ENGINE TEARDOWN and ANALYSIS - Project Underdog #4

It's time for a new episode of Project Underdog. Today we tear into the 4AFE engine to see what's it like inside and to prepare it for machining. The future of this humble 1.6 liter from the 90s looks interesting as it will be turbocharged to 300 hp and then installed into my Toyota MR2 mk1.
This engine teardown is more than that, because we will also be analyzing some design aspects of the 4AFE, inevitably comparing it a bit to the more famous 4AGE engine and we will also do a bit of engine forensics to see what kind of life the engine has lead so far. I tried to keep this video relaxing and even a bit ASMR -ish, don't know it worked - let me know if it did :)
We start the engine disassembly by removing the intake manifold and opening it up to see inside. This is followed up by the removal of the exhaust manifold. The valve covers come off next, followed by the distributor and camshafts. Next comes off the cylinder head and we finish things off by removing the pistons, connecting rods and the crankshaft. Along the way we see if this engine was take care of and we also discover some peculiarities.
A special thank you to my patrons:
Daniel
Peter Della Flora
Daniel Morgan
William
Richard
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#d4a #projectunderdog #turbo
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[@renz1013]

Satisfying. I like these kinds of engine builds where they explain thing in a simple manner

[@matthewmacmahon4072]

I had a charade with a de tomaso 1.6..and it had a s14 turbo on it..boost came on at about 3500..

[@renz1013]

@@matthewmacmahon4072 sorry i'm not well educated with engines. which is why I'm watching this youtube channel

[@LatinoAD]

I agree too

[@fraymond3]

Chillest engine teardown ever!!!!

[@timwright7395]

Great channel, keep up all the good work :) I still have a MR2 Mk1b that I bought when it was 10 months old. It puts a huge smile on my face whenever I drive It !!

[@LikeZO]

Oil pump carnage on my CA18DET as well when I first tore it down. Man that was such a long time ago, but I still remember the pain and 2 hours of prying, hammering and heating as well. What shenanigans.

[@802Garage]

I am sooo hype for this project. :D

[@fraymond3]

Big comfy return spring... Better make a T-shirt yo!

[@TrgovacTrgovac]

Very relaxing video, even when U used hammer I was still strangely relaxed watching it. The engine looks really good, like 1.9 TDI VW diesel engines. After a million miles they look the same. I agree chillest engine teardown ever.

[@killerdinamo08]

VW TDI engines aren't a reference to any comparison other than dullnes 😫.

[@TrgovacTrgovac]

They make very good smoke :)

[@magpieblue]

I enjoyed watching that teardown and the discussion throughout. Makes me wish I was doing the same to one of mine! Cars, company, and coffee. I think that'd be a great combination. Glad to see everything that matters is in good shape, and looking forward to seeing what you build from it!

[@pabauza]

Im impressed by the quality of this channel. I have been watching for a while now and it never disappoints.

[@9Epicman]

3:57 😉 looks like he likes that engine a little too much

[@802Garage]

I wonder if those exhaust ports would be that much of a limiting factor, at least at your desired power levels. Head looks really good inside! I love to see a geared cam even if it isn't the "superior" arrangement. Does help get that nice steep intake angle though. Also wow those are pointy cam lobes. Metal shavings looked like they may have just been some stripped threads from the engine or a bolt. All the bearings look great! Awesome video. Can't wait for more. Look it's a boxer engine now! Hahaha.

[@hypocycloidiaspora]

Those pointy cam lobes leave plenty of room for improvement, that's for sure... I'm already enjoying this series and look forward to seeing every step of the build.

[@kirkniese]

Can't wait to see how this works out for you man! This is really cool! Best engine rebuild video on the internet! Best to you !

[@mesharyRD]

Man you videos are just amazing. Your knowledge is something else. Can't wait to see what your are doing with this engine. Much love and respect🌹

[@rareangel643]

This is the best car channel i've ever seen. Please never stop.

[@mac_le_maniac]

Love D4A keep that good content coming!

[@charleslowe522]

Love engine teardown vids. Can't get enough.

[@georgelincolnrockwell14]

Big comfy video. Fantastic content man, cant wait for more!

[@capretta444]

Super well shot, loving this series!

[@dylangrant6890]

Really love this series!! just kinda wish it was on the 1nzfe engine, want to turbo mine but you don't see anthing much on KZbin about them. Learning allot from this Channel!!!

