on.

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Finally picked up an Aristo fuel pump hanger

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Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

That's where everything currently sits.


I've hit a road block. I'm trying to compression test both my 2jzge and my 1jzgte out of the car. Trying to sell the 2jz and an interested party wants to see compression numbers. Then I want to test the 1jz before I go any further putting it back together or into the car.

I've had my battery on a tender since I stopped driving the car. Jumper cables from battery to starter. All spark plugs are removed. But there's not enough power to crank it over fast enough to build compression. I even pulled the battery out of my daily 4runner and same results. My only guess is that my connection for power is limiting the current to the starter and I need a large gauge wire. Just not real sure how to do it since the plug is so small.
 
You should be able to comp test it outside the car. I remember pulling my other car up (engine running), and hooking up the hot and ground from it’s battery (with jumper cables) to the hot and gnd cables on the GTE. Then I just took a jumper from the start signal connector on the starter to +12V. I remember the trigger wire getting warm but you only need to crank it a few times per each cylinder. I have a not great video from when I did it I could email, if you want it just pm me an address.
 
Discussion starter · #1,951 ·
You should be able to comp test it outside the car. I remember pulling my other car up (engine running), and hooking up the hot and ground from it’s battery (with jumper cables) to the hot and gnd cables on the GTE. Then I just took a jumper from the start signal connector on the starter to +12V. I remember the trigger wire getting warm but you only need to crank it a few times per each cylinder. I have a not great video from when I did it I could email, if you want it just pm me an address.

So I managed to get the test working. Tested my GE first.

GE had surprising results

1 - 190
2 - 210
3 - 210
4 - 210
5 - 120
6 - 210

Never had an issue with the way it drove so seems odd but whatever. I didn't think to add oil to cylinder 5 to see if it would build higher. I may redo it later and see..

Testing the 1JZGTE tho...

And I want to shoot myself in the face.

Tested multiple times with similar results.

DRY
1 - 87
2 - 170
3 - 165
4 - 95
5 - 45
6 - 105

WET
1 - 130
2 - 195
3 - 200
4 - 130
5 - 80
6 - 120

That's a LOT of variance. Not to mention the LOW numbers. So I'm pretty fucking excited.


I don't have a leak down tester gauge setup so going to try to get one this week. Checked locally Saturday and couldn't find one under $100.



I'm afraid we messed up by not lapping the valves. But until I can do a leak down I don't want to pull anything apart.
 
Well that sucks, both wet and dry aren't right on the same cylinders so theres something going on unfortunately. Still better to find out now while its all out of the car still.

Strange that 1 and 5 are lower even on the GE engine, its not something to do with how you are testing or something silly like that is it? (no offence intended ;))
 
Well that is not great news man, sorry to hear that. Hopefully it’s the valves and just needing some elbow grease to fix.

Yeah this has been a bullshit year. I’m not looking forward to the storm season at all. I’m in eastern Oklahoma so I feel you on the tornado avoidance. It’s been pretty tame the last few Springs so I am sure 2020 is set to be a strong storm season.
 
Discussion starter · #1,956 ·
Well that sucks, both wet and dry aren't right on the same cylinders so theres something going on unfortunately. Still better to find out now while its all out of the car still.

Strange that 1 and 5 are lower even on the GE engine, its not something to do with how you are testing or something silly like that is it? (no offence intended ;))
Yeah, better to find out now which is why I wanted to do it.

It's my first time doing compression tests out of a car, so I wouldn't rule out me doing something stupid, but I have checked both motors 2-3 times and get similar readings each time. I'm leaving things as in for now until I get the gauge setup to do a leak down test. I plan to compression test both motors again and do a leak down on both.

Well that is not great news man, sorry to hear that. Hopefully it’s the valves and just needing some elbow grease to fix.

Yeah this has been a bullshit year. I’m not looking forward to the storm season at all. I’m in eastern Oklahoma so I feel you on the tornado avoidance. It’s been pretty tame the last few Springs so I am sure 2020 is set to be a strong storm season.
I'm torn on what I would prefer the problem to be. If it's the block/rings, I can push the importer to refund me money because of how shitty the condition of the engine was. If it is the valves, it's on me.

