22re to rebuild or not to...

[Rockdwg]

So i got an 83 toyota pick up with a 22 re in it now, but it is burning oil pretty good, thinking of rebuilding it or maybe another engine swap maybe to a 5vze 3.4 liter. ANy thoughts on this from you all.
currently sitting on 35" tires and geared low with 5.29 gears. this is used as a daily drive to work and Playing hard on the Weekends.

tyvm

 

[KLF]

Start looking for a Tacoma for the swap, either a 5VZ or a 3RZ. Whichever you find first in your price range, wins.

 

[bryan89]

^^^^^^^^x2

 

[missouriman]

seems to me that toyota reliability is based on the motors lack of real power. rebuild would be around 800.00 for everything. good rebuild would be around 1200.00 mods would of course be extra.

we love our weak motors due to the reliability issues. They can spin 5000 rpm all day, and be there next year. they will bog out long before we waist a transmission or transfercase. I have been wheeling mine for over 10 years now. I can not think of any other person that I wheel with that is still wheeling the same truck. yeah, I have had to do some maintaince. mostly up grades. to do bigger and badder trails....

here is my truck and my wifes truck. mine ten years and needs a refresh of the front end. wifes truck is 6 years and still holding up.

mine has a rebuilt motor, 20 over, rv cam, header, her's with an unknown junk yard motor out runs mine on the hills. black hills of south dakota. I carry maybe 600 pounds of stuff in the tool box.. she carries a spare tire and maybe 100 pounds of extra parts.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/79-95-toyo...ld-toyota-solid-axle-rock-crawler-thread.html

 

[KLF]

rebuild would be around 800.00 for everything. good rebuild would be around 1200.00 mods would of course be extra.

LOL... I passed $1200 a long time ago. And I'm not done yet.

 

[dubsb]

I dropped 1100 in labor (machinist) and 400 in parts (engnbldr) and F'in LOVE my new 22re. I had some clearance built in and sh runs awesome now, well worth not having the aggravation of rewiring my entire dash.

 

[Sam Stewart]

I've told this story a million times but I will post it for you guys.

What really made me a true believer in the 22RE was when I was working in Atlanta some years ago we had a little regular cab pickup, I think it was a 92, that we used for a trash truck and just to haul stuff around on the lot. The dealership had acquired it and it had no title so it couldn't be tagged. That truck took some major abuse. The body looked terrible, all the lights were busted, they never changed the oil, etc. It was out of gas one day and obviously we couldn't drive it to the gas station, so we looked for an alternative. And we found one. We had a gas caddy with a pump on it (like where you could siphon gas out of a gas tank without having to pull the tank) that was full of diesel, old gas, water, and who knows what else. So, we pumped the whole tank FULL on that little trash truck. Not only did it run on that concoction but it fired up like a champ. It would spit out a puff of blue smoke and smelled like straight diesel but it ran like a champ on that stuff for like 6 months.

I believe the 22RE is one of the best engines Toyota ever built. Hence why I am installing one in my first gen mini as we speak.

Sent from my iPhone.

 

[packetstormin]

My thought is if you aren't really looking to keep your rig a classic then swap a 2.7 or 3.4. The 2.7 swap is supposed to be extremely easy. The benefit is you get a 150hp 4 banger that is obd2.