[@Wolf-zb9qs]

Nice teardown, i have pushed the 5AFE to 250whp on watermeth + 95ron safely. Some larger cams, springs ,intake and porting and it will flow for alot more

[@TheCabillaud94]

Great video, I liked how you made it so peaceful with the lofi music, minimal talking and even gentle (up to a certain timestmp) wrenching

[@d4a]

Up to a certain timestamp 🤣🤣

[@menooaderohanian4129]

Your channel is Awsome and helpful

[@patx35]

The circular things on the intake manifold is for the EGR system on the California emissions variant of that engine. On the low emissions variant, the circular things would have been machined further and the EGR valve would be located there. Since you got the regular version, those serves no purpose and can be safely machined away if you want to port out the intake manifold.

[@DodgeCharger900]

4A-FE engines were the best Toyota engines ever.

[@thegoodearth7]

Excellent project! I look forward to watching.

[@aig111]

Definitely a series I’m excited to see

[@jstotefalk]

Great video my dude, keep 'em coming!

[@mightyweapon]

great video! for removing stuck crank timing gears I drill and tap two holes either side of the crank snout, like pulling a gear with threaded holes in it already for using a different puller, if still being stubborn, load up the puller, add some heat to the gear and shock the puller with a FBH

[@awong160]

Nicely shot and edited. The voice over is very educational and fun/easy to follow!

[@111soreal]

Can’t wait for the next episode of the under dog

[@WillyWonkasRightHand]

Why don't i have post notifications on for you? I am always excited to see you posted new videos. Can't wait for some more turbo lessons. Keep up the great work!

[@shaneschlievert5492]

Usually I use a 10mm bolt from one of the cam journals to hold the spring gear on the intake cam in place. They are kind of a pain in the ass to reset once they have sprung loose. The 4afe is one of my favorite engines. Super reliable!!

[@AaronBonBarron]

noticed that too, oops lol

[@It5M3Again]

Cool. Im excited to see this build.

[@kio9922]

Well ma guy you earned my sub. I'll try keep up with your vids cuz I also have a 4afe which I'm planning on turbocharging in the future. Also I like how you explain your stuffs...Great indeed 👌

[@anthonywendt5834]

The 1.8 and 1.6 are really great motors. We never got the oil coolers in the states though.

[@Emberdrake212]

For some reason I love the smell when you're cracking cam caps or crank bearing caps, it smells so nice 😅😅😅

[@d4a]

OMG me too! I recorded myself smelling it but cut it out because it looked really creepy and weird!

[@ConquerDriving]

Maybe the sandy stuff was from a small long term coolant leak. Hence the use of tap water.

[@d4a]

Hmmm... Very likely

[@chadg6874]

I was wondering if it's been underwater

[@jonathonwilliams93]

For anyone interested, the heads cam design is what is referred to as a 'slave cam'. This build is gonna be long, but I wait on baited breath for the next 3+ years worth of episodes. Great job D4A.

[@eschlenz]

Love your vids. One request. When you talked about head removal order, and bucket labeling, it would be nice to understand why that's so important. :)

[@rogersgonc]

Nice video!

[@poptartmcjelly7054]

Could you make a video in the future explaining the different types of valve buckets? Hydraulic, solid, shim over, shim under etc.?

[@MrSwaggaMatic]

How can this soothing ,informative ,elevator music video have 17 dislikes ? Y'all hating for no reason

[@vladkruglov7719]

Fun will begin soon

[@manzelli1981]

The “sensitive images” warning killed me 😂😂

[@9Epicman]

Great channel man. Keep it up I can see it growing real big. What country are you from btw?

[@mzappas]

Nice vídeo! Good luck

[@XxMusclecarsxX]

damn you could totally reuse the bearings. Super clean

[@SamFirthDesigner]

The captions applaud you for draining the oil :)

[@DesertPunks]

I have a 4AF engine and this is proving to be helpful lol

[@mangomcpoo475]

YES!

[@slightlyinsaneraf]

Hell yeah!

[@abhishekchaudhary9542]

I usually watch videos at 480p to save my data. For this guy's video, I use 1080. Who in the world wants to miss details.

[@WhiteFeather1x]

Pretty fun to watch lol.

[@Jaunpierre]

Good vidoes braaa

[@91maxpower]

I’ve run into seized timing crank pulleys before and I drill a few holes and use a cut off wheel crack out a small triangle. From there a breaker bar will snap the gear in half, pretty quick and less chance of damage too the crank snout as well.

[@jozsefizsak]

That was tremendously enjoyable. I hope that doesn't mean I'm weird but whatever.

[@802Garage]

Not at all! One of us. One of us.

[@drunktortila3632]

Duuude love ur vids esp the engine breakdowns legend Wanted to know your thoughts on rust prevention and undercoating ie what you might use restoring a car protect it against the elements, I'm torn between 2k epoxy then raptor liner ontop or just go for cosmoline type coating

[@seahorse5677]

That's a cute little motor

[@zeiktv2338]

I am not sure if it fits or if the diameter is smaller but the corolla e11 produced from 97-99 with the 1.3 4efe engine had an interesting tubular intake manifold with almost equal length from the throttle body to each cylinder

[@d4a]

Thanks for the tip!

