Building the 7A-FE, Lots of pics!!!!!!! Options

[Smaay]

Well i rebuilt Eryn's ST last weekend. I took as many pictures as I could

Here is the block, all pretty and blue




The underside of the block and where the main bearings are installed


These are the main bearings, old on the left and new on the right. make sure you use the same size and plastigauge to double check clearances




Main bearing installed




Plastigauge on the main journals, do this on every journal


Install Main caps in order, look at the number and arrow is pointing to #1 Torque to 44lbs






remove caps and check clearances. .0015" clearance is good!




Remove crank and clean off plastigauge, apply assembly lube generously






Lay crank back on bearings and apply more lube


More lube on main cap bearing, my daddy always says, you can never have too much lube


rod cap, make sure you line them up and install the correct cap on the rod


This is the wrong match you want an M not a goofy looking triangle like this


More lube on the rod bearing


Using a spring compressor, install the piston and rod assembly


make sure you install the correct piston according to the mark on the block. This is actually wrong. #1 piston in a #2 spot. you can see the marks on the block in the circle


Piston installed (wrong one...oops)




Take one of the old rings and break it, use this piece to clean the gunk out of the ring lands




Top of dirty piston, i didnt get a pic of it after i cleaned it




Marks on the block to identify piston size










Another shot of the wrong cap and rod together Do not do this!




Crap collected in ring lands, look at the oil ring, this is why you burn oil, the ring is too gunked up to expand


Cleaned out piston


Damaged bearings












Amazingly the crank was fine, look at the bearing!!!!!




New piston installed, the old one had some damage on it. Something bad happened in this engine




Head all cleaned up


Removing the keepers and retainers, I use a socket and smack it with a dead blow hammer.


Look at these exhaust valves, nastyness!




After a good cleaning on the wire wheel




These are the valve guide seals, most of them fell apart like this when removed. another reason for burnign oil and smoking


Intake valve, look at the awesomeness collected on there, think flow imporved after a good cleaning?


These are the marks on the crank to identify what main bearing to install




This is the new oil pump gasket






Oil pump installed


#1 oil pan after a good sand blasing




These numbers on the bottom of the block also identify what piston to install


These numbers match up with the numbers on the crank to identify what main bearing to install


Cleaned up rear main seal housing


Seal before pressed into housing


On an engine stand this area is a little tight, but you can get in there


New gasket for rear main seal


Rear main seal installed


Install #1 oil pan, originally these 2 bolts were hex bolts, PITA to get out so i replaced with regular bolts




Here you can see the hex bolts and regular bolts that are used to secure the oil pan










New oil pickup gasket


Install oil pickup


Install windage tray




Install #2 oil pan


Top view, pistons installed. Make sure assembly rotates


Install new head gasket




Install head on block, torque head bolts to 22 lbs in specific order, then turn each bolt 90 degrees, then turn each bolt another 90 degrees


Insert shimm and bucket assembly, I oopsed in this pic also, got them backwards


Right shimms installed, exhaust cam in position


Install new cam seal


Check timing marks, make sure the dots line up during the cam rotations


New water pump seal


New water pump


Install crank timing gear


You can barely see the indent on the gear that lines up with that small dot on the oil pump, these are timing marks


New idler pully


Tighten pully out of the way like so


Here you can see the timing marks


Once belt is installed, release tensioner and then re-tighten it






I lose my scribe so pics will be less detailed here are the timing covers installed and water pump pully


installed AC bracket and alternator bracket




Intake manifold is installed back on, clean surface of water sensor pipe


Apply FIPG on sensor pipe


Installed on head


this is the power steering pump bracket




Install wiring harness back on the engine




Install cover plate, sorry i dont have pics for flywheel and clutch install, then bolt tranny to block


Lowering assembly into engine bay.






Sorry i dont have any more pics. i lost my scribe and i was install mode. I didnt have time to take pics and write down details. Engine is running smoothly and has quite a bit of pep for a 7A-FE. Turbo install will be coming next in the near future.

phew, ill add detailed comments tomorrow

[SwissFerdi]

I don't know half of what I'm looking at...but I can tell that it's some thorough work. Very nice.

[Keiri]

Smaay,

This is one of the most complete motor build-ups I've ever seen...definitely on par with the BGB for the Celica. If you don't mind, how much time has this rebuild required so far?

[CelicaST_CALI]

Sweet i have a few questions though:

How many miles on the 7a?
What all did you replace/where did u get the parts?
Tools needed(dont need to list mm of sockets )
Time?

This post has been edited by CelicaST_CALI: Mar 2, 2010 - 7:09 PM

[kormysh8]

this should for sure be in the "how to" article section. thanks. pretty detailed. this will help a lot for my next project. thanks man

[CelicaST_CALI]

where is the "how to" section?You mean the stickies?Cause only moderators can put threads in there

[Smaay]

I pulled the engine and tore it down in 1 day. had to wait a week for the parts to come in from the dealer. the piston and bearings got back ordered from the dealer. I only use OEM parts from the dealer. i rebuilt the engine and installed it in the car in 1 day.

The original miles were 92K and tools uses were standard 10mm, 12mm, 14mm, 17mm sockets, some needle nose pliers, torque wrench, and a few screwdrivers here and there to poke things. nothing really special needed except the hoist and engine stand.

[2celicas2love]

AMAZING! AMAZING !! I am so excited to get my car back. You did such a great job I appreciate all your efforts soooo much!!!! Plus I learned alot even about tools lol espically sockets!! !!!!!!!

[xtinkt94]

Except for the blue paint this is exactly what I am getting ready to do to my boys car. Finding the rebuild kit is going to be the hard part for me since I'm at least 45 miles from the nearest Toyota dealer.

