Who do you trust for a head job?
 

After my last trip, I noticed I had to add a little more oil than usual, almost 1/2 quart after 1500 miles. I rarely have to add more than 1/2qt between oil changes, regardless of how hard I drive it. I've been noticing the normal "puff" of smoke I see when I start it after it sits a week or more is turning into a light fog and it doesn't need to sit more than a couple days now to see it. I've been suspecting valve seals and I confirmed this today when I had the exhaust manifolds off (new cats) and saw that the valve stems were slightly wet still. This leaves me trying to decide what to do next. At 280k miles, I'm sure the engine needs some attention. I plan on keeping it for as long as possible. My thoughts are to run it till having to add oil becomes a problem. Pull the engine and do the bottom end. At that point, who would I send the heads off to? If it was an old SBC, I'd take it down to Motor Parts and let "Steve" or "Chuck" work them over in the back room for $75 a pop. That being said, I'm not sure either one of them could even spell Toyota, so would I be taking a risk letting them work these heads? Is there enough difference that I should be worried? I live in the DFW area, I'm sure there's a specialized shop somewhere that deals with them, but would it be worth it to go to them? I'm just looking for some thoughts from someone who's been through this already.

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I had great success with a local machine shop. Yes, this guy usually spends his time building 1000hp GM engines, but he did a great job with my 4.0 heads. Just go visit some local people near you, most of the time people who do this type of work are honest in what they can and cant do.

I trust my girl friend.....she's a great mechanic!

funny you mention this - i had a similar experience.

my wrx timing belt snapped over seized waterpump WHILE DRIVING and bent every valve...i coasted into a domestic performance shop and ironically
they did a kickass job of new valves on the turbo jap car.

lmao i initially opened this thread to see if the title was a joke and it wasn't so i left - thanks for taking the plunge.

op - good luck with the head!

Most high performance racing machine shops can handle the 2uz-fe. I wouldn't trust one of those all-in-one machine shop auto parts stores... been there, never will go back

Yeah, I figured I'd try a little click bait to ramp up the views a little

Yeah, "mechanic"

That's the way I was leaning. Can they set the valves without the heads on the engine?

I was hesitant to reply to this topic because I didn't trust myself to post a serious reply...but my reply would have been..."my wife" she's eeerr a mechanic as well...yes that's right and she can torque my nuts!!

Unfortunately not, the heads have to be installed as well as the cams, timming belt, etc., etc., basically the engine needs to be totally put back together, then all the valve clearances have to be checked, any that aren't within tolerance will have to be "adjusted" and that's when the fun parts starts, the valves have a cap/cup on top of each valve, the cam lobes run in these cups to open the valves, and in between the cup and the valve stem there's a specific size shim, this shim is what sets the proper valve clearance, any valve that's doesn't have the proper clearance will need the shim replaced thusly "adjusting" the valve clearance, unfortunately to replace the shim for one that corrects the clearance the cup needs to be removed and to do that the cam needs to be removed, pull the cup/s and replace the shim/s with a thicker or thinner shim/s to achieve the proper valve clearance....so you check all the clearances make very accurate notes on which valves needs "adjustment" and by how much +/- and then starts the fun of taking the cam/s off pull the cup/ss, swap out shim/s and then install the cams check the clearances again and hope you took good notes and got it all right so you don't have to do it all again!

Also when the heads are removed to be reworked make sure you keep all the cups and shims organized so they go back exactly where they came off, you may get lucky and the valves when reassembled are not that far off and needs no "adjustment" but again unfortunately I doubt that will happen after the work is done on the heads/valves.

What?? I'm not sure where you are getting this information. If you take your heads to a Racing engine shop where they build Racing engines, they have all the equipment available to completely build the heads with all clearances on all valves completely set up to bolt onto the engine with proper seat pressure having never seen the block or the car at all. I do understand that there are very few shops that can do this, in Sacramento CA there are 2 shops that can do it. You could even take a random basket of head parts to them completely out of order and they will deliver to you an assembled head ready to bolt onto the engine. (That last scenario would cost you a lot of $$$$)

I have already had this done with my own engine and it is running amazingly with better gas mileage and power than before it exploded. The shop never saw the engine or the car and rebuilt my heads after a catastrophic event where the valves hit the pistons. I put them back on the engine in my backyard by myself 2 years ago and the 2uz-fe is still running great.

It doesn't have to cost a zillion dollars to rebuild a 2uz. Granted its not as simple as a domestic engine, but there are some very good shops that can handle it.

Beat me to the punch!

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