Alright, finally decided to tackle this (valve shims/buckets) following your thoughts
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AuSeeker
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rdruss
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Done a bunch of homework, not the easiest to find on this engine (1GR-FE). Called a dozen shops, some don't want to touch it (both what more work usually ends up needing to be done and the mileage), some won't give a ballpark quote for "let's say 3 shims... and another quote for 12"...
Best I could get is from Toyota $650 for bilateral valve cover gasket job. Then work up from there. I estimated another $300 in my head since the tear down is already there. WRONG!
Finally got a shop a motorhead here at work recommended 30 miles away, guys were freaking awesome-- they even went to do some specific homework on the engine history to call me back. He said $2,000 in shop time alone. Even if that's an overzealous price, then we're looking at, say, BEST case scenario $950 in shop time alone someplace dirt cheap. BEST.
At that price point, I'm willing to learn something new, or learn that it's way beyond my capability.
One of the biggest hang ups is that there are a total of 77 shims (learned all this from the guy at the shop) for this engine. And you can't get them at Advance Auto to have 'em all on hand and return what you don't use. Toyota doesn't even keep them in stock-- both Toyota dealer and local shop's words. (They're only a couple hours away in Jax, so it'd only be a day or two. But still, not a one day down time.)
My biggest challenge (as suspected and why I keep putting it off) is having 2 separate days to work on it close together, and having a vehicle to drive in the meantime. Probably a week-long effort for my slow self and schedule.
Final decision: Going to do both valve cover gaskets and assess while I'm in there.
I'll buy the feeler gauge when I pick those up, do all the measurements, take a good look at all the valves from the top and then
- a) Determine it's workable, finish the gasket work, put it all back together and order the parts and schedule for another day to play the shim game and re-do the gaskets (cheap), or
- b) Determine there's a bit more going on with the valves (or that it's not a valve bucket tick), and reconsider my options.
The goal is to rebuild this (not necessarily collector's restore) to give the vehicle to my son next year for his 17th at the same time I'm due for a new vehicle. If I can tackle this and an exhaust issue, I'm game and can do the rest of the cosmetics. (A few thousand is less than $20k for a 4R with 180k miles with unknown gremlins.)