Builds 1fz-fe rebuild

[satchel]

Decided to go ahead and dig around in the bottom end. Would love any advice you guys have on the condition of the crank/bearings/whatev...

My guess is this thing was ran with low oil pressure or something, all the bearings look pretty rough like they were starved, but I'll admit I don't know what to look for exactly.

For those unsure of the process, just take a 12 pt 14mm socket to take the caps off of each piston connecting rod where it connects to the crank, then you can pull the bottom portion of the rod off with your hands. I then tapped the piston through the other side of the block with a rubber mallet and a long rod on the bottom of the piston, once it was about half way through, moved the long rod to the bottom of the connecting rod to push the rest of the way. Happy to explain further if that doesn't make sense, but should be self explanatory once you see it.

 

[Rock40]

YIKES! I agree that something awful happened there. You're going to need to have the crankshaft journals ground/polished and likely step up in bearing size. Just looking at it, I don't think a simple polish will do. You'll likely need to bore the cylinders too, I'd guess .010 or .020 based on how bad the scoring is. Those are some very sad looking bearings.

 

[satchel]

Agreed. Wasn't sure if the crank was salvageable, but noticed the scarring on the pistons and cylinders, and am planning to bore it regardless so those are less of an issue I think. Looking forward to what the machine shop says about the crank. Very much appreciate that input! The bearings are horrible. Very rough to the touch.

YIKES! I agree that something awful happened there. You're going to need to have the crankshaft journals ground/polished and likely step up in bearing size. Just looking at it, I don't think a simple polish will do. You'll likely need to bore the cylinders too, I'd guess .010 or .020 based on how bad the scoring is. Those are some very sad looking bearings.

 

[BILT4ME]

Minimum polish the crank. May turn it. Not junk unless straw color or blue. Definitely needs new pistons and a boring.

 

[Azca]

Nice work so far. As you move forward to reassembly, make sure you have all your gasgets. When rebuilding mine I found the rebuild kit Toyota sells does not have all of them. Check my post and then Concretejungles excellent build thread. He lists most, if not all parts including the missing ones from the overhaul kit.

Engine pull and rebuild, final thoughts…

 

[Pin_Head]

It would be a good idea to measure the thrust clearance of the oil pump drive gear on the front cover before you remove the front cover. You might want to replace the oil/pump / timing chain cover on a high mileage engine anyway. About $300

 

[satchel]

Agreed, this was in my plan. I think I'll steal what @bryanb did in his thread and post up a list of items I need to replace that I can keep adding to on the first post.

It would be a good idea to measure the thrust clearance of the oil pump drive gear on the front cover before you remove the front cover. You might want to replace the oil/pump / timing chain cover on a high mileage engine anyway. About $300

 

[Howard705]

I agree that an impact wrench would be the best option from what I've read, but some of the threads I've read mention needing in the realm of 10CFM at 90 PSI to provide enough power, and I don't have a compressor (or 220) to give me anywhere near that much torque, which is why I'm going the old fashion method.

Decided to go ahead and dig around in the bottom end. Would love any advice you guys have on the condition of the crank/bearings/whatev...

My guess is this thing was ran with low oil pressure or something, all the bearings look pretty rough like they were starved, but I'll admit I don't know what to look for exactly.

For those unsure of the process, just take a 12 pt 14mm socket to take the caps off of each piston connecting rod where it connects to the crank, then you can pull the bottom portion of the rod off with your hands. I then tapped the piston through the other side of the block with a rubber mallet and a long rod on the bottom of the piston, once it was about half way through, moved the long rod to the bottom of the connecting rod to push the rest of the way. Happy to explain further if that doesn't make sense, but should be self explanatory once you see it.

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Overheated to do this to the pistons? (?) Coolant in the oil for the bearing problem(?)

 

[satchel]

Couldn't say for sure. The oil didn't appear to have any coolant and the coolant appears a clean red, that's about the end of my investigative prowess.

Overheated to do this to the pistons? (?) Coolant in the oil for the bearing problem(?)

 

[sbman]

I think lack of oil or pressure seems the likely culprit as well.

The only thing I would do differently on mine was to go with Forged pistons. They really weren't much more expensive than the OEM ones, but there was a wait after ordering them and I was impatient. Now that @NLXTACY has a turbo kit on the horizon, I'd be happy having the forged pistons in there. Oh well, OEM will be OK. I am very happy with Cometic MLS head gasket though, no issues there at all. I've got 60K miles on the rebuild now.

 

[satchel]

I'll be doing the arp studs and cometic head gasket as well in anticipation for the nasty turbo coming soon. As for pistons, I'll probably stick with oem, but I'll be working out those options with @beno to see what he thinks.

