4Runner Engine Rebuild

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Postby Johnny Roadkill » Sun Jul 23, 2017 7:22 pm

Hi all,

now that the shed is in some sort of order it's time to rebuild the motor in my wife's V6 4Runner - makes me realise how EASY my old 60 Patrols are to work on ! Some of the bolts on this V6 4Runner are in the most ridiculous positions imaginable...to get the 3 seized exhaust dump pipe bolts out the sequence is:

1) attempt to get 2 of them out from underneath the car using 2x 12" extensions and a deep socket ( the third is completely inaccessible ),
2) round off the seized nuts,
3) a lot of head scratching,
4) search the internet for solutions without success,
5) remove the LH wheel, a heat shield and a plastic trim piece,
6) realise a nut-splitter won't fit between the nuts and the weld on the flange,
7) spend 5+ hours filing the nuts down to the stud through a tiny gap with only a couple of inches to move the file,
8) knock them off with a cold chisel,
9) curse the Toyota name repeatedly and look fondly at your simple old Nissans,
10) finally pull the engine out - woot !

The 3VZE V6 in full flight...

Image

What's left of the 3 exhaust pipe nuts...

Image

cheers,
D
'71 P510 Wagon - the smile generator.
'74 G60H - strawberry farm patrol.
'78 G60H Ute Cab - the cherry on top.
'80 G61H - the start of things to come.
'92 Pulsar Ti - my SR20 powered daily driver.
'01 Kessner 7x4 - the pack horse.
'07 Challenge Camper - home away from home.
'09 Prado - the family fourby and her daily driver.
'14 200EXC - a chainsaw with wheels.
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Postby Johnny Roadkill » Wed Aug 09, 2017 10:56 pm

The 4Runner motor rebuild is taking way longer than I budgeted time for - so many parts to clean on an EFI V6 :roll:

Anyway, sometimes you win sometimes you lose...last night I was madly cleaning up the valvetrain parts for the machine shop ( who kindly offered to go through the messy process of selecting and ordering valve shims while mock assembling the heads ). In the past when rebuilding motors I have just laid all the retainers, spring seat washers, collets, etc. on a bench ( or the floor ) waiting for reuse - never lost a single thing. This time, on my wife's 4Runner motor, I decided to get organised and use a proper parts case for all the bits...lo and behold I'm one collet short...WHAT THE ??? :oops: I turned the shed upside down looking for it before giving up and accepting I'd have to order one from Toyota, possibly ex-Japan and 3-4 weeks away ! Dropped the rest of the bits into the shop, the owner smiled and said we all lose stuff occasionally - and then we just had a quick look at the heads I'd dropped in to him 10 days ago...was about to give up when we hear a *tink*, and there's the missing collet - must have dropped into a port and in the rush to disassemble the next valve I'd failed to do my usual pedantic check of parts from exhaust valve #3. I had wondered about that possibility but thought I was constructing "memories of convenience" while I fumed over it last night...turns out that's exactly what must have happened. :dance:

I sometimes think I'm infallible - nope, the evidence speaks for itself.
I sometimes think I'm unlucky - nope, not all the time anyway !

cheers
D
'71 P510 Wagon - the smile generator.
'74 G60H - strawberry farm patrol.
'78 G60H Ute Cab - the cherry on top.
'80 G61H - the start of things to come.
'92 Pulsar Ti - my SR20 powered daily driver.
'01 Kessner 7x4 - the pack horse.
'07 Challenge Camper - home away from home.
'09 Prado - the family fourby and her daily driver.
'14 200EXC - a chainsaw with wheels.
Johnny Roadkill Offline

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Postby Esteban » Thu Aug 10, 2017 7:43 am

Great anecdote Johnny! :clap: :clap: :clap:

I buy parts from Rockauto.com all the time, and they have a newsletter every month with a section called "Mistakes and blunders". Your's will definitely qualify for it!! Great.
Owner of the same Patrol since 1967
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Postby Johnny Roadkill » Mon Aug 14, 2017 6:53 pm

Esteban wrote:I buy parts from Rockauto.com all the time, and they have a newsletter every month with a section called "Mistakes and blunders". Your's will definitely qualify for it!! Great.

