Yes, just work slowly and thoughtfully and you will be fine.

Tips:

Before you take a single bolt off, set the engine to top dead center by lining up the timing mark on the main crank pulley with the '0' mark on the oil pump. Verify that you are on the compression stroke on the #1 cylinder either by pulling the cap off and seeing where the rotor is pointing, or by pulling the valve cover and making sure the rocker arms for #1 are slack.

This is the easiest way to make sure the timing is close enough to run when you put it back together.


There are 2 hidden bolts on a 22RE.

1) The lower intake manifold has a 6MM allen head bolt that goes through the thermostat housing into the head - very easy to miss.

2) Below the distributor drive gear on the front end of the camshaft (in the puddle of oil) is another bolt.


When you take the cam drive gear off, throw a couple zip ties around the timing chain to make sure it doesn't shift a tooth while you are working around it.

When getting the wiring harness out of the way, don't forget the knock sensor wire... it goes down by the oil filter, and can be easy to miss.

Basically, if something feels like there is still something attached, there probably is. You can pull firmly, but don't yank on anything too hard.

Oh and this is a good time to replace the fuel filter... you'll see why when the intake is off <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />