Its a mini 1fz-fe
Daughter's '97 SR5 blew the head gasket
- Thread starter alia176
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
The 3RZ is a mini 1FZ.
Ummm, I must be getting old. I seem to remember you telling me this in a former life.Head bolts are under the camshafts
Yup, bucket and shims are right under the loves.
These two pics show the head bolts holes are located directly under the camshaft. You have to remove the cams for access!!
Great info here. Thanks for sharing. I’ll be referencing as we just picked up a 97 third gen for, guess who, my daughter! Got it with bad HG but it is a 5 speed. Funny thing is a year ago I didn’t even know there was such an animal! Will be slow going but I’ll try to share pics of heads when I get them off.
- Thread starter
- #86
congrats amigo, what a cool project for the daddy/daughter duo!!!
- Thread starter
- #87
We made some pretty decent progress today, the driver's side head is on, and the camshafts have been torque to spec.
We're a little behind due to the fact that the spawn decided to catapult herself off her crotch rocket and getting stopped by the rear bumper of a 5th Gen 4Runner! At least she hit a Toyota
. Thankfully no brain and spinal injuries, and she's hobbling around currently. Hopefully, she's learned something from this nightmare, and she sounds like she got humbled a tad.
On another note, she made Dean's list this semester
We're a little behind due to the fact that the spawn decided to catapult herself off her crotch rocket and getting stopped by the rear bumper of a 5th Gen 4Runner! At least she hit a Toyota
. Thankfully no brain and spinal injuries, and she's hobbling around currently. Hopefully, she's learned something from this nightmare, and she sounds like she got humbled a tad.On another note, she made Dean's list this semester
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #89
Crud, forgot to take pics
- Thread starter
- #90
Daughter is celebrating her 19th bday by attending a concert at DEN but maybe we'll hit it this weekend if the weather cooperates. Yes, she's hobbling around DEN since she has a broken bone in her ankle from the moto superwoman flying incident.
What machine shop did you use and what did they charge for the resurfacing?
- Thread starter
- #92
You're in KY, so I'm curious about your question!
Was needing a set of 3VZE heads machined, but I was able to get it done semi locally. Thanks.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #94
It's time for an update. We got some work done but not as much as I'd had hoped. She put the valve covers on following the FSM and torqued the bolts to 53 in-lb. before I got to the house. She put the intake manifold gaskets on, which I made her remove then scrub the surface of the heads nice and shiny. After that I followed through just to make sure we got SHINY 
Two new knock sensors plus a harness went inside the valley. Before I reappear on her driveway again, she has to replace all heater hoses an buy some hose clamps. I made sure to place every single brand new hose still in the bag next to the old hose. Until this gets done, I ain't putting the intake manifold back on.
The previous day I got a phone call and bunch of texts saying that she couldn't find the four intake manifold studs ANYWHERE. I'm like, they're there, just f'ing LOOK. I even labeled them since I'm the one who took them off the heads at my house.
Oh man, the drama......
Yup, found them after i looked for two min.
.
Two new knock sensors plus a harness went inside the valley. Before I reappear on her driveway again, she has to replace all heater hoses an buy some hose clamps. I made sure to place every single brand new hose still in the bag next to the old hose. Until this gets done, I ain't putting the intake manifold back on.
The previous day I got a phone call and bunch of texts saying that she couldn't find the four intake manifold studs ANYWHERE. I'm like, they're there, just f'ing LOOK. I even labeled them since I'm the one who took them off the heads at my house.
Oh man, the drama......Yup, found them after i looked for two min.
.
- Thread starter
- #95
My spawn made great progress on her top end rebuild. She had the valve covers on, intake manifold installed and torqued. All hoses on the firewall replaced along with the heater valve, and was fighting the passenger exhaust manifold when she realized she needed to be an octopus. I believe the manifold might've been landed on the neighbor's yard at some point.
So, we installed both manifolds and connected the exhaust system. Both o rings replaced on the oil cooler but she can't find the long hose that I bought so she'll order it next week. Her mom came over and helped so it was a typical Ali family affair like old times.
One thing that I wasn't able to do is clean everything. It feels dirty to not get everything nice and shiny but her driveway is 25 min from my solvent tank. I might've developed a twitch, and she noticed it too, 
.
In case you're wondering about the water kettle on the cowl, she used boiling water to soften the hoses before insertion.
So, we installed both manifolds and connected the exhaust system. Both o rings replaced on the oil cooler but she can't find the long hose that I bought so she'll order it next week. Her mom came over and helped so it was a typical Ali family affair like old times.