I reckon I could provide them with more material than they could ever print ! :lol:

Which raises a philosophical question - if making mistakes is how we learn, how come there's still so much I don't know ??? :think:

cheers,
D
'71 P510 Wagon - the smile generator.
'74 G60H - strawberry farm patrol.
'78 G60H Ute Cab - the cherry on top.
'80 G61H - the start of things to come.
'92 Pulsar Ti - my SR20 powered daily driver.
'01 Kessner 7x4 - the pack horse.
'07 Challenge Camper - home away from home.
'09 Prado - the family fourby and her daily driver.
'14 200EXC - a chainsaw with wheels.
Johnny Roadkill Offline

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Postby Johnny Roadkill » Fri Mar 01, 2019 4:45 pm

Well, the 4runner now has 5000km on the new motor, and it's all ticking along nicely...there's still a few jobs to do to get the old bus better prepared for family camping duties when time allows and the shed is built but happy with how it's running.
A new cat-back exhaust has improved power and fuel economy by maybe 5 to 10 percent and given it a nice burble without being too loud.
I would have to say I don't relish the idea of building another OHC V6, just too many critical water joints under the cam belt...nice compact motor but too complicated to be enjoyable to work on, and the way that motor is packed into the engine bay means the exhaust system is a bit of a pig too.
Anyway, here's hoping we get another 326000km out of it before we need to address that again !
Cheers,
D
'71 P510 Wagon - the smile generator.
'74 G60H - strawberry farm patrol.
'78 G60H Ute Cab - the cherry on top.
'80 G61H - the start of things to come.
'92 Pulsar Ti - my SR20 powered daily driver.
'01 Kessner 7x4 - the pack horse.
'07 Challenge Camper - home away from home.
'09 Prado - the family fourby and her daily driver.
'14 200EXC - a chainsaw with wheels.
Johnny Roadkill Offline

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Postby L60Boerne » Sat Mar 02, 2019 8:57 am

Gosh, I sure wish I could do something like that. Well done. The only thing I'm qualified to tear into is an Amazon box.
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Postby Johnny Roadkill » Sat Mar 02, 2019 4:41 pm

Qualified ? Me ? Nah, I'm an electron chaser by trade...

My first engine rebuild happened after I bought my first car - a 1600/510 with a dud motor, when the coolant started disappearing into the sump I had no choice ...before that the most serious mechanical repair I had under my belt was a clutch slave cylinder replacement...just followed the service manual step by step using a cheap socket set in a plastic case and the cheapest ring and valve spring compressors I could buy...old motors are great to work on, just follow the recipe !
I did break a few bolts though :lol:

Cheers,
D
'71 P510 Wagon - the smile generator.
'74 G60H - strawberry farm patrol.
'78 G60H Ute Cab - the cherry on top.
'80 G61H - the start of things to come.
'92 Pulsar Ti - my SR20 powered daily driver.
'01 Kessner 7x4 - the pack horse.
'07 Challenge Camper - home away from home.
'09 Prado - the family fourby and her daily driver.
'14 200EXC - a chainsaw with wheels.
Johnny Roadkill Offline

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You know you own a Patrol when…
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Postby RiverPatrol » Sun Mar 03, 2019 11:01 am

That's similar to how I started out the first time too. Had a dune buggy that I played in the desert with that had a Volkswagen engine in it. Engine got tired, couldn't afford to have someone else do it, I was somewhat familiar being in the industry as a service advisor. So I got the 'How to Fix Your Volkswagen, For the Complete Idiot' book, followed the entertaining step by step instructions and rebuilt the engine. Service manuals are extremely valuable for those that care to get adventurous.
Beyond any hope for intervention

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Postby Johnny Roadkill » Sun Mar 03, 2019 2:45 pm

...and there's nothing like that first turn of the key when your engine springs back to life !

After that I found HP Books' "How to Hot Rod Your Datsun 510/240Z" and I was hooked for life 8-)

Anyone looking to learn about engines should read Racer Brown's camshaft chapter - I still read it occasionally and always learn something...available here:

http://www.datsport.com/racer-brown.html

Cheers,
D
'71 P510 Wagon - the smile generator.
'74 G60H - strawberry farm patrol.
'78 G60H Ute Cab - the cherry on top.
'80 G61H - the start of things to come.
'92 Pulsar Ti - my SR20 powered daily driver.
'01 Kessner 7x4 - the pack horse.
'07 Challenge Camper - home away from home.
'09 Prado - the family fourby and her daily driver.
'14 200EXC - a chainsaw with wheels.
Johnny Roadkill Offline

User avatar
You know you own a Patrol when…
You know you own a Patrol when…
 
Posts: 233
Images: 255
Joined: Sat Mar 23, 2013 1:41 am
Has thanked: 42 times
Been thanked: 246 times
Location: Adelaide, South Australia


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