The engine rebuild shall begun

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Bad news. The machinist told me that the cylinder block is slightly warped, but a graphite HG would likely help after decking it slightly. Also, another bad news that OE pistons are discontinued, I have to get aftermarket. Though, compression ratio, AFAIK, is 8.8:1 for a 2nd gen 3S-GTE, and aftermarket pistons come either 8.5:1 or 9:1. Maybe I'll go with the latter, again, slightly increased CR. Would this cause any problems, though?

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Crankshaft is OK. Let's see what's about cylinder head in following days...
 
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you can get varying thicknesses of mls head gaskets to help compensate for the amount removed during the decking process.
https://www.cometic.com/applications/automotive/toyota/s-series/3s-gte--122ci20l-i4I would prefer a mls gasket over composite if this was my vehicle.
You should also consider ARP head studs while you are where. Easy to do now, much more painful to do later if you ever decide to turn the boost up.
 
you can get varying thicknesses of mls head gaskets to help compensate for the amount removed during the decking process.
https://www.cometic.com/applications/automotive/toyota/s-series/3s-gte--122ci20l-i4I would prefer a mls gasket over composite if this was my vehicle.
You should also consider ARP head studs while you are where. Easy to do now, much more painful to do later if you ever decide to turn the boost up.

Will see. I think decking was around 30 microns. The problem as I thought, was not in the punch-holed surface, because they were outside HG range, but near the cylinder #4 compression range. Graphite can sit better on uneven surfaces, AFAIK, so I may use a bit of paint spray as well to accommodate for that slight warp, and I'll be painting the cylinder block fully black.

As for the 9:1 CR instead of 8.8:1 CR, I think that wouldn't be an issue?

The head studs are new, but not ARP. And I'll not plan to go high on boost, without, at least, doing another overhaul, with components for racing series. Wanna see how it's to drive it first.
 
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Just got the crankshaft from the machinist. Well, it wasn't good, according to the specifics. So he grinded 0.25 mm on main journals. Luckily, I have a set of U/S 0.25 OE main bearings.
 
In my 3S we installed ST205 pistons because they were lower in compression.
Perhaps those are still available at Toyota?

Raising compression can be dangerous because the higher the compression, the higher the risk of detonation.
If you can alter ignition by an aftermarket ECU it could be possible. But with the stock ECU and higher compression... dunno, perhaps lower boost levels?
 
In my 3S we installed ST205 pistons because they were lower in compression.
Perhaps those are still available at Toyota?

Raising compression can be dangerous because the higher the compression, the higher the risk of detonation.
If you can alter ignition by an aftermarket ECU it could be possible. But with the stock ECU and higher compression... dunno, perhaps lower boost levels?
The real difference is 2cc (instead of 88cc now 90cc volume), which I don't think it'll have adverse effects - with at least 99-100 octane gas. I don't plan to go very high on boost; albeit the condition & health of engine with new main and conrod bearings, forged pistons, valves, valve stem seals, CHRA, oil pump, water pump, etc., will probably sustain slightly increased boost levels. Wossner has only 8:5 or 9:1, while Wiseco 8.9:1. Can't really find exact 8.8:1 as OE.

Geez, surfing on the net I see that China is making them:
https://dutch.alibaba.com/product-detail/13101-88381-01-piston-for-Toyota-1600061881022.html
But as always in China, can be good and cannot. Roulette :)
In eBay and Ali *, I can find a set of pistons with rings, wrist pins, retaining clips, etc., for like 250-300$ but this is far from being reliable. The pain of removing the engine again surpasses the saved 600$.

Though, I found Wossner forged piston kits for like 639€.
 
Is the goal to have fun and restore this original engine and get it back in the car as original as possible?
Or is the goal to get the car on the road again and make some happy-funtime boosty noises?

It seems like this engine has had a bit of a rough life and if it isn't important that it is THIS engine that powers the car, you might end up saving more money (and work) in the long term if you consider grabbing a gen4 or 5 motor and swapping it in.

Assuming you are dedicated to using this motor, if it was my car, I'd be doing forged pistons ARP studs and a MLS gasket with ACL main and rod bearings so you know the bottom end is solid and you'll never have to touch it again. You're here anyways so you might as well use better parts. Fluids are expensive these days and you're in for a few hundred dollars minimum each time you drop the engine. Especially if you're using the factory toyota MTF gear oil at 50 bucks a qt... :oops:

The gen 2/3 platform is really fun with 15 PSI on the factory turbo with an intercooler upgrade and exhaust. That IMO is the sweet spot for this platform, it's really not a substantial financial investment all things considered and it's still a fun ride... it'll be somewhere around 250 wheel horsepower. If you grab a ct20b, you can push a little bit more out of it.

Again, not my car not my lunch money, but with how detuned these are from the factory, I would go with the higher CR and not sweat the difference between 8.8 and 9:1. If decking it up true does end up take a substantial amount of material that would push the CR higher, just compensate that with a thicker head gasket.
 
Is the goal to have fun and restore this original engine and get it back in the car as original as possible?
Or is the goal to get the car on the road again and make some happy-funtime boosty noises?

