First Toyota build (4A-GE), questions & pics

[RogueMoog]

First Toyota build (4A-GE), questions & pics

So I just bought my first 4A-GE, it's a 7-rib block bigport. I don't have all the parts yet as the guy I bought it from (in the process of moving) needs to round up the rest. Here's my first question, did I get a good price on this ($200)? The engine is pulled apart, so I sorted through the parts yesterday and tried to figure out what I still need. I made a list and sent it to him today.

I'm not going to post all my pics in the post, some I'll have linked to text (and underlined to make it easier to find ). As I've mentioned in another post, I'm going to try doing my build using a 4A-FE block with a 4A-GE head. Main reason is to clear the AE95's transfer case and have a proper oil pan. Not crazy about grinding up a good 7-rib block, unless I can get hold of a 20v block. I also want to make it clear that I've been trying to read up as much as possible on 4A-GEs and their differences (Billzilla's site is my new friend), so I'm not just asking stupid n00b questions. A lot of this is, "where does this go? what the hell is this for? how do I hook it up?"

Here's everything on the floor:



Everything is also pretty dirty. I'm guessing it leaked a lot of oil since the front of the block was sludged up. Otherwise the block looks good.

The head, however, I think will need a good once-over at a machine shop. There are a few dings along the top where the valve covers sit, and I'm really not crazy about this head work that was done by the guy's friend (for a turbo build). Thankfully only on one combustion chamber:



I'm going for a high compression build, like 180 HP at the flywheel if possible. But I've read the bigport head isn't good for an NA build. Anyone think or hear otherwise? (If I find a smallport somewhere, I could try using that head instead.) I'm thinking aftermarket cams, and maybe ITBs to do away with the T-VIS. Probably a different ECU as well in that case. Has anyone ever chipped GE ECUs? Hondas have their ECUs chipped / modified all over the place. Makes custom builds so much easier.

Any ideas about these injectors? I think the guy said the red & white ones were from a Mazda and ran rich. I only have three of the other kind, which I'm guessing are the GE's...?

Crank sprocket, has some dings. Should I source another one?

MR2 distributor, has the heat shield which is nice. Here's a dumb question, where does that fifth (middle) plug connect?

Not sure what this starter is from. Also has a heat shield.

I'm missing one of the main caps (the one numbered 1). The four I do have appear to still have their bearings in (?).

Piston tops... kind of dark but I guess that's normal (?).

Missing a few of these valve spring retainer locks. Should I replace all of them (argh!), or just the ones missing?

I have some RWD stuff like mounts, cooling fan, etc. I think I need to switch over the the FWD cooling parts like the thermo housing and the pipe behind the water pump (?).

And finally, I have some mystery parts which I numbered. Any help would be appreciated! I already figured out #1 is the spark plug cover, but is it missing anything other than the bolts to hold it down?



Another mystery part. For the intake? Something appears to be broken off inside these two tubes. Argh...

Sorry for the long post. I'm new to these engines and I don't have any friends who know anything about Toyota building. Appreciate the help, thanks!

[kwint]

4age ecu's can't be chipped. Look into megasquirt for a standalone ecu solution.

[sbcherokee]

the fifth distributor plug probably goes to an ignition coil...and i think your crank sprocket should be fine for now

[RogueMoog]

OK, thanks for the replies. I'm going to have a heck of a time with this build.

[RogueMoog]

So. I found out something interesting about doing a 4A-GE build: using a chipped Honda ECU, some of the Honda sensors, and a Honda distributor (all from OBD0 or OBD1). This enables you to have a completely tunable motor. It's been done in everything from AW11s to AE86s (search on Google for "honda ecu 4age" without the quotes and you'll find posts on other forums).

The biggest issue is mounting the Honda dizzy to the GE, of which I've seen two methods. One is to mate a GE dizzy's gear to the Honda dizzy, and the other method is to mount the Honda dizzy outside the cam gear (like where the cam gear cover is) using a custom fabbed bracket. I'll probably go with the latter.

About 2 years ago I bought a chipped P28 ECU for my del Sol for $125. So for under $300 I can have fully tunable 4A-GE engine management! I said in my previous post that I'm going to have a heck of a time with this build. I just made more work for myself

[ayang951]

if your looking into the dizzy's, there is a guy on club4ag.com his name is hiro, he is kind of like the main suppliers for the formula atlantic motors(4age 11k rpm) that i know of, he takes frequent trips to japan and always brings back goodies to sell on the forums, but i remember he also makes and builds custom dizzys, i bought a nice dizzy set custom for the 4age to a carb build on my ae86 sr5 awhile back. i think his name on club was orangerocket... but yeah check out with him, he knows 4ages like a pro... lots of kool gadgets and stuff too...

[RogueMoog]

Thanks! Will have to look into that. The less fab work I have to do, the better As it is I'm going to need help from a friend of mine to fab up the upper alt and PS brackets for the GE head. But I'm guessing I might be able to get a Honda dizzy onto the intake camshaft since there is plenty of space in the engine bay (washer fluid tank is in front of the exhaust cam).