Following in My Own Footsteps

Where we left off with the RAV4’s journey, I had acquired a 2AR-FE to install into the car. So, why 2AR? Several people have asked “why not a 3S-GE? Why not a 3S-GTE? Why not just a 5S-FE? Why not [x]? Why not [y]? Well, I thought about that. Originally, when I first wanted a RAV4, I planned to take the 3sgte from my MR2, and use that to make a “RAV-GT-Four”. That being said, I broke my gen2, and sold my gen3 long before I found a suitable RAV4. With all the 3S headaches I’d had, I didn’t really think that was in the cards for me. Plus, with this RAV4 being a certified crawler, installing a turbo made no sense. Naturally aspirated power (and specifically low end torque) fits the bill. So, after some consideration, the 2AR-FE, a 2.5L inline 4, made the most sense. Marc from Frankenstein Motorworks has done wonders with the motor in his MR2 Spyder race car, getting even 205whp in stock configuration, and it’s conceptually the same as the 2GR swap into the SW20. Everything is more or less the same platform, and in fact it should (fingers crossed) bolt up to the stock RAV4 gearbox. The 2GR MR2 is just such a simple and reliable swap, so in concept, this makes sense.

But I wanted more.

For those of you that follow Marc, or have some familiarity with Toyota engines, you may know that a big brother to the 2AR, a 2.7L inline 4 called the 1AR-FE. Well, Marc got around 8% more power on the 1AR than the 2AR, which makes sense given the 8% larger displacement. But, the 1AR was only in base model Venzas, Siennas, and Highlanders. So they’re uncommon to say the least. That makes them either hard to find, or expensive. But I want low end. So I’m doing a stroker. The crank is only $600 from Toyota, and ultimately, the crank and pistons are the only thing that differentiate the two motors. Building a stroker with all new parts is more cost effective than finding a used 1AR. So, that’s the plan! Let the parts collection begin.

While I said the motors are the same other than the crank and pistons is technically true, the 1AR actually has a different intake manifold. The plenum is larger, which is likely due to the higher displacement. I planned to run the 2AR manifold and just eat the slight power loss, but I managed to find a “broken” 1AR manifold on ebay for next to nothing. The tabs that hold the wire harness and a PCV hose were broken. Oh no.

Next was to find a header. Marc sells a block hugger header that fits the spyder, but I have a lot more room. He had a few options laying around which did not fit his purposes, so I purchased a Megan Racing header from him (New-old-stock discontinued parts!) and he happened to have some 1AR pistons that were not going to be used, so I bought those from him as well. Used pistons, talk about a budget build.

Some time passes and its time to begin disassembly. Luckily, I had a helper^. The 2AR is a pretty easy motor to service, and can be done with standard tools, sans the special head bolt socket. I’ll give Toyota a pass on this one.

All torn down, and the block looks to be in good shape. This was definitely an oil burner, and that’s OK. I’m replacing all of the parts that have to do with that.

A little schmoo at the bottom of the bores, no big deal. It cleaned off just fine. I checked the straightness of the deck, the condition of the bores and oil passages, and I’m happy to say I proceeded with this block. One crankshaft later, it’s time to build this motor!

Staying organized is key.

I ended up picking up the entire reseal kit, since I needed a headgasket anyway, and it wasn’t that much more to get the whole kit. Maybe I’m also a little more sensitive to leaks, I want absolutely none on this car. Since I needed to take the motor completely apart anyway, figure I might as well. The only seal I’m not changing are the valve seals. I don’t want to remove the valves, so I won’t. Toyota is super behind on some parts so I spend a lot of time cleaning things. I didn’t paint the valve cover (which I want to) but that will be coming off again later so its not a big deal. Sadly, I can’t order some items like main bearings until I have my crankshaft.

DISASTER.

The box my crank and a few other parts arrived in ended up severely damaged in shipping. Looks like a damn meteor hit it. I didnt think anything of it, and a quick look over the parts looked fine. But when testing the crank in the block, I noticed the balance shaft drive gear was damaged. Welp, guess I’m not running a balance shaft. I don’t think it should be an issue with or without them, Marc of Frankenstein Motorworks has raced on a 1ar without a balance shaft and didn’t notice any harmonic differences. Well after some thinking I decided to continue with this crankshaft. But given the damage on the teeth, I didn’t want to risk any chunks falling off in the oil pan so I decided to have it machined off. Turns out, that’s a separate piece and it actually pressed off just fine. That’s going on my wall of shame for sure.

That crankshaft really just looks naked without the ring. It is a little unfortunate because I’m actually trying to keep the rotating assembly heavier to make offroading easier. I mean that is the primary reason I’m doing this anyway. Oh well, I’ll at least be running an OEM mass flywheel and clutch assembly, so that will help with inertia. Oh well, I’ll make do.

