I had to rebuild my engine in my 86. Went with engbuilder basic kit, but made few mistakes. Had the block decked tanked and honed. Also had the head done. If doing this you must deck the timing cover also. Head gasket interferes with the top causing it to leak.
Also not having it bored caused oil blow by and piston slap.
Got almost 30k on it in this condition wish I would have done it right after spending about a grand between new crank and rebuild and machine work. Also had bought a donor motor trans and tcase(mainly for 5speed swap and gear case).

Thanks guys.

Took it to a recommended mechanic that rents out space in a machine shop. He checked it out and has recommended rebuilding the cylinder head.

total cost for them to do it - $650

I have made no decisions about anything. I must be Belgian, because I am waffling.

Those were the conditions, yeah. So I guess I'm trying to decide between cylinder head rebuild/new from enginebldr, or going the full rebuild. One is cheaper and may get it done, and the other will most certainly get it done, but take more time and money, so...I'll spend the next few days thinking it over. Really appreciate the help, folks.

My personal opinion is this ...

If the rest of your 4Runner is in good/great shape, and you want to keep/run it for many years and trails to come. AND if you have the money (that's the biggy right?) - I'd do a complete rebuild top to bottom. If done right it will run (with the proper maintenance) for 100,000s of miles.

If all you need is a rebuild on the head, you can get a gasket kit and head from engnbldr.com for a few hundred bucks and do it yourself for half the cost.

Well, considering what you guys are saying, how much oil I'm losing and the condition of the rest of the truck, I'm going full rebuild. I want this thing to take me to Mexico, so...I'll keep you posted.

pull the head, have it checked/surfaced for straightness, have the valves redone.

drop the pan, pull the pistons, replace the rings, and all the bearings. hone the cylinder and put it back together. ;)


cheapest and easiest way. may not be THE way for everyone tho.

Well, we're back online.

After searching high and low for a garage to rent that would have room and let me do the work, I sadly ended up taking it somewhere. I say sadly because I really wanted to do it myself. Such is reality living in a cold a$$, snowy city without a garage or a driveway. (I gotta move back to NC soon)

So looked around and found a place I liked, machine shop with auto mechanic, they did everything for $2000 with two-year unlimited milage warranty. It's running great now and just in time for all this snow we've been getting. Now I can move onto wiring fixes and some of the fun mods.

Anyway, I'm determined to do the next one myself. Won't be this same 4runner, but yes, there will be a next one.

Thanks again everyone for you help.

$2000 all-in for a complete rebuild is not a horrible deal. Glad to hear she's running again.