 

[sbman]

I did the ARP studs. I ground the ones under the cam gears a little bit for extra clearance. Probably didn't need to, but I did anyways. When I ordered OEM pistons, some of them had to come from Japan, all the U.S. Toyota warehouses were out of stock. I went one step oversize, my engine had cylinder wall damage also from being driven with oil/water mixup for a while. Somewhere in my thread I detail which stud kit I used, I actually ordered two sets and wasn't impressed with the fit of one of them, but I don't remember which way it was. If you decided to do studs on the bottom end, tread carefully, there isn't enough clearance in the oil pan's reduced height area and I cracked an oil pan.

Speaking of oil pans, there were differences from year to year so you'll want to make sure it matches up with the truck you are swapping into. The earlier models did not have the boss for the crank position sensor and there was one other difference if I remember correctly, also related to a sensor. I've got a post about that somewhere in my thread as well.

 

[satchel]

Interesting info there. I got the engine and transmission from a 97 land cruiser, and my truck is a 96 LX, so my understanding is everything should match up, but if anyone knows differently regarding oil pan or otherwise, please let me know. I guess worst case is I just swap over the oil pan on my truck to the spare engine right, or would they not mate up?

I did the ARP studs. I ground the ones under the cam gears a little bit for extra clearance. Probably didn't need to, but I did anyways. When I ordered OEM pistons, some of them had to come from Japan, all the U.S. Toyota warehouses were out of stock. I went one step oversize, my engine had cylinder wall damage also from being driven with oil/water mixup for a while. Somewhere in my thread I detail which stud kit I used, I actually ordered two sets and wasn't impressed with the fit of one of them, but I don't remember which way it was. If you decided to do studs on the bottom end, tread carefully, there isn't enough clearance in the oil pan's reduced height area and I cracked an oil pan.

Speaking of oil pans, there were differences from year to year so you'll want to make sure it matches up with the truck you are swapping into. The earlier models did not have the boss for the crank position sensor and there was one other difference if I remember correctly, also related to a sensor. I've got a post about that somewhere in my thread as well.

 

[Wompom]

If donor is 97 going into a 96 should be the same.

Don't forget the oil pump bushing vs hot tank issue if you have not heard about that already.
I ran into the same issue with my stand when i went to pull pans. Didn't think about it originally. It definitely feels less stable without being bolted to the pan!

 

[sbman]

Yes, 97 into 96 should be good. Going the other way, older motors into newer chassis can be a problem, the later models added more sensors. I looked at a 95 oil pan when I needed to replace mine and it had the boss for the crank position sensor, but it wasn't machined. A 94 oil pan didn't even have the boss present. I had assumed all the OBD 1FZ engines were basically the same, but there were several variations of oil pan.

 

[blkprj80]

PM sent.
I'm not too far away, and I'll help if I can.

 

[satchel]

Cannot believe it has taken this long to get my engine back from the machine shop, but I guess that's what happens when you aren't staying on them. Where I stand now.

Head was milled .01
Block was decked .008
New OEM 101mm pistons installed
Head port and polished

I'll be CC'ing the piston and head next to hopefully get closer to an accurate picture of what my compression looks like.

While I am looking to go with the new turbo kit after a few months, I would like to stay with unleaded gas if the turbo is not being used, so I believe I need to shoot for around 9.25:1 at the most, and if my estimates are correct, that means I'll likely need to bump up to a .066 head gasket from the stock .053. I think I will still be borderline at that point, but the next step up I see from Cometic (after .066) is quite a large jump. Does anyone know of other valid options?

I have stock head bolts currently, does anyone know if there would be an issue using the stock bolts with a thicker cometic gasket? Any other reasons I should not use the stock bolts for this application?

 

[ZackR]

While I am looking to go with the new turbo kit after a few months, I would like to stay with unleaded gas if the turbo is not being used,

Not sure if you've had a turbo vehicle before but if its installed its always being "used", even when not under boost. Even if you are not hitting full boost often you never know when you might need to therefore its a good practice to always run the correct octane.

 

[satchel]

Should circumstances happen that I cannot actually get the turbo, or I decide down the road to sell the truck sans turbo, I would like the option to keep it unleaded. I also may want to remove or otherwise disable the turbo to run in other areas that may not have higher octane gas. I was under the impression I could modify the wastegate to disable the turbo but if it means I would need to completely remove it should the need arise, I would like to have unleaded as my NA option.

Not sure if you've had a turbo vehicle before but if its installed its always being "used", even when not under boost. Even if you are not hitting full boost often you never know when you might need to therefore its a good practice to always run the correct octane.

 

[ZackR]

Should circumstances happen that I cannot actually get the turbo, or I decide down the road to sell the truck sans turbo, I would like the option to keep it unleaded. I also may want to remove or otherwise disable the turbo to run in other areas that may not have higher octane gas. I was under the impression I could modify the wastegate to disable the turbo but if it means I would need to completely remove it should the need arise, I would like to have unleaded as my NA option.

That makes sense now. Either way I'd try to get as close to the stock compression ratio as possible then you'll be covered for both scenarios.