New engine for my lj78 (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Dec 15, 2019
Threads
9
Messages
173
Location
Colville Wa.
The engine was running great right up until it started to seize. The gasket blew out of the oil filter. 1.5 miles was all it took And the motor was done.
Bummer. Anyway, I decided not to try and salvage any old parts and just ordered up everything needed for a complete rebuild. That included a crank and complete standard bore resleeve kit. Also all the parts for a complete head rebuild. Valves, guides, seats, bearings and seals. The cam and bearings were not damaged so i was able to reuse the Toyota cam. Im using, please dont laugh, a china head core. Tha head shop told me it was a crap head but with all the Toyota parts
It would be ok. Hope there right. It saved me about $800.

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All the machine work is complete im just waiting on the clutch kit and the head gasket.
the gasket set that came with the rebuild kit had an “F” head gasket. The piston protrusion is .030” I ordered a “D” head gasket. The clutch kit is due to arrive today.
the head gasket has been shipped.
Prior to blowing the motor I had recently replaced the water pump, turbo, injection pump, injectors, glow plugs and timing belt.
As well as all the hoses and belts.
Im hoping I now have everything covered.
from now on no more mail order oil filters. Ill be getting real Toyota filters from the real
Toyota parts counter. The filter that blew its gasket came in a Toyota box labeled
90915-30002 and the filter was also correctly labeled but it was not the same as the ones purchased from my local Toyota dealer. Must have been a fake China knok off.
 
@Houser , good work! I've heard some of the Chinese heads can be ok; the ones from Taiwan if I remember correct. If you're using the full Toyota valve train your chances will be better for sure. (I have heard of the cheaper Chinese cams rounding out cam lobes and such things.)
 
Just got the clutch kit from Rad Cruisers. Wrong Kit. The pressure plate is to small for the fly wheel bolt hole pattern. Also the disk is about an inch smaller in diameter than the pressure plate. They are researching the correct package and will call me back in the am.
 
You could also try Dave at www.back40imports.com he has helped me with a number of parts for my LJ78 and I know he knows the right clutch kit to get.
 
@Houser , good work! I've heard some of the Chinese heads can be ok; the ones from Taiwan if I remember correct. If you're using the full Toyota valve train your chances will be better for sure. (I have heard of the cheaper Chinese cams rounding out cam lobes and such things.)
I’ll second that. According to the mechanics and machine shops here, the taiwanese heads are decent. As long as you have a fully functioning cooling system, together with a quality valve train, you should be fine.
 
Cruiser Outfitters did not have the correct clutch kit for my lj78 with 2lte. They are allowing me to return the incorrect kit I will have to cover shipping because i ordered the wrong kit.
on the Sunny side. I found the Correct kit at Napa for just $147. Its for a 91 4runner with 3.0L v6 The throw out bearing looks a bit different so I wont be using it. All els is a perfect match.
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Project update. Motor is back in but im waiting on the new head gasket. Magazip UAE has very slow shipping. View attachment 2435494

Nice! You work fast!

Just a double check: You know there are different head gasket thicknesses right? I recommend ordering the thickest one, but if you don't, make sure you measure piston protrusion with a dial gauge indicator and confirm the pistons won't hit the valves. This is detailed in the 2LT-II/3L repair manual. Wrong headgaskets have taken out many a 2LTE/3L bottom end (hammers big end bearings to death). Of course people who don't know better blame it on the 'garbage L series'.
 
Thanks. The piston protrusion is right at .030. I ordered a “D” gasket. I originally had an “F” gasket installed because thats what the rebuild kit came with. The engine was starting and running well but puffing a bit more black smoke than I liked.
Because i broke the cardinal rule of engine rebuilding and didnt put in a new clutch It was slipping and i had to pull the engine again to replace the clutch. While I have the engine out Im also going to install the correct head gasket. Hopefully this will be the last time I need to remove the head or pull the engine. .030 protrusion is at the end of “B” gasket range so should be fine with a “D” gasket.
I hope.
 
Where did you end up getting your re-sleeve kit from? Do you have any pictures of the sleeves being installed? I've heard about this being done on the heavy duty motors, but not the L series. Nice to know it can be done. I should have kept my old short block instead of taking it to the recyclers, lol. It had pitted bores from someone in Japan leaving water sit in it for a long time (after original head cracked - water leaked into cylinders and rusted them).
 
Yes mine also had water pitting in the cylinders. That in combination with the piston seizing is why I chose sleeving over re-boring. I didn't want to bother trying to guess how deep the rust damage was.
As for finding resleeve kits , all the 2lt rebuild kits i found on my net searches were sleeve kits. They were all in the $650 range. Some had straight sleeves some had flanged sleeves. I ordered a straight sleeve Kit. The machine shop I found that would work on diesels did not want to use the straight sleeves so I had to order a second set of flanged sleves @ $78 +$50 shipping UAE.
The flanged sleeves were standard bore but extended slightly past the original bore. I had to do a little die grinding to accommodate the piston oilers and add additional clearance for the connecting rods. The the rods did not contact the sleeves but were very close. You can see how much i removed from the sleeves
In the block pics.
 

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