1KZ-TE engine rebuild

[Trevor]

Part IV

As this has been standing for best part of 9 months, the water pump and starter has seized so I decided to change these and also put in a new tensioner, pulley and timing belt. The starter I will keep, refurb and put on the spares shelf so I sourced a second hand one off Ebay to stick in for now.













Fitted the head gasket



And bolted the head up



Tightened everything up and then tried cranking the engine round with a socket and ratchet to ensure everything was right. The engine kept locking and after slipping the timing belt off we tried to moving the cam position by 180 degrees in case I had missed something when I timed everything up. You can turn the crank pulley so that all pistons are mid way in the bore which gives you the room to move the cam position without the valves fouling.

Refitted the timing belt and tensioner after using a vice to wind back the tensioner to put the pin back in. Tried cranking the engine again with the ratchet and it locked again, something was not right at all so finally decided the head needed to come off, I ordered up another set of head bolts from Roughtrax as I wasn't happy reusing the new ones I had just put in.

Once the head was off, this is what I found





The precombustion chamber had dropped out of the head while I was fitting it, no wonder I couldn't crank the engine round. After much head scratching I can only think that the overall temperature of the head was really quite warm as it had been stored in Mrs Trevs greenhouse (nice light bench area to work on) and it was carried out and put straight onto the block, I reckon this heat was enough to have made the chamber loose and the little nudges and bumps getting the head into position is what dislodged it.

The following morning I refitted it the chamber into the head using the wooden handle of a hammer and it went back in with a snug interference fit, the new head bolts had been delivered so the head went back on for the second time and now the engine cranks cleanly for it's full cycle. So don't leave your cylinder head in the Wife's Greenhouse

Next job was to put RTV sealant on the cylinder head pressure release thingymabob



Make sure the widest part is fitted on the outside of the head, if you do it the other way and you have a build up of pressure - well it's not going to do it's job.



Fitted the new rocker cover gasket and finally the cover itself





Correct orientation of the exhaust manifold gasket



After much copper grease and some gymnastics the exhaust all bolted up



Before putting the inlet manifold in position it is worth spending some time at this point sorting out the routing and fastening of the fuel pipes to the injectors, if you don't do this now then you have a lot of fiddling and swearing later on. The 2 fuel pipes nearest the fan will go over the manifold and the 2 nearest the bulkhead route over the oil filter and up through the manifold.

Take the time to clip the pipes into their respective square plastic clips, the other clip that holds all 4 pipes needs some careful manipulating.



Hold this clip horizontally and slide the pipes into the channel near the top, 2 slide in from the left and 2 from the right. Make sure they are aligned in the channels at the back and then swing downwards, you may need to get some fingers behind the pipes and squeeze with your thumbs on top until they click into place. Pick a spot where all 4 pipes are straight to put this on.

It is also worth checking and refitting all vacuum hoses at this point as it's practically impossible to get to once the inlet manifold is on.





Fitted the inlet gaskets



Then spend most of the afternoon like this



I found that removing the studs from the EGR valve allows the inlet manifold to be easily offered up to the block, then push the studs into the EGR from the bulkhead side and tighten up with fingers as much as you can (don't forget the gasket), finally put the nuts on the end of the studs and using a 12mm ratchet ring spanner tighten the nuts up until the stud starts spinning and keep going until the assembly has tightened up.

Before doing this, make sure that the fuel pipes for the rear two injectors have been routed correctly, I forgot this bit and ended up disconnecting the fuel lines from the pump and by lots of wiggling and turning I got them routed properly as I didn't want to take the inlet manifold off again, guess this what happens when I get tired and grumpy.





I still have one nightmare nut to get on the manifold but that's best left until tomorrow.

 

[Ben]

Great update Trev.

I will definitely be referring back to this thread when It comes time to rebuild my engine.

 

[clivehorridge]

Great update Trev.

