What have you done to your 1st gen Tundra today?

That is kind of creepy.

 

I've only had my Tundra since summer and have never had the 4.7 apart, so my suggestion to change the oil pump is based on experience with other motors. I cheaped-out on a small block Ford once and didn't replace it only to have it lock up a few thousand miles later--lesson learned. Just sayin'...
You won't hurt anything by rotating the crank to move the pistons up & down as long as you reset TDC. Do not use cylinder hones because you'll introduce metal dust and carbon into the cylinder and also increase the ring gaps leading to oil consumption. Do not use anything metal that could scratch or nick the pistons or cylinder walls. Use a plastic scraper to remove the carbon build-up. You won't get it all but at least get the chunks out. Have the motor tipped so nothing falls onto the rings and gets stuck there--that would be bad. Don't go crazy and overdo it which will make it worse than doing nothing. With new heads, you'll have better compression which will put more pressure on the rings than before, so actually having a little ridge at the top of the bore is a good thing. So all you really want to do is get any loose/chunks out of the combustion chamber that could cause an issue later. There's probably some videos out there that might help, too.
Have fun!

 

Long post alert about cylinder head machining, engine block cleaning, and oil pan removal.

Saw the heads after visiting the shop again and WOW. They are Colorado Custom Cylinder Heads, for anyone else in the Denver area. I had to bring the machinist the camshafts and bearing caps so he could properly adjust valve stuff and he let me snap a pic of their progress.

Firstly though, here are the heads freshly removed (plenty of dirt and gunk on the outside):


And the underside (old gasket material and carbon):


This is what they look like just after cleaning:


They have a huge parts washer that sprays hot water and solvents at the parts until clean. While these already look great, the heads will look brand new after they're sandblasted. I got to see some other finished heads as an example and they were pristine. CCCH will also install new, better valves and Fel-Pro oil seals. I feel like this is money well-spent towards measurable performance gains.

The sad fact is, it seems engine machining is a dying industry. This shop is one of the only of its kind/quality in the area, and after the owner's only employee retires, they will likely shut down as there's no one who can take his place. The kind of knowledge they have comes from decades of experience and is dependent on learned, highly specialized information you can't really find on the Internet or in books. People my age (I'm 26) don't flock to these unglamorous jobs and thus not many are learning from and replacing the veterans. There's many other fields in a similar predicament. Hopefully gasoline vehicles are around another 10-15 years and hopefully the industry stays alive. I'm sure lots of people have lots of different opinions on this blurb but hopefully we can all agree on appreciating the fine-tuned work machinists do.

While my cylinder heads were being cleaned professionally, I did some cleaning of my own on the engine block.


I'd heard that EASY-OFF oven cleaner was magical in removing this kind of grime, so I tried it and, LIFE HACK. It foams up and cuts through oil and dirt better than concentrated Purple Power. I let it sit, agitated, and sprayed off with hot water in a spray bottle as it's winter and the hose is disconnected. To my surprise, the original block paint's condition isn't too bad! I'd thought all the dirt was rust, but the block is actually painted black! There's only some slight rust after all.

Look at all that grossness removed:


Oven cleaner was also useful for knocking off sludge from other parts like the back timing cover pieces, it might be my new go-to. I'll probably get cancer from breathing in the fumes though.


Lastly, I removed the oil pan for inspection, and TL;DR, it was a waste of time. Removal was easy enough, just took out all the 10mm bolts (none snapped) and pried off the pan.


I misread the parts diagram and thought there would be a big mesh of some kind to clean out, but there was only this tray. I cleaned what hard carbon I could, otherwise there was nothing to do or see in the block underside besides beefy forged parts (not shown).


I did find a couple boogers in the pickup tube screen that I cleaned out with the shop vac and my finger, nothing that would cause a failure though.


It looks like Toyota applied 2 beads of FIPG from the factory, one near the inside and one near the outside. I removed this old gasket material with a sharp razor blade while vacuuming what came loose, to avoid anything falling into the block. One also could have stuffed the abyss with rags and the tray.


A Scotch Brite pad worked wonders getting off what the blade missed and I got the surface pretty smooth. I imagine everyone has different approaches to preparing gasket surfaces and I'm sure mine will be fine.


The Toyota OEM FIPG will take too long to arrive, and I want to button up this sidequest, so I'll use high quality Permatex for the new gasket after putting some assembly lube on the underside of the pistons, and finishing cleaning the tray and pan.


The bolts get torqued to 5 ft lbs, if I recall. Can anyone confirm if I should apply a single, or double bead?

 

Nice job so far, blurry!

The oil pan gasket surface looks perfect. For the few bucks and little time, you have peace of mind regarding the bottom end. Do 2 beads if you're so inclined, though IMHO one should be good.

Discovered oven cleaner as go-to engine degreaser many, many years ago which is why I have box fans in my garage ever since...Phew!

Accurate observation regarding machine shops. Same thing with the Trades.

Last tip: Don't forget to clean out all the threaded holes of any gunk and thread-chase them.

Carry on!

