Buckeye, AZ 3FE mechanic work needed. (1 Viewer)

[AZ80]

Hello everyone!
My name is Chris and I own a 92 land cruiser with 144k miles.

I'm looking for a knowledgeable person to do a valve adjustment on the 3FE.

If you can help me or know someone in the area I would appreciate it.

I can get my hands dirty with you, but I will not attempt the job myself.

 

[Marco Lau]

Adjusting valves on the 3FE is as simple as it gets. There are a couple methods suggested on here, follow the FSM adjust with a warm engine, or adjust with the engine running. I would advise tackle this on your own in one afternoon weekend. Learn how to remove the air box, hoses, valve cover and plugs should be standard for all 3FE owners. The rest is just learning how to follow simple instructions and having the right tools. it is a 1 banana job and it is rewarding. Oh, to make life and your experience better, get a snake cam so you can position the camera in front of the timing window. When you are under the truck turning the crank pulley, you can use your phone to view the timing when rotating the engine to BTDC.
below is a screen shot of the timing window using an amazon snake cam.

 

[AZ80]

Thanks for the reply, snake cam does seem helpful for the timing window.
I've done the smog delete, full tune up, water pump, radiator, front end rebuild, icon lift and even painted the sucker myself. For some reason the valve adjustment seemed daunting.

 

[Marco Lau]

Thanks for the reply, snake cam does seem helpful for the timing window.
I've done the smog delete, full tune up, water pump, radiator, front end rebuild, icon lift and even painted the sucker myself. For some reason the valve adjustment seemed daunting.

It is literally removal of the usual hoses, valve covers, plugs, etc. 1 full turn on the crank, adjust 6 valves, 1 full turn on the crank, adjust 6 more valves, put everything back together and your done. Get a ladder or something to rest your body on and thank me later =)

 

[AZ80]

It is literally removal of the usual hoses, valve covers, plugs, etc. 1 full turn on the crank, adjust 6 valves, 1 full turn on the crank, adjust 6 more valves, put everything back together and your done. Get a ladder or something to rest your body on and thank me later =)

OK its done! what a pain in the a$$. Inspection camera was a life saver. I'll try to take it for a test run tomorrow and report back. Willing to bet money the valves have never been adjusted in atleast 100k. 3" lift, stock gears, 35s, not loaded with gear... slow as a turd and 8mpg after a tune up.
Thanks for the pep talk Marco.

 

[Marco Lau]

OK its done! what a pain in the a$$. Inspection camera was a life saver. I'll try to take it for a test run tomorrow and report back. Willing to bet money the valves have never been adjusted in atleast 100k. 3" lift, stock gears, 35s, not loaded with gear... slow as a turd and 8mpg after a tune up.
Thanks for the pep talk Marco.

View attachment 2921293

no problem,. is your idle normal? 6500 rpm?
you can turn your distributor counter clockwise just to gain some power by advancing timing a bit. Just make sure it doesnt ping at load, or dial it back a bit or add some 91

 

[AZ80]

Big notable difference in power after valve adjustment and 91. Not sure which was the biggest influence, but now I am just a normal slow. 4.88 have install date of March 21st should help as well. Did 5 hours on the trail and she performed well.

 

[WILLD420]

It's a 3.9 liter low compression forklift motor trying to masquerade as a real engine. They are turds. Even warmed up ones are turds compared to just about any modern engine. Heck, a 4.3 chevy TBI motor had more HP and more Torque and they weren't exactly burning up the roads in vehicles that weight a lot less with much smaller tires.

 

[Dissent]

Reach out to the local club in the Phoenix Area; Copper State Cruisers. They have an excellent forum on here: AZ- Copper State Cruisers - https://forum.ih8mud.com/forums/az-copper-state-cruisers.25/

I spent 10 years with those guys, solid group and lots of great resources there. Reach out to @murf here on the mud site, he was the Service Manager at a Local Toyota Dealership there before I moved to TN. I'm not sure what dealership he's at but they had some solid Cruiser mechanics at his dealership.

 

[AZ80]

Reach out to the local club in the Phoenix Area; Copper State Cruisers. They have an excellent forum on here: AZ- Copper State Cruisers - https://forum.ih8mud.com/forums/az-copper-state-cruisers.25/

I spent 10 years with those guys, solid group and lots of great resources there. Reach out to @murf here on the mud site, he was the Service Manager at a Local Toyota Dealership there before I moved to TN. I'm not sure what dealership he's at but they had some solid Cruiser mechanics at his dealership.

Awesome thank you