[Euphoria]

very cool, wish I had the balls to pull my engine out and attempt that, how many km were on the original engine?

[2celicas2love]

very cool, wish I had the balls to pull my engine out and attempt that, how many km were on the original engine?

92,000 not very many

very cool, wish I had the balls to pull my engine out and attempt that, how many km were on the original engine?

92,000 miles not very many

[Smaay]

Except for the blue paint this is exactly what I am getting ready to do to my boys car. Finding the rebuild kit is going to be the hard part for me since I'm at least 45 miles from the nearest Toyota dealer.

there are several toyota dealers that will ship parts. 1sttoyotaparts.com i thing is one of them. the engine rebuild gasket kit is about 230 bucks and it comes with every gasket you will need. plus some you dont.

[Bitter]

I pulled the engine and tore it down in 1 day. had to wait a week for the parts to come in from the dealer. the piston and bearings got back ordered from the dealer. I only use OEM parts from the dealer. i rebuilt the engine and installed it in the car in 1 day.

The original miles were 92K and tools uses were standard 10mm, 12mm, 14mm, 17mm sockets, some needle nose pliers, torque wrench, and a few screwdrivers here and there to poke things. nothing really special needed except the hoist and engine stand.

you didn't send the block out to be honed and the head to be machined true?

[Delta_Phoenix]

you didn't send the block out to be honed and the head to be machined true?

Awesome post and very informative, but I'm also wondering the same thing...

[Smaay]

you didn't send the block out to be honed and the head to be machined true?

i have a honing tool so i did that myself. the head was checked with a straight edge, good and flat, so was the deck.

This engine is only going back in till she can save up for the 3S-GTE swap. but we have to finish the turbo install on her 7th gen first.

[windowlicker]

so this is what eryn has been up to...

[garin]

good stuff smaay!oh the 7a... it lives! haha!

[Bitter]

you didn't send the block out to be honed and the head to be machined true?

i have a honing tool so i did that myself. the head was checked with a straight edge, good and flat, so was the deck.

This engine is only going back in till she can save up for the 3S-GTE swap. but we have to finish the turbo install on her 7th gen first.

got it, i figured it was a 'hold over' rebuild' anyways. i didn't know how deep you were getting into it or not. looks nice! mad powa from the 7a now!

[Smaay]

today we installed a muffler canister. the sound was amazing, nice deep and throaty! we also advanced her timing to about 14 degrees and she is stuck on 91 gas now. but the power increase was nice

[OOBE]

I LOVE the sound of the 7A. I miss mine dearly. She's there in the garage all lonely.

[SwissFerdi]

^ I'll give your turbo parts a good home.

[Bitter]

today we installed a muffler canister. the sound was amazing, nice deep and throaty! we also advanced her timing to about 14 degrees and she is stuck on 91 gas now. but the power increase was nice

yes, the timing advance does nicely and pairs GREAT with the ebay header. the timing advance moves the torque down a touch lower and removes the...dead spot down there, the ebay header moves the torque you gain from the timing advance back up a little to peaking around 3500rpm and keeps power from falling off over 4500rpm, finally feels like it dips out at nearer 6000.

actually the ebay header with stock resonator and NO muffler sounds quite nice...best sound from a 4banger i think i've ever heard........but i could be biased.

This post has been edited by Bitter: Mar 7, 2010 - 12:16 AM

[hurley97]

I love rebuild threads. Nice pictures too, when I did mine I took a lot but I was more concerned with learning since it was my first rebuild that I didn't take as many as I could have.

Also you mentioned some great details but it might be worth inserting into your first post that its very important to make sure when you take the valves out that you keep them in order and they go back exactly where they came from, in case someone were to use your thread as reference in the future.

I didn't use the platigauge on my motor, didn't have much at the time. Its nice to see how to actually use it.

[Smaay]

glad everyone is getting so much out of these.

[2celicas2love]

Mike, Smaay's friend also did the exhaust tip,

he did an amazing job!

This post has been edited by 2celicas2love: Mar 8, 2010 - 1:20 AM

[BonzaiCelica]

wow that seems like 2.5 inch exhaust piping. what are the specs on the exhaust set up??

[Smaay]

yep, mandrel bent 2.5 from the factory flange to the canister. sounds awesome!

[tomazws]

I don't know half of what I'm looking at...but I can tell that it's some thorough work. Very nice.

That's exactly what I thought when I was going through the pictures hahahhaah!!

OMG I seriously need to hunt you down and get the same service from you.

[Smaay]

Mods, can we get this added to the stickies? im referring to it alot!

[onnaj]

Wow amazing! I want to do a rebuild myself in the future.

How did you advance the timing? I know that with my old MR2 the distribitor cap could be rotated, but with my 7afe this isn;t possible.

Thanks.

And sorry for kicking this old thread up

[Takumi-FujiWaraS...]

Do these engines not have specifications? piston to wall clearance, ring end gap, main and rod bearings? i seen the use of a plastigauge which works but is crude. Just looking for clearance spec's, if anyone has them please reply back it would be greatly appreciated.

[Takumi-FujiWaraS...]

Did you also reuse the rod bolts? i read somewhere on here 94-95 you could, but 96+ was tq to yield. Is rod bolts a dealer only part if they have to be replaced, sure seem to be.

[Smaay]

yes all the specs are available in the BGB or techinfo.toyota.com yes i reused the rod bolts. they are TTY but they can be used again. this isnt a high performance engine.

[Takumi-FujiWaraS...]

Ah i see, appreciate it.

This post has been edited by Takumi-FujiWaraST: May 19, 2013 - 4:31 AM