March 24, 2020. Engine Service.

With the engine now on a stand I could take it apart for inspection and cleaning. The engine has not been run since before 2006 and its internal condition was unknown. Given the completely new electronic setup to be used on the motor I want to ensure that there’s no mechanical issues to cause tail chasing when it comes to the electrics, so apart it came.

Above, a few bits off and below a head off.

The sump came off also…

Mostly in the block and heads was just goo and mess from old oil, some debris had made its way into the bores from the last decade of sitting around so it was good to clean that out.

Pistons and gasket faces were cleaned. Other parts to be replaced such as the water pump were also removed and general cleaning done.

Once the cylinders were clean, they were taped over to keep them that way.

The heads were a bit more complex in that the left cylinder head was much filthier than the right. On the 1UZ the heads are essentially the same part, so the main oil drain from the right head is at the front of the engine and on the left it is at the rear. On removing the sump it was found that roughly 50% of the drain hole back to the sump was blocked by instant gasket. I’m fairly sure this is from the factory. so far the only explanation I have is that this was causing the oil to backup into the head.

After taking the valves out of the heads I found nearly all the inlet valves had pitting on the stem just below where the stem seal gets to. I could see this causing damage to the seals, so it was decided to replace the valves.

As they came as a job lot all 32 valves are to be replaced.

The heads have been taken away to a guy that knows what he’s doing with them so now I’m waiting on stem seals to arrive (as well as gaskets and bolts) so that they can be finished off.

On the new water pump, the return from the interior heater needed to be blocked off. So I made a bung to carry the O ring which with goo behind the O ring was pressed and then pinned into the pump body.

Also arrived was the adapter for remote mounting the oil filter. This one is sized to allow -10AN fittings, all the others I found were only -8AN which is a fair bit smaller than the oil openings on the side of the block.

The studs will be removed and bolts used.