22R, 22R-E or 22R-TE — Which One Do You Have?

Three variants share this block, and knowing which is in your truck decides half the parts on this page. People write it a dozen ways — 22R, 22RE, 22R-E, 22 RE, 22RTE — but there are only three engines:

  • 22R — carbureted, 1981–1984 in most trucks and later in some markets. If there is a carburetor on top, this is yours.
  • 22R-E (commonly written 22RE) — fuel injected, 1983–1995. The volume engine, and the one most people mean when they say "22R". Throttle body, injectors, and an ECU under the dash.
  • 22R-TE (22RTE) — the factory turbo, 1986–1988 only, and only on a small number of trucks. Lower compression, different block. Rare, and worth knowing you have one before you buy parts.

All three came in the Pickup and 4Runner, and the 22R appeared in the 1982–1985 Celica as well. The 20R that preceded it shares a great deal — many of our clutch, flywheel and exhaust parts cover both.

Replace It — Long Blocks and Crate Engines

If the engine is tired, we build complete replacements in-house rather than reselling someone else's rebuild. These arrive assembled and ready to install — people search for them as crate engines, and that is a fair description.

For displacement, the 4WD Stroker Long Block and the 2WD Stroker Long Block add torque everywhere, which suits a truck far better than chasing peak power. Browse more under long blocks.

Be honest about the stage. A Stage 3 needs the carburetion or injection sorted to match, and a Stage 5 is not a pleasant road engine. Most owners are better served by Stage 2 with the rest of the truck brought up to it.

Build It — Stroker Kits and Heads

Building your own block rather than buying ours? The Street Stroker Kit with H-beam rods, 1981-1995 is the foundation. For a boosted build the 22R-TE Turbo Street Stroker Short Block Kit is cut for the lower compression a turbo motor wants.

Head work is where the meaningful power lives on this engine — see our cylinder head range.

Boost It — Supercharger and Turbo

Our supercharger kits are built around the fuel system already on the engine, so pick by variant:

On the turbo side, kits split by whether you are starting from a non-turbo block or a factory 22RTE block: the Pro Turbo Kit low boost for non-turbo 22R-E blocks, the high boost version, and the high boost kit for factory 22R-TE blocks. See the full 22R turbo kit range, or all LCE turbo kits.

Refresh the bottom end before adding boost if the engine has real miles on it. Forced induction finds every tired ring land quickly.

Fuel It — Carburetion and EFI

On carbureted 22R engines the factory Aisan carburetor was built for emissions compliance rather than power, and replacing it is the single biggest change available. The Weber 32/36 carb and intake package is the sensible street choice — progressive, so it keeps cold-start manners and economy. For a built engine, the Weber 40mm sidedraft kit or the 45mm kit go further. Size down rather than up if the engine is otherwise stock.

On fuel-injected 22RE engines, the LCE billet big bore throttle body for 1989-1995 and our EFI Power Package are the usual starting points. Also here: the 20R/22R propane injection kit.

Going the other way — converting a 22R-E back to a carburetor for simplicity or for competition — is common enough that we wrote it up: 22RE to 22R conversion, EFI to carb.

Maintain It

The LCE dual row timing chain conversion kit is the one we would put first. The factory single-row chain and its plastic guides are the known weak point on this engine, and a failed guide can put the chain through the timing cover.

Everything else that wears: the premium master rebuild kit for 1985-1995, the 20R/22R street distributor, a 22RE silicone vacuum hose kit for the brittle factory lines, and the 8 7/8 inch Pro Clutch and flywheel bundle. Lightweight flywheels are available in 12 lb steel — quick to rev, but harder to launch smoothly on a street truck.

For exhaust, the 1985-1995 Pickup Pro Flow exhaust system is a complete system, and our LCE-made headers cover the manifold side.

Know-How

Three of the most-read pages we publish are about this engine:

Which Truck Is It In?

If you would rather shop by vehicle than by engine: 4th gen Pickup (1984-1988), 5th gen Pickup (1989-1995), 1st gen 4Runner, 2nd gen 4Runner.

See every engine we build for on the Toyota engine platforms page.

Not sure which parts suit your build? Tell us the year, the variant and what you want it to do. We build these engines every day and we would rather sell you the right part once than the wrong part twice. If you would prefer we built the whole thing, let us do your build.

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