I will definitely be referring back to this thread when It comes time to rebuild my engine.

Bless you Trev, shredded hands and backache for you for a while.

One day you'll look back on this and smile (I hope)!

 

[Trevor]

Time to get the sump on and sealed. There is no two ways about it, you are going to get messy, very messy.

I sprayed the bottom of the block with brake cleaner and the top edge of the sump, a full can is good to start with and all areas can be got at by squirting from various directions. I managed to get the RTV gun along the sides and top of the block, not neat at all but managed to go past the bolts holes along the inside edge. You can get along the back edge a bit from the sides but to finish the job off you need to put a latex glove on and put a load of RTV into your hand and smear it on top of the rear sump edge.



I knocked this back with my fingers to get it a little neater.



Then started screwing the bolts up and getting a good spread of RTV out of the sides.







Checked that I had a solid spread across the back



Then wipe the excess off with a rag





And lastly, lowered the truck down to a normal level to carry on working under the bonnet.

 

[Trevor]

Fitted everything to the engine except for the airbox and it's pipework and installed 2 new batteries. Had to buy a new starter motor as the eBay purchase was duff.

Went for the first startup and found 1 fuel line needed tightening up and the vacuum hoses were not fitted correctly.

So first startup in 9 months, running lumpy for the reasons above, sorry on it's side:-



Fixed the issues, although I'm still not sure I have the vacuum hoses correct.

Second startup



Still more assembly work to do with the axle and strip down the brakes prior to the MOT , but this is a massive milestone for me and I'm chuffed to bits that it runs. It's been a very long journey to get to this point and had it's highs and lows along the way.

For some folk this is an easy job but for me it's all new and was quite a daunting prospect, especially doing it with the engine in situ, I had some guys in the pub saying it couldn't be done that way so if nothing else I've shown that it is possible.....very difficult in places but possible if you have to do it that way.

During the lows, the forum has been a great place to be with technical help and all the words of encouragement. It does help to spur you on and I thank everyone for their comments, the biggest critical success factor in this project has been Ed who would come knocking on the door and drag me outside saying "I know the snow is still there and it's cold but lets get a couple of hours done". Having someone else to work with definitely makes the job go quicker and means you can have another pair of eyes on a problem, Ed has put days of his time into this and it's not even his truck.....a true friend indeed.

 

[sae70]

Bloody amazing work all of that there Trev'

Your not to far away from being ready for another trip into Essex there my old mucker

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

Well done Trev, just a tweek or two and and you'll be there.

Andy

 

[AndyCook]

fantastic

great result and a huge job!

 

[Chris]

Hell yeah! Trevor, I am in awe. Utterly epic. In fact if I had a cap it would be doffed in your direction Sir.

Well done.

C

 

[mrdelmonti]

Well done buddy, I can come up in my truck tomorrow if you want and check the vacuum hoses against mine?

So glad it's got to this stage now, I've put so much into it with you I feel a bit like its a joint project now

 

[mrdelmonti]

Just read your edit and wanted to say it has been a joy, I've learnt lots, lost lots of skin, bled lots and made a decent friend out of it.

Don't get me wrong though, if you do it again you're on your own, and I can't believe you're still banging on about that snow, it wasn't that bad!

 

[Trevor]

Today I wanted to see if I could split the seized front diff bush, getting this apart will make refitting the diff so much easier. The first thing was to spray up and around the hex bolt with loads of PlusGas and leave it for a few minutes to work its magic.

Clamped on some mole grips on the top metal part of the bush as tight as I could and used a socket extension bar through the bolt hole to stop the body from turning. Finally broke out the 3/4 inch ratchet set gave it a go. As I turned the ratchet, the mole grips wedged on the chassis which is what I needed to offer resistance.



Slowly it came undone, all very rusty on closer inspection.



Ran a tap and die to clean up the threads (this was the much needed excuse to go and buy a set)



Bolted back onto the diff and copper greased everything I could find.