[@Wagonman5900]

I use a box with pop rivets in it to store the buckets in the head. This is due to marker rubbing off very easily on my first engine. I also cut holes in the box to store the head bolts.

[@user-tx7tw9yc6m]

The holes on the engine head gasket are actually fine. ~~ Always the holes of the coolant in the gasket are smaller than holes in the block or head. This is to make the coolant flow slowly to better cool the engine head

[@d4a]

They flow into nothing? They don't match up, it's a dead end

[@markhendry1761]

My understanding was that the gasket is designed after the engine and the differing size of coolant holes in gasket vs block is them tuning the cooling system

[@Milkmans_Son]

@@d4a According to Fel-pro it's fairly common.

[@Martin42006]

Some good work and I'm very interested to see how this build comes out. Watching you use a legged puller to remove that crank accessory pulley almost made me cry, there are tapped holes in that pulley for a reason and it's so you can bolt a plate puller onto it. I see way to many chipped and damaged 4age pulleys all because people use the wrong puller.

[@LeZturbo]

I’m replying to myself but still post the question so anyone could have the answer. The answer is in hour video #1 about your new project !!! Hello !!! So please you are doing this work !!! I have a Corolla G6R with the 110 horse power 4A-FE. I found a US full turbo-ing kit on ebay for the 4A-FE, should I go for it ? Question: Why not going to a 4A-GE at first place ?

[@therealboofighter]

This engine looks a lot like the 5sfe I have in my MR2. Same camshaft arrangement, narrow head. On the 5sfe the belt drives the intake cam though.

[@NickPahls]

That crank timing trigger wheel is what I used on my 7AGTE build. I had to cut it off the pulley and weld it onto a 4AGE pulley and it works great!

[@d4a]

I remember that actually! What kind of oil pump did you use?

[@NickPahls]

driving 4 answers I used the 4AGE pump since it flows more oil. Had to cut some material away to mount the sensor basically where the 4afe sensor is. It works great though, have it on my AE86 and another 7AGE I built.

[@kyleoconnor6567]

D4A

[@samcoote9653]

Its 2am, jsut about to shut the comp down.... Project Underdog video uploaded minutes ago!? It's a teardown video!? It has D4A's sexy voice over it!? Who needs sleep!! this vid is amazing!

[@samcoote9653]

The boxer engine joke got a good chuckle out of me hahaa, god the warning did not prepare me for the sensitive content though! AHHHH lol

[@d4a]

Sexy voice 😚 now I'm embarrassed

[@cravendelossantos]

Great video! Just want to ask what header spec do you recommend for a N/A 4AFE? 4-1 or 4-2-1?

[@PhillyDee215]

Wowwwwwww that gear did not want to come off😱

[@jamescarey1945]

Hello sir. I am also doing this type of thing on my 1990 toyota corolla with the 4afe engine. Ruby the junkyard gem. Great information! If possible you should make the mr2 awd 😜

[@BigFatDoobie]

I saw an intake manifold made of tubes and a can like plenum in e10 corolla. It was for sure original many you should use these type of intake

[@AkiWataru]

good engine, change fluids, belt and go.

[@robertvillafan1220]

Usually gaskets that block off ports are to help divert coolant into certain passages. It's weird but that's how they're designed. In my dads s40 volvo some ports were blocked off completely

[@d4a]

Yeah I've seen that too on some gaskets, but what's confusing here is how the gaskets actually has holes that lead to nowhere. These have zero purpose. Oh well...

[@robertvillafan1220]

I'm reaching here, but could be a recycled head casting and using a gasket is cheaper than creating a new casting.

[@randyobert2218]

What is your background? I have been mechanic/fabricator/racer for decades and you have some exceptional knowledge for anyone at any age.. Big difference between fixing a machine vs knowing how it works, why it is designed the way it is.. I wish more understood the theory behind parts instead of just "parroting" what they have been told by manufacturers and sales people.. Understanding theory makes forensics on a dead part much easier..(and accurate).. great videos..

[@d4a]

I have a background in Human Rights :) Hilarious right? But cars and especially engines are my passion and I really enjoy learning about them and trying to spread the knowledge. They're fun to think about :)

[@motorsportsbd]

thank u so much sir,sir pls make a video how to install a ITB DIY at 4efe or 5efe or any toyota engines, love you forever and love your episodes too very much 😍🚗

[@shaneschlievert5492]

2 circular divots in intake chamber are swirl cavities to increase atomization of air and fuel. Also they help catch excessive oil buildup from the pcv.

[@d4a]

Thank you!

