When OEM Is the Right Answer

We build performance parts for a living, so it is worth being direct about where we think factory parts win. Anything that has to seal, locate, or survive heat cycling for another twenty years is usually best left factory: head castings, crankshafts, oil pans, valve covers, timing components. The tolerances Toyota held on these engines are the reason a 22R runs to 300,000 miles, and no aftermarket casting we have tested improves on them at a sensible price.

Where we do build our own is where the factory left performance on the table — camshafts, valve springs, headers, forced induction, stroker assemblies. That split is how our catalog is organized, and it is why we stock genuine Toyota parts alongside our own.

Cylinder Heads and Bare Castings

We stock the 2RZ/3RZ 8-port bare casting and the 2RZ/3RZ 4-port bare casting. Port count matters here and is not interchangeable: 1995–1999 engines run the 8-port, 2000–2004 run the 4-port, and the intake manifold, injectors and wiring differ between them. Check what is on the engine before ordering rather than going by model year alone, since replacement heads have been swapped across a lot of these trucks over the years.

A bare casting is the starting point for a build, not a drop-in repair — it arrives without valves, springs, retainers or cam. If you want a head that bolts on complete, our ported and assembled heads are the better route.

Rotating Assembly and Bottom End

Factory crankshafts are the ones we recommend for street and mild performance builds. We carry the new OEM 3RZ crankshaft and the OEM Toyota 1GR crankshaft. Both are new Toyota parts rather than reground cores, which matters on a 3RZ — used cranks in this family are frequently at or past their grind limit by the time an engine comes apart.

Also here: the 22 lb stock-weight 5VZ flywheel, oil pans for the 2RZ and 5VZ, and timing chain sets for the 2RZ and 3RZ.

Steering: Rack and Pinion by Year

Rack and pinion assemblies are one of the most common OEM orders we ship, and fitment is tightly split by year:

Exhaust Manifolds and Covers

Cracked exhaust manifolds are a known 1GR-FE issue on higher-mileage 4.0L trucks. We stock the factory replacements as side-specific parts — driver side and passenger side for 2009–2015 Tacoma. Order the correct side; they are not mirror images.

Not sure whether the factory part or one of ours is right for your build? Contact us and tell us what the engine is going to be doing. We would rather point you at the cheaper factory part than sell you a performance part you do not need.

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