Day 3

Arrived home the day after Christmas anxious to dive back into the project. Also scored some tool bling at the gift exchange...magnetic tool tray...this thing rocks!

10. We removed the EGR valve and modulator. Pretty easy operation.

I've never pulled one of these before so I don't know what I'm looking at but I'm guessing it isn't good...intake on the valve where it bolts up to the intake manifold was plugged with carbon buildup.

11. Removed the throttle body. Pretty easy also and found more carbon buildup on the backside of the butterfly. Any thoughts what is causing this? I'm surprised to see this on the fuel delivery side...

12. The instructions from the Toyota shop manual (btw, big thanks to Sean from TN for providing a copy for us!) show removing the intake manifold next however we decided to remove the delivery pipe, injectors and move the wiring harness out of the way. Even so, it was a bit of a Houdini act to snake the tools in there to remove it...

We left the delivery pipe attached to the fuel line and pushed it up out of the way. It's the one lying vertically in the pic. Then pushed the wiring harness up over the intake to give us a clean shot at the manifold bolts.

On our third set of gloves at this point...did I say the engine was a greasy mess? Still kicking myself for not cleaning it before we tore into the project...

13. Removed the intake manifold.

Now have a clear view of the back side of the motor and a full shot of the slime pit. Called it a day.

Day 2...sort of...

8. Unlike the energetic and productive start on Day 1...Day 2 was a series of repeated attempts over several days to remove two nuts, both which stripped and located in the most difficult places to remove. The first was a nut/stud under the heat shield on the exhaust manifold. Started to strip with my 12 pt 14mm socket so used a Craftsman bolt off and came out fine. The other was a nut on the flange bolting the exhaust to the Catalytic converter. Required lots of Liquid Wrench and used a Craftsman Bolt Off to remove it (destroyed the nut). Once off though the exhaust manifold was easily removed.

Also had a stud shear off in the threads of the head (lower right). We'll attempt to remove once the head is off the block and on the bench.

9. Lastly, we removed the water pipes from the water pump. Called it a night!

Day 1

Got as far as removing water jacket & hoses this afternoon. Looks like the valve cover has been leaking for quite awhile. What a mess! Should have degreased the engine compartment before we started. Sequence of removal was as follows (by the way...could only get a hold of a Chilton manual in town. It's crap for instructions. Lists the things to do but gives zero guidance where to locate the parts in the compartment, etc. I still haven't found the petcock on the block yet to drain it...)

1. Removed hood and boys dove in...removed engine shields and drained coolant...looks pretty bad. Will replace. Placed front of car on jacks, under the sway bar mounts.

Notice the sway bar mount...looks like someone did some curb hopping!

3. Removed throttle cable & bracket and cruise control connector (opposite side of throttle cable connection)

4. Removed Air intake hose

5. Removed alternator, right wheel and cross member underneath car. Disconnected ground from battery before we removed alternator. Was again wishing I had degreased car. The cross member was heavily caked and a mess...

6. Removed distributor & plug wires

7. Removed water jacket, hoses & connectors...called it a night...