One thing that I wasn't able to do is clean everything
. It feels dirty to not get everything nice and shiny but her driveway is 25 min from my solvent tank. I might've developed a twitch, and she noticed it too, .In case you're wondering about the water kettle on the cowl, she used boiling water to soften the hoses before insertion.
Great job Isabelle.
- Thread starter
- #97
I showed up to Isabelle's driveway last Sat and was impressed with how far she has gotten on her own. Both cam shaft pulleys, water pump, Tstat, etc were installed. She torqued all bolts except the cam shaft pulleys as she needed the SST that I made years ago for this process.
The pic below shows what I saw when I rolled up:
She fought to install one of the timing belt tensioner bolt from under her rig. I let her go at it for half hour before I stepped in.
As of now, the timing project is completed and now she's putting on top front cover. I'll swing by her house this week after work and install the cshaft pulley for her so that she can keep going. I let her fight the timing belt for a little bit before giving her a hand. Dads have so little to get back at our kids, so I take every opportunity whenever possible.
The pic below shows what I saw when I rolled up:
She fought to install one of the timing belt tensioner bolt from under her rig. I let her go at it for half hour before I stepped in.
As of now, the timing project is completed and now she's putting on top front cover. I'll swing by her house this week after work and install the cshaft pulley for her so that she can keep going. I let her fight the timing belt for a little bit before giving her a hand. Dads have so little to get back at our kids, so I take every opportunity whenever possible.
I let her fight the timing belt for a little bit before giving her a hand. Dads have so little to get back at our kids, so I take every opportunity whenever possible.
Ya, she was such a problem child .... not! I just hope she sees this as a positive experience and not daddy abuse.
You didn't say it, but I assume she installed the knock sensors you bought.
- Thread starter
- #99
Yep, that is correct. I installed the knock sensors and she installed the wiring harness and routed it according to what Tim showed on his video.
- Thread starter
- #100
Final update:
Daughter got the engine started, with some hiccups. First one being the engine puked out couple of quarts of oil out of the oil cooler. Even though the three O rings were replaced, and the bolt was torqued down. She opened it up and saw nothing amiss, replaced with an OEM O ring and no more puking. Is this a thing with the 5V-FE engine? She said she read about this on another forum some place, about the puking oil thing.
She then got it started but it kept dying after few seconds and heard a loud WHOOSH sound. I was at work, and she was CHOMPING at the bits to get her purring again. She said the engine started on a half starter crank and idled so beautifully before dying.
Having my hands tied at work, I reached out to @pappy to see if he can lend a hand since he's retired and got nothing better to do
So he drove clear across town with a can of starting fluid and helped Isabelle find the leak. She fixed it, and started right up but couldn't drive it due to lack of PSteering. I showed up around 1700 to see what's up. Busted the cap off since it was all caddywampus on the reservoir, added fluid took her for a spin. She drove beautifully, and Isabelle was screaming at her accomplishment.
She got it all correct, even connected the vac hoses correctly. Well at least, we won't know until she engages 4x4 mode. I'm so freaking proud of this one.
Thanks again @pappy for helping out a teenager who loves you very much, and will remember this for the rest of her life.
Daughter got the engine started, with some hiccups. First one being the engine puked out couple of quarts of oil out of the oil cooler. Even though the three O rings were replaced, and the bolt was torqued down. She opened it up and saw nothing amiss, replaced with an OEM O ring and no more puking. Is this a thing with the 5V-FE engine? She said she read about this on another forum some place, about the puking oil thing.
She then got it started but it kept dying after few seconds and heard a loud WHOOSH sound. I was at work, and she was CHOMPING at the bits to get her purring again. She said the engine started on a half starter crank and idled so beautifully before dying.
Having my hands tied at work, I reached out to @pappy to see if he can lend a hand since he's retired and got nothing better to do
So he drove clear across town with a can of starting fluid and helped Isabelle find the leak. She fixed it, and started right up but couldn't drive it due to lack of PSteering. I showed up around 1700 to see what's up. Busted the cap off since it was all caddywampus on the reservoir, added fluid took her for a spin. She drove beautifully, and Isabelle was screaming at her accomplishment. She got it all correct, even connected the vac hoses correctly. Well at least, we won't know until she engages 4x4 mode. I'm so freaking proud of this one.
Thanks again @pappy for helping out a teenager who loves you very much, and will remember this for the rest of her life.