Topic: need to swap an re. what do you suggest?

[havik]

the truck:
its a 85 runner sr5. its got the 22re with 220k miles on it. i put the downey intake& filter on it with the LC headders and full exhaust.it is still unbelivably weak. the truck is my daily driver so iam not trying to go crazy.   i have new axles with 4.88's and i have 35" bfgs i plan on running.
i want to keep with the 22re to keep it simple.
i have a few ideas but, i was hoping a few of you old schoolers could share some knowledge.
1. buy a bottom end and a LC street head. use some of the stuff off the old motor
2. buy a jap motor, replace all the seals and run a LC head.
3. buy a low milage motor from some where and get the bored out intake man, and throtlebody
4. cut holes in the floor and fred flinstone around
what has worked for you?
how much did you spend?
what problems should i look out for?

[Duffil]

Why is "rebuild my stock engine" not an option?

[havik [OP]]

it just has so many miles on it. it seems like it would take forever. taking the motor from shop to shop. it is my dd and i dont have any other car. so while it is down i will be driving my mountain bike to work or bumin rides. it seems like if i had a motor i could just drop in it would only take a weekend and maybe a few week days to get every thing tuned.
but that is an option and thank you for it.
maybe rebuild the bottom and get a new head? save some cash
thankx

[86turboyota]

fred flinstone it.... nah im asking myself the same questions... what to do with a weak 22-re

[havik [OP]]

i got about $3000 to spend if that helps.

[jimbo74]

220k on a yota aint that much really..... i would jsut get it rebuilt, a competent shop can rebuild an engine pretty quickly and it wont cost that much.... youll even have money let to get the head reworked and a cam

[havik [OP]]

what about the bored throtlebody? is it worth a damb?
or the bored intake man?
iam leaning twards the rebuild. maybe with a lc head?
where i live there are some pretty big hills.
not yota friendly.

[Sundowner]

all that stuff isn't going to help you. even the gigh-end fancy stuff is just going to boost HP at the top of the rev limit. how often do you really hit 4500rpm? the best bang for your buck is a stock rebuilt motor. if you want more than that, you need to look at forced induction.
don't nickel and dime yourself out of $1500 on gimmicks like bored TB's headers, fancy air filters, etc. it's not worth it.

[Weldo]

Rebuilding will probably be cheapest.  You could get a kick ass long block from LC, but that would leave you with little or no money left for stuff like new coolant hoses or maybe a starter or alternator, or a new clutch or something.  If you do rebuild, you could bore the block oversize .060" and get a stroker crank, street head, and cam from LC.  That oughtta give you more power and more torque.

As far as oversized throttle bodies and headers, it's my opinion that they can give you significant increases, but to get full effect you have to upgrade both intake AND exhaust together.  For example, if you add a big bore TB with a stock iron exhaust manifold, you may get an increase of like 2 HP, not really noticable.  Likewise if you add a header with a stock TB, you may get an extra 5 HP, again, not really noticable.  But, if you add both a big throttle body AND a header, you may net a 15 or 20 HP increase.  Thats because the header and TB work together to get the maximum effect from eachother.  The header lets the TB breathe better and the TB lets the header breathe better.  LC sells what they call the "EFI Power Pack" for around $900.  It comes with a stainless header, big bore TB, camshaft, and K&N conical airfilter.  They claim increases around 25-30 HP on a 22re.  30 horses is pretty good for $900, on a 22re that's like a 26% increase, and should be very noticable on the 'ole seat-of-the-pants meter.

[Sundowner]

Rebuilding will probably be cheapest.  You could get a kick ass long block from LC, but that would leave you with little or no money left for stuff like new coolant hoses or maybe a starter or alternator, or a new clutch or something.  If you do rebuild, you could bore the block oversize .060" and get a stroker crank, street head, and cam from LC.  That oughtta give you more power and more torque.

As far as oversized throttle bodies and headers, it's my opinion that they can give you significant increases, but to get full effect you have to upgrade both intake AND exhaust together.  For example, if you add a big bore TB with a stock iron exhaust manifold, you may get an increase of like 2 HP, not really noticable.  Likewise if you add a header with a stock TB, you may get an extra 5 HP, again, not really noticable.  But, if you add both a big throttle body AND a header, you may net a 15 or 20 HP increase.  Thats because the header and TB work together to get the maximum effect from eachother.  The header lets the TB breathe better and the TB lets the header breathe better.  LC sells what they call the "EFI Power Pack" for around $900.  It comes with a stainless header, big bore TB, camshaft, and K&N conical airfilter.  They claim increases around 25-30 HP on a 22re.  30 horses is pretty good for $900, on a 22re that's like a 26% increase, and should be very noticable on the 'ole seat-of-the-pants meter.

but have you, and YOU PERSONALLY, done this?
I know I did something similar. I tried the tricks with the header, the cam, the fancy air filter, rebuilt the head with bigger valves, the works. I know they didn't work as well as promised on bulletin boards. header was not worth $230 of my money, the air filter was not worth $50 of my money. the cam might have been worth $80 of my money.  sometimes "performance" isn't a more-or-less question: " do you ahve more performance than you did before?" somtimes it's a yes-or-no question "does it performe well enough to start every time you turn the key"  and for that kind of performance, you either use as many stock toyota parts as you can, or you open the checkbook and start from scratch. the snake oil tricks don't help. I tried ot both ways, I know.

[Weldo]

That may be true.  I'm actually in the process of rebuilding my motor.  You mentioned that you did not see an increase in power with "performance parts" and I don't doubt that at all.  Every engine is different, even identical models.  I did a lot of reading around the net and in some 4x4 magazines about Toyota performance and the general concensus I gathered was that a header and 2-1/4" exhaust gave a noticable increase in power felt when climbing hills and accelerating and such.  The same goes for cams, but I haven't read much on big bore throttle bodies, so ya got me there.

[h0nke]

Get an engine that will clean no more than 30 oversize in the cylinders, rebuild it with napa's clevite kit (dont buy cheap ROCK junk). Buy some oversize valves, have your local machine shop get your head setup, and have them gasket match your intake too. Toss a thorley header on there and thats all she wrote bud. Beyond that its a waste of money.

[Skinny_Pedal]

lc street performer engine, big bore throttle body, intake , header full exhaust. 4.10's with 32's. i run w/ vortec 4.3's all day long. the price is fawking expensive. so i would recommend what hOnke suggested

[havik [OP]]

thank all of you for your insight.
i think iam going to go with what h0nke said. but i think i will toss in a mid range cam.
i dont need alot of power. i snowboard so i would like enough power to pull me up the hills to sierra summit.
i already have 4.88's a lc header and a crapy downey intake. oh i was also planing on running electric fans instead of the motor drivin fan.
iam hoping this will be enough.
if not i was thinking of putting in a helicopter engine
thanks when i get back from iraq i will keep yall posted on how it turns out

[Weldo]

Sounds like a good plan, and a gas turbine is always a good "Plan B!"  Stay safe over seas, man, and don't forget to kick some ass!!!