89 V6 Rebuild Project!

Hello, I used to be a member of this site in 2003 but I stopped visiting and eventually forgot my username. Please allow me to reintroduce myself and my Camry project at hand. I have a 1989 Toyota Camry V6 LE that has been in my family since new (July 1989) with 101,300 miles on it. Here is some pictures of the car before (97,921 miles 2007):





The body was starting to become rough from living up north until 2005 and the road salt had taken its toll with rust developing on the fenders and rear 1/4 panels. The car had been repainted in 1996 but it was a single stage paintjob and the color did not even match OEM, the bumpers were redone 3 times and they could not get the paint to stick so it just kept chipping as shown in the pictures.











In the next year I worked on prepping the car for paint and me and my cousin painted it Honda Electron Blue Pearl.















In the next years things were pretty good. In 2009 I got new tires installed and they said it needed a new steering rack and tie rod ends. About 50 miles later on these new tires on October 30th the infamous rod knock appeared with 101,300 miles on the engine. Since then the car has been sitting waiting on what would become of it next. The engine didn't die, my mother drove it 2 miles home with it knocking and it still starts. This summer I got a awesome deal on a fully refurbished 2vzfe long block and I stashed it in my garage. In 2 weeks I will be ordering some OEM parts I need from Toyota and some odds and ends such as the steering rack and tie rods and I will begin the rebuild process!



I will keep you guys updated and I am looking for some tips you guys may have that can help me throughout my rebuild process! I have pictures of the engine somewhere and I will post them.



Thanks!

Richard.

Reply 1 : 89 V6 Rebuild Project!

Welcome back man! Always nice to see that the Gen 2 crowd hasn't all left for something newer. How about some more pictures of the car fully assembled.

Reply 2 : 89 V6 Rebuild Project!

I would like to see more pics of the camry in that colour looks amazing, plus you got rid of the black siding. I think the sproiler would've been nice to keep though. Keep us posted hopefully it will b running soon without knocking

Reply 3 : 89 V6 Rebuild Project!

Nice job! It's pretty darn clean. A lot of Gen2's here are now forever gone due to just the body rust. At lease the Gen3 doesn't corrode as much, so I still see a lot here.



Does the 2VZ have an infamous issue with a knocking rod developing? I've seen this happen more than once to a 2VZ after a certain amount of time and a more common' engine' issue besides the reverse going out on the V6's Gen2 Camry.

Reply 4 : 89 V6 Rebuild Project!

Hey guys, sorry I have not updated this. I didn't have as much time as I planned on to work on the car, so it took me a while to get to where I am now. I have the motor out and took the transmission off. I have been looking everywhere for engine stand bolts so I can get both motors up on the stands and swap the parts over but I have found out that Toyota uses some funny bolts. I ended up having to order the bolts and I am still waiting on them to come in. Here is some current pictures:

Reply 5 : 89 V6 Rebuild Project!

That blue looks freaking awesome. Esp with the front shot.



Keep up the good work

Reply 6 : 89 V6 Rebuild Project!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kingdom934 That blue looks freaking awesome. Esp with the front shot. Keep up the good work

Thank you sir!



Here is more updates, got the engine stand bolts and put the motor on the lift. Proceeded to tear down and got to the oil pan. Oil pickup tube screen was very clean, only looks like the pan has a very thin layer of sludge, maybe its just some really dirty oil? Dropped the oil pan currently and here are some pictures.







Bearing fragments!

Reply 7 : 89 V6 Rebuild Project!

is that on the engine that had the rod knock?

Reply 8 : 89 V6 Rebuild Project!

Quote:

Originally Posted by dem2757 is that on the engine that had the rod knock?

Yep, that is the oil pan off the old engine that had rod knock.



Here is a picture of the pickup tube installed on the new engine:







I scraped the old gasket off the old pan and cleaned it out really good to put on the new engine.

Reply 9 : 89 V6 Rebuild Project!

that look sreally good man. how much was the engine?

Reply 10 : 89 V6 Rebuild Project!

Quote:

Originally Posted by dem2757 that look sreally good man. how much was the engine?

Thank You! The engine was around $3,000 shipped, I got REALLY LUCKY ended up paying under $1,000 shipped.

Reply 11 : 89 V6 Rebuild Project!

wow thats cheap. im jealous haha. you should easily get 200000 more miles out of that car

Reply 12 : 89 V6 Rebuild Project!

oh as an afterthought, did you pour oil over the rods, bearings etc before you put the pan on?

Reply 13 : 89 V6 Rebuild Project!

2vz 4 life

Reply 14 : 89 V6 Rebuild Project!

Quote:

Originally Posted by dem2757 oh as an afterthought, did you pour oil over the rods, bearings etc before you put the pan on?

Ideally, it should be assembly lube... oil will be ok. All the bolts should be pre-oiled while assembling to get the correct torque on the fasteners too if those were removed.



It also looks like there is about 5x too much sealant on the pan. A small 1/4" or so bead is all you need there. Only a little bit should squeeze out. Don't over-tighten those oil pan bolts.



-Charlie