Pacific Northwest Backroad Adventures

Here is the latest update on the progress of getting my Toyota FJ80 Land Cruiser up and running again.

I received the head gasket and oil pan gasket order I was waiting for last Thursday. Over a long weekend, between soccer games and family time, I was able to devote a few days to cleaning, inspecting and assembling my 3FE engine. Here is a progress report of what I have completed so far.

NOTE: This is NOT a step-by-step instructional guide for assembling an engine. You need to consult the proper factory Toyota Land Cruiser service manual for instructions on assembling your engine.

First, I installed the new oil filter and the existing oil pickup tube/filter. Then I installed the factory Toyota oil pan gasket. I chose the Toyota oil pan gasket over an aftermarket gasket because the Toyota is all one piece and the aftermarket is a four-piece unit. The aftermarket oil pan gaskets tend to have a tendency to leak.

Here I have the oil pan, timing gear cover and harmonic balancer installed.

Here I have the oil cooler and oil filter bracket installed.

Next I prepped the head for installation. The only thing I had left to finish prior to installation was to remove the oil galley plug in the head and install a threaded plug. There are multiple documented cases where this oil galley plug has failed resulting in a complete loss of oil pressure (there have been a few lucky individuals who were able to save their engine before major damage). Apparently this is good preventative maintenance on all Toyota Land Cruiser 2F, 3F and 3FE engines.

If you need more information on this subject, there are several good sources out there including http://www.archtimb.com/OilGalleyPlug.html. You can also find great information on the 3FE Group on Yahoo.

Here I have the oil galley pug removed from the head. You can see the location of the oil galley plug after removal from the head.

Here I have the oil galley pug removed from the head and still attached to the end of the drill bit.

Here is a view of the oil galley passage casting in the 3FE head. The oil galley passes from the rocker arm oil passage (center of photo) at a 45 degree angle to the head bolt hole to the oil galley plug.

Here I show the head with the new threaded oil galley plug installed. Of course, I completed this while the head was on the bench. Plenty of thread locker was used to prevent the plug from coming out in the future.

After completing the oil galley plug, I installed the head using the factory Toyota head gasket. I based this on the recommendations of the 3FE group and all the members of IH8MUD. The last thing I need is to have this engine fail because of an aftermarket head gasket. No thanks.

Here I have the head, water pump, idler pulley and bracket installed.

Here is a side view of the engine with the head, water pump, idler pulley and bracket installed.

In addition to the photos shown above, I installed the lifters and side cover. I also cleaned, inspected and installed the push rods.

That’s as far as I was able to get on the assembly of the 3FE engine. More to come in the next week (or when I can get a chance to work on it).

Related posts:

The Parts For My 3FE Rebuild Have Been Ordered

I Picked Up My Rebuilt Toyota Land Cruiser 3FE Short Block

My Land Cruiser - Temporarily Out of Commission

Tags: 3fe, 80-series, fj-80, fj80, land cruiser, landcruiser, toyota

This entry was posted on Monday, September 29th, 2008 at 8:55 pm and is filed under Vehicle Mods & Repairs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.