This is going to be a huge update as I have been pretty busy over the past months, but haven't had much if any time to post about my progress. I'm now nearly ready to start putting the engine back into the car! It's been a really fun process seeing it all slowly come together, and I'm really hoping that my slow and methodical approach will mean that the first start-up will be successful, and I won't find any surprises.
After pulling out my transmission, I went ahead and pulled out the cross-member too. This was a huge pain because I had to crawl under the car and loosen some of the suspension components to get it out, but it was worth it. I took it along with the transmission support and valve covers off to get powder coated, and the results came out great.
While this was being done, I also prepped and painted my engine block with some "black oxide" coating from Eastwood. To be honest it was rather hard to work with and the sprayer left a lot to be desired, but the results ended up very nice as well... after waiting a month for it to fully cure! In hindsight maybe I shouldn't have gotten paint on the freeze plugs, but it will all get dirty eventually anyway.
At this point I can finally start reassembling the engine! I have some new torque paint, and I am enjoying using it on everything.
I'm using ARP studs which I know are overkill here and bolts would do fine, but here we are anyway...
I was told the studs were actually used to increase rigidity with racing engines where the engine itself was used as a structural component.
For the head gasket I actually used the OEM gasket with the standard thickness because some material was taken off both the head and block, using something like a TRD head gasket would have made the space between the pistons and valves too small for my comfort level, and I'm not trying to push performance that much.
Test fitting the new Tomei Poncams! I was a bit confused that both the intake and exhaust sides had a gear for the distributor, but they seemed to line up correctly according to the Toyota service manual diagrams.
Now before I can continue assembling, some cleaning and repainting needs to be done, which I find to be some of the most time consuming work. I tend to put it off, so I decided to get it all over with at once.
Moving onto degreeing the cams here, which I've never done before, so it was very good to learn the process and practice it many times until I felt comfortable that things were set correctly.
Shout out to CM Autohaus/Ezekiel for this great summary video on the process for our engines:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuX2caLj_zY
Test fitting my freshly painted timing belt covers, and making sure I remember how the engine mount brackets go back together.
Other than that, I have decided against installing my MFactory 5th gear this time around because I want to get the engine back in first before I tackle a huge rebuild process with the transmission. I did however replace all the seals and gaskets within my current transmission, and have it ready to go back into the car as well.
Well... I think that's all my updates for today. Next time I hope to share some news on first start-up of my engine and start driving my car again. It's been so long I almost bought another old Toyota to scratch the driving itch while I get mine back together.
Something about these cars that newer ones just can't seem to replicate.
Until next time!
