97 hilux 22r motor worth doing up or another engine?

[Cassidy82]

Hi i have a 97 hilux dual cab 2wd ute with a 22 r motor i am wanting to do it up im thinking of rebuilding the 22r motor and working it a bit cam/bored and carby ect my question is  are the 22r motors worth doing up or should i be looking for another 4 cylinder to do up and put in was also thinking trying a turbo  not sure what other engine i could use if it would be better than the 22r  any help would be much appreciated cheers

[trentmeyer23]

3RZ would be a better option for.power as it is EFI. Big power has been made on these.

[Shane Tharme]

I used to have a 22r in a rn105 lux. I was looking at supercharging it & done lots of research. There are lots of mods you can get from the usa but $$$$. To get any kind of decent power gains from that motor you have to dig very deep. Put a better motor in it. I abused my 22r & it never let me down. My advice is put up with what you have or swap the motor for something with more power. It will be cheaper to swap professionally instead of mod the 22r. 

[antiussentiment]

My 22R is +450 000km old.  It's starting to show signs of a burned valve (business card on exhaust pipe flaps back and forth) though it's otherwise running ok.  Given I'm looking at pulling the head off soon,  I'm wondering about biting the bullet and doing a total rebuild.  My googling/reading has lead me to believe that the 22R is a very good commercial motor.  But will never really rev hard enough to be worth making a sports motor out of.  Mine is still getting under 11 L/100km fuel economy around town (despite it's state).  Though I do drive it gently.

If you google about you'll see there is a bunch of peeps who've put Lexus 1UZ V8s in their Hilux's.  If you're after ponies, that would be my suggestion?