Diff jacked up and waiting for an additional pair of hands tomorrow to wiggle in position.

 

[TonyP]

Fantastic that you have Lil Blue running again. Well done that man, you deserve a good drink for that!

 

[Crispin]

Nicely done Trev!

 

[clivehorridge]

 

[Trevor]

Final Part

To finish this job off, I needed to install the front axle. The method that worked for me involved 2 people:-

Before starting, undo the top right bolt for the flywheel inspection panel .This will stop the prop companion flange from catching the bolt when you are trying to manoeuvre the axle in place.

It is also easier if you have removed the left hand axle carrier from the truck.

Pull the brake/driveshaft assemblies as far out from the side of the truck as you can and prop in that position so they won't move back.

If the front propshaft is still connected at the transfer box, move the free end as far right as you can.

The above are viewed as if standing in front of the truck looking towards the rear of the truck.

1) Lay the axle on some wood or other raised platform under the truck roughly orientated the correct way.

2) Raise the propshaft end almost vertically and rest against the crossmember



What you are trying to achieve is to have the prop end go into the space top right of the picture, essentially you are aiming for the top right bolt hole of the flywheel inspection plate. This will twist the axle to the right from it's normal orientation.

Then get some height on the front of the axle.



The two areas that need to be juggled for space is the top front of the axle which gets very tight against the bottom of the sump on it's right hand side, watch your fingers!!! And the prop end hitting the flywheel inspection panel. Bottom right of the picture below is the bolt we needed remove.



Now add some more height to the front of the axle, we used a bottle jack and start to twist the axle back round to the left i.e. back to it's normal orientation.



The threaded bolt of the bush will find the hole in the top of the crossmember but in order for it actually locate properly and drop down you need a combination of raising or lowering on the jack with some twisting left and right on the axle, a bit of a fiddle but it will eventually line up just right and drop in.



Once bolted up I fitted new snap rings to the driveshaft ends, prise the old ones out with a screwdriver and place the ends of the new ones in the groove and press down on the middle and it will ping onto the shaft.



Finally check the correct orientation of the guard ring before refitting into the axle, clean the splines (make sure no grit is present) and lightly oil.



Getting the driveshafts in can be easy or frustratingly difficult. We spent half an hour trying to get one side in, went for lunch and next time we tried it went straight in. You will see there is about 10mm of spline from the end of the shaft before the snap ring, place this as squarely as you can into the axle and have someone rotate the prop end in small increments until they feel it has locked, this should mean the splines are aligned and a gentle forward movement should allow the shaft to fully engage in the axle.

That said, we got the second one lined up but could not get it to slide fully in, we even took the CV housing out of the boot to just leave the final spline assembly and still couldn't get it to go. My mate from the local garage came round, checked the first 10mm was lined up and then gave it a hefty whack with a piece of wood and it went in just fine. Apparently some snap rings require a bit more brute force, the key is to check the splines have lined up first before going for the brute force approach.

Once in, fill up the diff with EP90 GL5 oil (1.2 litres) and reconnect the lower suspension ball joints using a new split pin. Don't forget to reconnect the front propshaft.

This concludes my rebuild thread, I hope you find it useful or just an entertaining read and if anyone has specific questions around this job or you would like to see more information about a particular aspect please PM me and I'll add to the thread as needed.

 

[Ben]

 

[silvercruiser]

Well done Trevor now i hope you get to enjoy many hours in the beast.

 

[Trevor]

Just a few more bits before it goes for MOT next week

Strip and redo rear brakes
Crank Oil seal
Axle prop companion flange oil seal

Then chase some electrical gremlins before Lincomb like the compressor not running, heater blower unit knackered (I heard water sloshing in it on my way back from Essex) so bearings probably rusted and check the winch over.

 

[Shayne]

I'm glad i've got this thread for future reference , coz if i ever need it , it tells me where to start looking for you Trevor