[@nospoon4799]

@@d4a I agree with that. Pcv's are a pain imo.

[@CactosS]

nice

[@danielc.7173]

I have a 1.8 L 4afe in my 95 geo prism I'm currently turboing as well :)

[@smacznego4133]

Hello. I have to 4a-fe with carina e, and swapping to newer car to project. And how did it work? it's a turbo, not a compressor (eaton) right? What about the power, and other stock? How rpm maximum power, and torque? I miss this engine for scrap. It is in very good condition, it's motors run in Africa. there will be no such engines and there is some potential as you can see. A compressor is enough for me, and about 160-170 horses (in a light car it is enough power.) Regards! 😊old engines the best.

[@adamlazarus2687]

The head gasket design is normal i think. On Nissan CA18 it's the same design and it help cooling, to force water passing all the cylinder walls.

[@ryelor123]

I'm wondering about metal shavings(or any contaminate) getting past the oil filter and damaging the bearings. Is it stuff that's too small for the oil filter or is the damage caused by material that bypasses the oil filter when the engine is revved up?

[@shhm007]

Yo I can't wait to see what you replace ....in this engine....this is the engine I have in my trueno (it's a good engine but more power would be nice..)....was thinking of swapping it with a 4age....

[@jonesaleroy]

The circular cutouts I think are vortex generators to pull the oil out of the airflow?

[@almc-wi5vo]

Great post, and for your sponsors I already purchase an AEM A/R gauge. What interested me was which single gear are you going to use on the camshaft.

[@d4a]

I'll be keeping the stock one for starters. If I need an adjustable one I'll have to make one as the aftermarket for the 4AFE is pretty much non-existant

[@chuckfiero]

I am just wondering at how clean this engine looked on the inside and the shavings and the mismatched head gasket, along with the funk that was "coolant" I would hazard a guess that this engine saw a rebuild of some sort recently and the wrong head gasket made it end up in salvage where you then picked it up.

[@Tatit_Widyartono]

Question, why there are two pick up coils connected in series at the ignition distributor to detect crankshaft work?

[@Mike_to_the_k]

Will you do an explanation video on trans axels please

[@mrpartridge8765]

the exhaust manifold design is really good. I'm surprised it's like a 4-2-1 header.

[@KapiteinKrentebol]

Nice vid. Maybe I need to take up a hobby too. 16:00 Try WD-40 and loosen it with a torch or heatgun.

[@CarlosJimenez-bn8uj]

Saludos desde honduras

[@goodmanboattransport3441]

A small bearing seperator might fit behind the crank cog pulley

[@allenlin6169]

its either flooded before or the water pump was leaking which the white stuff you see is probably either coolant deposit or aluminum oxide from the cylinder head.

[@hugosilva7759]

Just one question... The crank it's 42mm and the piston pinion 18mm or 20mm? And the crankshaft sems to be the same quality that the 4age?

[@ct26turboturbo84]

You could probably make yourself a spacer for your plenum n see if it gains any power

[@jhuntosgarage]

Head gasket may have been flipped over 180 degrees. Kinda looked like it. Thanks for sharing!

[@d4a]

Someone mentioned that as well. I gotta look again and check. I'm curious now

[@Bredmirror]

I plan to make a similar project in the future, but with a supercharger. I really hope I can manage to fit one under the stock intake.

[@smacznego4133]

Im too bro. Swapping my 4a-fe on carina e to newer car, and include supercharger mercedes eaton. But what about the ecu, oe denso, its not good to tuning.. and what about transmision.The drivetrain will not match the original gearbox from 4afe. You will probably have to change the axle shafts, etc. what about the beam? a lot of work. not to mention the "paws" of the engine that need to be welded and adjusted. Did You succeed with the project?

[@Bredmirror]

@@smacznego4133 My car was totaled since, so it probably wont happen. Now I think a turbo would be a much better and simpler option.

[@K42013]

I see the thing 3 times with head gasket that doesn't fit/go to really hole. I always supposing for better heating for the engine at startup but not sure.

[@sourabhg5418]

Gear on crankshaft is press fit.

[@hachigarage6331]

Is the 4afe block the same as the 4age block? Could I put a 4age head on a 4afe block? Could I use a 4age crank? Thanks.

[@asafgl4281]

Spring of timing tensioner is only for adjusting then you lock it with 12 mm main bolt..

[@reneneron2971]

Yep, cooling system has been ignored. Not a big deal; rest of the engine looks like it was maintained well. I recommend that you do NOT alter the combustion chamber to reduce compression. There is no need to reduce compression ratio if you are using an aftermarket ECU, and reducing squish will make the engine more likely to detonate...whether it is turbocharged or not. You want to minimize the squish area to maximize performance,