NM Engine Machine Shop

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GTV

GTV

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I'm searching for a trusted engine machine shop in NM to do some work on a set of 2UZ heads. Location isn't as important as quality and ability to get the job done in a reasonable amount of time. Thank you!
 
Be very, very careful. The machine shop will do exactly what you want. That is good customer service. If you are wrong, you get a big mess! Start with a leak down test.
 
GTV said:
I'm searching for a trusted engine machine shop in NM to do some work on a set of 2UZ heads. Location isn't as important as quality and ability to get the job done in a reasonable amount of time. Thank you!
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I second Empire engine shop as they just did my daughter's 3.4 V6 heads last year. Since I have a blown head gasket on the 2UZ, I'll be taking those heads to the same shop next year. They definitely know their toyota engines, and have a good relationship with Toyomaster close by. As a bonus, my daughter took some parts over there when they were working on her engine. She said she had a blast petting the dogs behind the counter!!
 
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Yep I’d use them for my next engine project! They’ve given me engine fasteners for free in the past and I’ve had flywheels cleaned up there recently. They had a pile of 2F they were working about 5 years ago for an outfit in CO.

Stay away from the Bud place…neither engine they touched lasted very long due to cheap parts from over seas.
 
lurch said:
Stay away from the Bud place…neither engine they touched lasted very long due to cheap parts from over seas.
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100% agree.
 
lurch said:
Yep I’d use them for my next engine project! They’ve given me engine fasteners for free in the past and I’ve had flywheels cleaned up there recently. They had a pile of 2F they were working about 5 years ago for an outfit in CO.

That reminds me, they also gave Isabelle a free camshaft since one of hers was slightly out of true. They got it from Toyomasters. Stand up dudes over there.
Stay away from the Bud place…neither engine they touched lasted very long due to cheap parts from over seas.
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we have another thread with all local resources under the sticky in case you need other services.
 
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I don’t have any experience with DOHC heads, searching for advice. Engine is a 2UZ VVTi. I believe I had a minor accidental valve to piston contact event, details can be found here.

#3 has zero compression. The rest of the cylinders are 165-170.
I checked cam to bucket clearance on the exhaust and they were within spec (.010”-.014”). The intakes measure about .024” (spec is .006”-.010”). I’m confident that’s where my leak is coming from.

Plan is to pull the head and take it to Empire. I’m thinking I will also include the intake cam so after they replace and machine what is necessary they can reset the cam to bucket clearances. Then I will reassemble.

Does this all sound good? Anything I’m missing?
 
GTV said:
I don’t have any experience with DOHC heads, searching for advice. Engine is a 2UZ VVTi. I believe I had a minor accidental valve to piston contact event, details can be found here.

#3 has zero compression. The rest of the cylinders are 165-170.
I checked cam to bucket clearance on the exhaust and they were within spec (.010”-.014”). The intakes measure about .024” (spec is .006”-.010”). I’m confident that’s where my leak is coming from.

Plan is to pull the head and take it to Empire. I’m thinking I will also include the intake cam so after they replace and machine what is necessary they can reset the cam to bucket clearances. Then I will reassemble.

Does this all sound good? Anything I’m missing?
Click to expand...
You have done a good bit of work to provide measurements. Well done! An engine head was assembled from parts at the factory. This means you can disassemble, repair, and reassemble the head. Is this vehicle a daily driver or do you have time to tinker with the heads?

If you don't have time, make sure the head is disassembled, cleaned, and checked for camshaft and head warp FIRST. This is easy to do with micrometers. If the head is decked before head warp is checked, you made the warp permanent.

If you have time, heads are a great DIY project. You can take them apart and figure out what's wrong. If you need help from a machine shop, you can point out the problem and have an intelligent conversation with a machinist. Machinists appreciate this.
 
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Looks like you found Top Dead Center TDC. The passages are blocked off with paper towel. You are off to a good start. Find a copy of your vehicles Factory Service Manual FSM. Follow the provided procedures.

Organize the removed parts, including the small ones, in terms of their engine position on a table. Take a picture of the laid-out parts. If you do this repeatedly, you will have a set of pictures providing a visual chronology of disassembly. This helps tremendously with reassembly. It's just the pictures in reverse order. Pictures of your progress makes for an interesting thread.

Put the bolts and other small parts into a plastic sandwich bag and tape the bag to the larger part they were securing. This is a very important habit to develop. A single valve, bucket, spring, valve lash shim, and valve seat are a matched set. Do not mix these up!

Keep foreign particulate and objects out of the intake side of the head. Gravity is a pain with V engines. Take your time, stay organized, and keep things clean.

This is the best DOHC valve keeper removal tool I have found. It is very easy to use and fast. Don't use a mallet or hammer with this tool despite the temptation.
Lisle 36050.webp
 
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nab856 said:
Looks like you found Top Dead Center TDC. The passages are blocked off with paper towel. You are off to a good start. Find a copy of your vehicles Factory Service Manual FSM. Follow the provided procedures.

Organize the removed parts, including the small ones, in terms of their engine position on a table. Take a picture of the laid-out parts. If you do this repeatedly, you will have a set of pictures providing a visual chronology of disassembly. This helps tremendously with reassembly. It's just the pictures in reverse order. Pictures of your progress makes for an interesting thread.

Put the bolts and other small parts into a plastic sandwich bag and tape the bag to the larger part they were securing. This is a very important habit to develop. A single valve, bucket, spring, valve lash shim, and valve seat are a matched set. Do not mix these up!

Keep foreign particulate and objects out of the intake side of the head. Gravity is a pain with V engines. Take your time, stay organized, and keep things clean.

This is the best DOHC valve keeper removal tool I have found. It is very easy to use and fast. Don't use a mallet or hammer with this tool despite the temptation.
View attachment 4023498
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I pride myself in doing as much myself as I can. But time is of the essence, and frankly, I just don’t wanna 😂 So I’m gonna leave it to the professionals this time.
 
GTV said:
I pride myself in doing as much myself as I can. But time is of the essence, and frankly, I just don’t wanna 😂 So I’m gonna leave it to the professionals this time.
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Sometimes an issue has a quick and simple fix. You already know which valves are problematic. If you remove these valves using the FSM procedure, you might find the repair is something you can do. Pulling a valve or two takes less time than driving to the machine shop. You are removing the head anyway. It's your time and money.
 
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Replace that starter if the current one has more than 50K on it. It's cheap insurance to not have to replace it again for another 100K+
 
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