And my concern would be that I go through the process to lap the valves myself, get a new head gasket, put it all back together, and I've still got something going on with it. I'll just have to wait and deal with it though.

Where at in Oklahoma? I'm from Joplin, MO and was in town when it got hit my the tornado back in 2011. I was going to school at the University of Arkansas at the time, but I was in town for my sisters graduation. That was MUCH MUCH worse than what Jonesboro was hit by. I've been lucky and out of both of them, only a couple friends lost their houses/cars. No injuries or anything.

Nature is wild and it's only going to get worse.

ooofff. hopefully its just the valves needing to be lapped a bit like you said, at least that way it doesn't cost anything but time and tired arms.
Yup! Was really looking forward to buying a harness so I could actually work on getting this thing in the car. I have a feeling I'm going to miss all of the summer now depending on what's wrong.
 
I would imagine you could try reusing the gasket to prove the valve lap worked or not. Yeah its not going to be good enough again for running the engine but it hasn't gotten hot so "should" just be able to squeeze down enough to seal for the test. If it still doesn't look right then nothing lost
 
Discussion starter · #1,958 ·
I would imagine you could try reusing the gasket to prove the valve lap worked or not. Yeah its not going to be good enough again for running the engine but it hasn't gotten hot so "should" just be able to squeeze down enough to seal for the test. If it still doesn't look right then nothing lost
Think I'm just going to say fuck it. Clean the head, lap the valves, new valve stem seals, new head gasket, new piston rings, new main bearings, new rod bearings, and new thrust washers. Have the block cleaned and honed. Will check to see how much it'll cost to have the block and head both decked. Going to try to see how clean I can get the head before taking it someplace to be cleaned.

Rather just get it done once and move on.

Definitely going to push my timeframe out but I don't want to half-ass it anymore than I did.
 
Discussion starter · #1,959 ·
Impulsively bought some Aerowolf visors for my Ganadors. Useless really, but they look kind of cool

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Expensive ass paper weight

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Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Tear down begins

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Tired of not having the tools I need, so bought a pulley puller and all the stuff needed to lap the valves. Brass and Nylon brushes, brass dremel attachments to clean the head and valves. Assembly lube for when it all goes back together. Waiting on a 3/8" drive, 1/2" 12 point socket to show up. I don't have one and couldn't find one locally. I'll borrow my friends if I get the cams out before the socket is delivered.

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Currently ready to loosen the cam gears and pull the timing belt.

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr


I'm having a harness built / reconditioned, and a jumper harness for the 2002+ body plugs so I can run the 1jz engine harness and ecu. Everything was sent out and delivered last week so hoping to have it back in about 3-4 weeks.

Decided I'm going to relocate the battery to the trunk, and use the Finishing Lines kit to relocate ABS to where the battery was. Rather do it now while the engine is out since it'll be easier. Will clean things up and save me trouble down the road if I swap to a bigger top mount turbo setup.

So I've got a shit load of stuff to buy. Going to take some time... Really hope the end result is all worth it.


Hoping I receive some good news from the importer tomorrow.


EDIT: Also had a friend of mine ask if I had check valve lash. I have not, so I went out and bought feeler gauges today. Going to check everything before I pull the cams out.
 
Discussion starter · #1,960 ·
So something has been bothering me since I checked compression and leak down. When we pulled the head, we noticed the piston in cylinder #6 didn't reach the same "height" as the other pistons at TDC. It's not the best picture, but you can see before the block was cleaned that #6 sat slightly below the top of the block.

Untitled by Corey Wattelet, on Flickr

Now, I was excited to get the engine and put it back together and hopefully get the car running, so I chalked it up as normal or not a big deal. The more I thought about it though the more I realized that "nah that ain't right".

Tore almost everything down tonight. Pulled all the timing components, pulled the cams, pulled the head, removed both oil pans, and pulled #1 and #6 piston and rod.

Cylinder #6
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Every other cylinder
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One of these is not like the other
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I had talked to the importer last week a little, and they had advised me to call and talk with the manager on Monday (today). I did not call them as I had my concerns with the rod and decided to wait until after I tore everything down. Glad I did. I've sent them pictures and will be calling tomorrow.
 
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