 

Because the OEM Tow Package Transmission Cooler does such a great job of cooling I’m trying an experiment with a Bypass Valve to bring the winter temps up quicker. Trans temps have been staying under 125° with 40° weather! In summer they stay around 155-170°. From reviews, this Valve should help the Trans fluid warm faster and stay warmer in the winter.

The Toyota OEM Springs are for the new hose connections on the spliced old hoses. I love these high quality springs.

Marked out the plan of attack on the hoses with Silver Sharpie. Dialed in the bracket design I’ll be fabbing out of some Aluminum found on the side of the road. Just need to cut it and pre-drill some holes. Also, need to dial in and buy some screws for the holes to Valve to Bracket mount.

 

I'm pretty sure my brake booster is going out again. I noticed a hissing noise today coming from my pedal area. My reflex was to tap the brake pedal and it went away. When I parked I heard the hissing again, tapped the brake pedal and it kept hissing, tapped a second time and hissing stopped, brake pedal got really firm.

I think it has been 18 months only since I replaced it. I need to remember where I got it so I can avoid getting it there again.

 

Tidbit for DC and Sequoia owners:

Grease your rear window track, had the back hatch opened up today and found this.

It's odd that this metal was the only thing around oxidized and rusted. Put a nice layer of grease on there, should be good for another 17 years.

Edit for sloppy spelling

 

As I was driving into Knoxville I had a last minute detour that put me within spitting distance of @Tundra2 but because I wasn't @FirstGenVol he told me to pound sand.

Also, I haven't done crap to my Tundra. I drove it to Knoxville with a load of stuff. I work from home. I've used Instacart to get groceries. I've been out a handful of times but in 10 days of living here I've almost used 3/4 the tank.

It needs another interior cleaning though. Wallace left some prints, I've carried some leaves and misc dirt, and for sure there was a young child checking for bats in the cave at one point.

 

You and I both know that's not how it went. Lol let me know the next time you're passing through in advance, and we can work something out.

 

lol yeah, next time I will make a better plan rather than the absolute last minute detour that truly was.

 

Yeah, you're lucky I was even awake to answer the messages at 11 o'clock lol

 

If you haven't already done it, It might be worth replacing the booster and master cylinder with one off a T100. Apparently it'll improve the brake travel quite a bit.
I plan on the swap when my time comes. I do eventually plan on a big brake kit too though.

 

I decided to clean the MAF and throttle body today. I was amazed to see how clean the throttle body stayed after my oil catch can install.

This is before I cleaned it

I was clumsy today and lost a screw for the MAF sensor in the engine bay. I ended up getting two small bolts to replace the screws and promptly lost the little 7mm socket for those bolts.
My engine bay hungers for more.

 

i really want to send my t-body out to maxbore just to see if i can get a wee bit more power out of the sucker...

 

I've thought about it but I think it does more for the feel. Not sure it really improves braking distance. I'm just bummed to have to replace the booster again, keep in mind my truck is weekend only and probably less than 10k miles on this booster.

 

That really sucks. Did it come with a warranty? Not that you would want to try the same brand, but it would be nice to get your money back.

 

It was either a 1 year or 2 year warranty. I need to dig through my inbox to find out which one I bought. Money back would be nice.

 

I inspected my front shocks yesterday...

 

Replacement time!

 

Yep, and it's a shame because the shocks are still good with about 150,000 miles on them.

 

You say that but I bet if you replaced one side you feel the difference in a new shock though they still look good

 

Just found the email, it is an acdelco part, received in October 2019 from Rock Auto. They no longer seem to carry this part and acdelco does not seem to have it on their own website. I'll try contacting both parties later, it wasn't a cheapy at $301plus $30 core charge. For reference the cheap ones are $150. I don't know what the warranty is yet.

Before anybody says "should have gone to Toyota", I tried. The part was over $700 there but had a 3 month wait which I learned about 2 weeks after ordering, I'm not waiting 3 months.

Might try hitting up a nearby junkyard to see if they have an OEM in good shape. If not I will play Russian roulette with some aftermarket, maybe Cardone or SKP.

 

New Bilstein 4600's are on the way... I dug up the old receipt, they were installed 07/2003 and the rubber parts are not covered under warranty.

 

No judgement here. Some of the parts for our trucks are getting harder to find. When I was looking into the master cylinder it seems Toyota has discontinued them. A few websites showed them available to purchase but who knows. There is no excuse for yours to fail so soon.

 

I went to pull my ABS sensor and part of the backing plate won't let me pull it out. I tried twisting it and everything. Looks like I will have to pull the backing plate out maybe half an inch or so, oh well.

 

How do you like the rear disc? I have the kit on my Tacoma. But obviously.. that trucks long away from driving

 

I've only driven with the discs once so far, but that once was verrrry nice and I do feel like it is going to be an overall improvement. I'm excited to get more seat time with it very soon. I have wanted four wheel discs on this truck for a long time.

 

Eventually I plan on doing it to my tundra. But not till my tacos running again

 

The instructions for the kit weren't very helpful and at one point I stopped using them all together. It sucks that I have to loosen the axle bolts to remove the ABS sensor. Also the axle bolts they included were too long and interfered with the Toyota levers and p brake shoes. I skipped the stoptech lines and had braided lines made that go from the caliper to center of axle.