Reassembly time comes and man Toyota doesn’t make it easy to understand. You need to take numbers from the crankshaft and block and add them together to find the correct bearings to order. Their diagrams are kinda backwards. Plus, at some point they changed the crankshaft design and officially require a different main bearing on block position 3 and cap positions 1 and 5. I found this so incredibly hard to figure out I actually made a video to help other people with this process.

Once that big hurdle was passed, I could actually reassemble this motor and get it fitted in the car. Well, I was still waiting on bearings, so I only half put it back together. I skipped torquing and sealing everything, since I’d still be waiting on bearings. I reused the old ones as a temporary setup to hold everything in place for the install.

Removing the 3SFE was pretty straightforward, no more or less difficult than what I’d done before with my MR2s. Ultimately the only difference here was having to deal with power steering fluid. Since my MR2 has EHPS, I don’t have to touch it to pull an engine. Standard fair, drain fluids, pull electricals, reclaim AC (PROPERLY, DON’T JUST VENT IT TO ATMOSPHERE, YOU DICKS). Skipping the boring part there, I had to get the 2ar fitted up to the E250F, since the compatibility there was all theoretical at this point. The compatibilty with the bolt pattern was almost a guarantee, but I had no clue on transfer case fitment. I figured it would require some grinding, but I didn’t know how much nor how thick the castings were.

Not a major surprise, but it all bolts together! It did take some grinding on both the transfer case and the oil pan, but it was actually pretty close from the get go. The 2ar pan had a sort of notch around that point, I just had to enlarge that. I’d imagine the modern RAV4 transfer cases are a similar-ish shape, but slightly smaller. If you’re recreating this or something similar, I recommend using a small feeler gauge to find the points where its interfering with each other. As for the transfer case actuation, it’s normally a large vacuum diaphragm, but that likely won’t fit with the intake, so I’ll have to design a mechanical lever actuator. That’s cool, I get to pretend I have a real 4WD with a real transfer case.

Well, now that’s done, time for the first real test fit in the car.

Well that went swimmingly.

First time for everything I guess. I’ve used those ratchet straps half a dozen times to remove and install engines. I believe the cause to be being pinched around one point on the valve cover. Hell, I even used a single strap to remove the entire engine, trans, and subframes from the car, and they did fine there.

This. Don’t do this.

Anyway, that’s over and done with, nothing important broke, and nobody died. Retry again with stronger straps more carefully placed, and it actually went swimmingly this time. The places I was worried about clearance there was no interference issues. The 2arfe is a tiny bit longer than the 3sfe in a few places, but it sits so much more upright that the places where the 3s was tight are nowhere near the 2ar. Set it on a jack stand on a wood board, proper placement to get a mount made.

The clearance for the alternator, AC, and exhaust is going to be TIGHT.

I decided I was going to reuse the 3sfe motor mount isolator, with a few differences. I’m moving it further forward, since the AR does not lean back, and I’m mounting the plate on top of the mount rather than underneath.This is mostly just for bolt clearance for the bolts that go all the way through the mount and timing cover.

Existing thread (green), thread I will have to add (red)

Using some scrap steel I had laying around, I was able to make a plate that bolted between the 2ar and the rav4 mount in the above position. The 2ar is luckily a very easy engine to make mounts for, since the 4 bolt pattern on the timing cover is close to rectangular and its completley flat, all the bolts are on the same plane. Make the plate, weld the horizontal plate on, add some bracing.

Overall that was pretty straightforward. However, the whole time I was welding I was playing this game called “How Many Times Am I Gonna Trip the Breaker?” It’s not a very fun game. I lost track of the score but the electrical panel definitely won the match. Anyway, this thing is stout. I’m not worried about it breaking. Definitely went a little overkill, but that’s the best kind of kill for something like this. Oh and that hole is intende to be an easy lift point, to hook a chain or ratchet strap through. I’ll do some rounding of the edges when I paint it. But if I have to make any significant changes I’d rather do that before its painted.

Now that its all done, bolt it in, remove the jack stand, enjoy final engine placement. I think that mount tucks in nicely and doesnt stand out significantly. I’m happy with where it sits, but I am worried about exhaust and accessory clearance. I’ll cross that bridge when I get to it, but that seems like its fast approaching. I’m considering running a smaller radiator to buy myself some room. I hear good things about the CRX Del Sol units. Regardless I should be able to find something cheap enough on eBay or whatever.

Anyway, I think thats as good of a place as any to leave off, motor has to come back out at least once more, but now that this is done its one less thing to worry about. Stay tuned for funky exhaust and a load of wiring! It’s only connecting like 30 wires or so. No big deal :)