22RE engine rebuild

[keitholivier]

I recently bought an 87 Dolphin with about 75k miles. The engine had a light knock just above idle speed and considering that it is 20 years old I thought it may be prudent to pull the motor and check it out.

Comments regarding engine removal: Access to the fuel injection loom and sensor wires under the intake manifold is an incredible pain. I had heard about the notorious pair of bolts at the top of the bellhousing, but they "exceeded my expectations" beyond my imagination. After exhausting all options and not wanting to disconnect the transmission / driveshaft connection to allow the engine to move forward, I removed the balance of the intake manifold and associated vacumn plumbing and ground the open end off one of my 17mm wrenches. This allowed me to slip a 30" length of pipe over the remainder of the wrench which finally overcame the offending bolts grip. It took at least 2 hours work to finally solve this hurdle.

Engine disassembly: Next major problem was removal of the crankshaft/flex plate fasteners. I couldn't get them to budge. I finally locked the flex plate to the block with a hardwood block, applied some heat to the bolt heads with a blowtorch and used my biggest T bar to break them free. 1 of them still wouldn't move and the corners got rounded and required the head to be ground off with an angle grinder before the flex plate cound be removed. The stub of the offending bolt could then be turned out with my fingers. Additional difficulty arose with removal of the cylinder head. 4 of the cylinder head bolts were "dry", which is to say that it appears that they appeared never to have recieved any plating or protective coating prior to instalation. They could be removed, but gave a distinct "scraping" feeling when being rotated and had quite a bit of oxidation on the surface of the shank when removed. I will most likely repace all of the bolts and run a tap through the threads in the block to clean up the threads. I had 1 bolt frozen in the front engine cover (one of the lowest ones) which actually sheared off rather than release the threads. I had another shear off which attached the water pump to the timing cover but these are much smaller and more subject to failure.

Conclusion: All of the crankpin bearing shells are worn out. The connecting rod shells are worn down to the steel backing. The cap side shells have some localized hard rubbing marks which indicate that foreign matter was trapped behind the bearing shells when installed. The crankpins look fine so I'm having a hard time figuring out how both of these conditions can occur simultaneously. Judging by how hard the engine was to remove, it couldn't have been worked on recently. The markings on the connecting rods also didn't correspond with the cylinder numbers (they were in a random order) which indicates that a pretty lousy mechanic worked on the motor at some point in the past. I have yet to remove the crankshaft from the case, so I don't know the condition of the main bearings yet. The cylinder bores have no ridge line near the top so they seem in good shape. Bore walls are a little glazed, but that is normal for the mileage. Since I haven't used a hone in about 16 years, can anyone confirm that 120 grit stones with copious kerosene to keep it wet is still the way it is done ? Cross hatch pattern still about 30 degrees ?

Next steps: I have taken a look at several offers on the internet for rebuild kits. It seems that a set of pistons, rings, bearings, gasket set, oil pump, timing chain, sprockets, chain guide, tensioner runs about $300. My bores and crank all appear stock size. I need to check the crank out thoroughly, since if it needs work it would be better for me to buy a replacement crank that would be stock size. It is not worthwhile trying to have it ground from a cost point of view. One of the dealers is offering cams that enhances low end torque. I was thinking that more low end torque may not be a bad thing for hill climbing or dealing with a strong headwind.

If anyone else has recently worked on their 22RE motor, I would be interested in their findings and how common bearing failures come up. Since the engine used almost no oil, I have not been able to work out how this failure occurred (normally oil contamination causes premature cyliner and ring wear also).

Regards

Keith

[Shoprat]

Ahh. Another Michigander . Bless ya , Son.

I used WD40 in a spray can to lube the hone. Yup, 30 degrees is fine. The bolts that were dry, were they on the exhaust side of the head? I recall mine were that way.

Over revving can cause bearing failure. As can pre ignition.

Get a good quality engine assembly lube, put it on everything except the piston rings and pistons. Use the ol'soak the sucker in engine oil here. Assembly lube is so lubricating, it prevents the piston rings from breakingin, plus , just personaly, I didn't like the thought of this stuff any where near the cumbustion chamber.

Hope this helps some.

[knowltondata]

Tip for next time on that crank bolt. Brace your cheater bar against the frame while the engine is still in, unhook the coil and bump the starter. Breaks it loose every time.

[keitholivier]

The crankshaft pulley bolt wasn't the problem. It was the set of 6 bolts that hold the flex plate on the back end of the crankshaft. These are only accessible once the engine is removed. There is probably an SST which has teeth that engage with the ring gear and bolts up to the back face of the block (I have one for the Mazda 13B engines).

The dry bolts on the cylinder head actually appeared to be the inner set of 4 bolts. The outer 4 bolts all were coated with lube oil that is able to somehow find its way up from below or down from above.

Thanks for the remarks. The parts will not make it to me from the west coast before the weekend, so I will have to focus my attention on the rear brakes and leaf springs this weekend. I am considering adding booster air springs to help the sagging rear springs. I had the back suspension bottom out a few times driving back on 94 from WI (that interstate is in shocking condition).

Keith

[knowltondata]

The crankshaft pulley bolt wasn't the problem. It was the set of 6 bolts that hold the flex plate on the back end of the crankshaft. These are only accessible once the engine is removed. There is probably an SST which has teeth that engage with the ring gear and bolts up to the back face of the block (I have one for the Mazda 13B engines).

Ooops... I misread...

Good luck with it.

[nolan]

. The markings on the connecting rods also didn't correspond with the cylinder numbers (they were in a random order) which indicates that a pretty lousy mechanic worked on the motor at some point in the past.

The odd markings on the con rods such as A3, A4, B3, ect. are factory markings used for bearing clearances when the engine was originally assembled at the factoryand have no relationship to orientation of cylinder location or rod and cap matching, you will also find on the bottom of the block at the rear on the pan rail a string of numbers such as 5555, those are references for main bearing clearances used at the factory during assembly, they really have no meaning or use when rebuild time comes along years later.

Bearing failures are not that common on the 20/22R engines unless its been subjected to lots of abuse, heat, or oil starvation.

Lots of choices when it comes to camshaft selection, something to enhance the off idle through mid range area opening up the exhaust side would probably be the best bet.