It seems like this engine has had a bit of a rough life and if it isn't important that it is THIS engine that powers the car, you might end up saving more money (and work) in the long term if you consider grabbing a gen4 or 5 motor and swapping it in.

Assuming you are dedicated to using this motor, if it was my car, I'd be doing forged pistons ARP studs and a MLS gasket with ACL main and rod bearings so you know the bottom end is solid and you'll never have to touch it again. You're here anyways so you might as well use better parts. Fluids are expensive these days and you're in for a few hundred dollars minimum each time you drop the engine. Especially if you're using the factory toyota MTF gear oil at 50 bucks a qt... :oops:

The gen 2/3 platform is really fun with 15 PSI on the factory turbo with an intercooler upgrade and exhaust. That IMO is the sweet spot for this platform, it's really not a substantial financial investment all things considered and it's still a fun ride... it'll be somewhere around 250 wheel horsepower. If you grab a ct20b, you can push a little bit more out of it.

Again, not my car not my lunch money, but with how detuned these are from the factory, I would go with the higher CR and not sweat the difference between 8.8 and 9:1. If decking it up true does end up take a substantial amount of material that would push the CR higher, just compensate that with a thicker head gasket.

To be honest, I'm in the middle. I've planned to run this car somewhat stock, see how it goes. If I like the ride (never drove a ST185, but few years a AT180), then I'll keep driving as it is - until I see no enjoyment.
Unfortunately here where I live and in this country there's only one (or two) 3S-GTE ST185 as I've heard, and it's totally wrecked and is sitting somewhere on an unknown junkyard. Except some basic parts such as oil or fuel filter, there's nothing I can find there in spare part shops, let alone a gen 4 or 5 engine. What's most stupid is that we can't import cars if they producing year is older than 10 years.

Now, this one here has only the cat in place (no resonator, no muffler), which I'll plan to make it straight pipe to extract around 10hp, and it already has HKS EVC I, which I can push just a bit of boost - just for fun - nothing serious, maybe 13-15 psi. Maybe install a fan on intercooler too.

If everything goes all well and I like it then probably I'll upgrade everything, and maybe, hopefully I can reach 350hp as a daily drive.

Yes, fluids and other parts are expensive, but I have a bit of luck to get the parts directly from supplier, through a company, removing lots of middleman, and saving lots of money. But I've never done such kind of sporty restoration to tune the CR, HG, etc., so I don't really know how it will affect engines, especially this one. I'm not a mechanic at all. I just love cars.
 
On my other car, I ran for years at 12 PSI with a basically factory setup. When I turned the boost up to 15, it blew the head gasket within a month. This was all with the factory intercooler by the way.
I definitely recommend an intercooler upgrade if you go above 12. The st185rc and st205 wta intercoolers fit up with varying amounts of fuss depending on how complete of a kit you find. A fmic is a good option too but could also take some fab work.
 
I got the cylinder head back from machinist, with new valves and valve stem seals.

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Though, a valve does indeed sit a bit lower than the others; he said that couldn't repair the other way. Maybe this is due to the housing itself being damaged, and it had to be lowered a bit deeper into its base to be fully closed. This also mean that there could be a lowered compression in the piston #3, due to slightly increased volume.

Take a look:
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Good news! I've measured the oil clearance on main cap bearings on 0.25mm grinded crankshaft and U/S 0.25 bearings, and they are all in the correct range of clearance.

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This one in picture, no. 1, is slightly less than 0.050 mm.


However, another day and another worry: I've got dizzy cap (blue print) ADT314235 but sadly doesn't fit. The ignition cable I have, has the metal conductor part wider than the tight insert of dizzy cap, so I guess there could be no contact. Maybe I need a different set of cables?
I will take some pics later.
 
There is a minor distributor cap difference between the "early model" st185's and later. We only had 4 years of production so sometimes I really wonder why Toyota bothered changing what they did.
Anyways, the cap and wires are different between a 1990 and a 1993. Sounds like you need the opposite of what you have right now.
 
There is a minor distributor cap difference between the "early model" st185's and later. We only had 4 years of production so sometimes I really wonder why Toyota bothered changing what they did.
Anyways, the cap and wires are different between a 1990 and a 1993. Sounds like you need the opposite of what you have right now.

Damn it. But the cross reference number of my cap aligns with the one I got, meaning it is on the list of compatibility... always something with old cars.
And the issue was that there was no clear picture of cable housing.
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So can I get other cables that fit this, or need to change cap regardless?
 
As long as everything connects it doesn't matter what cap or wires you use. Change whatever is more affordable and available.
I don't think the connector size has changed on the coil side but I'll check with the micrometer when I get back to the garage tomorrow. That's the only potential gotcha.
 
As long as everything connects it doesn't matter what cap or wires you use. Change whatever is more affordable and available.
I don't think the connector size has changed on the coil side but I'll check with the micrometer when I get back to the garage tomorrow. That's the only potential gotcha.

Right now it doesn't. The OE cap is something like this (pic from Google):
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Notice how much wider is it than the previous picture I took?
 
Assembling crankshaft and applying assembly lube.

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P.S.: one of the piston oil squirters had its flow almost completely blocked, due to a foreign metallic object.
 
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