My mother has about a million aphorisms like this that she has gifted me with over the years. They are partly from her welsh heritage and partly from the common slang of the 50’s and 60’s in England. I used to be a little embarrassed by them since I could hear a trigger word or action that would require her to deliver one. She really has no choice, if the trigger is there she is going to deliver, every time. And yes many of them end up being in the form of song lyrics. I have just decided it is good form to continue this behavior.
Anyhoo, this particular phrase is appropriate right now because I have managed to uncover all the issues with the engine and they are rather underwhelming. Not that I am disappointed, not at all, but now I have more decisions to make. Do I use the TBI block and put the Vortec parts on it including the heads or do i clean up the Vortec block and do something with the crank to fix it. The more I think about it the more I am leaning towards fixing the crank for the Vortec and putting it all back together. Here is how it went down with the rest of the removal.
I woke up “late” and made myself an omelette and coffee, I drank a glass of wine last night so I am feeling a little guilty, but I’m not planning on sliding back into my old habits. Speaking of, I will be drinking tonight since 21 has some friends showing up, including someone of consequence. I am very pleased.
Knowing it is not going to freeze again for a few days I put the mass of plants back out on the patio. I got down to the shop and kicked on some tunes and started wrenching. I removed the crank pulley, then the harmonic balancer followed by the timing cover and the cam timing gear and chain. They came off without much fight and I got back to the crank parts to do some more damage discovery.
To my complete astonishment after I had removed the other 4 pistons and the other main bearing caps, I found NO other damage. The first bearing is the only one with any damage. I thought it might be caused by a jammed cam shaft but it also came out with almost no effort and showed no damage and very little wear. It is hard to believe this engine has 250K miles on it.
Here is a visual of the engine dilemma
I used the bore gauge to check the cylinders on the TBI block and I need to read the damn instructions. They are either well within tolerance or they desperately need to be board out. It all depends on if it is hundredths or thousandths that the dial shows. I will check the Vortec block after I know what the number represent. It may answer the question of which one to use. But for now I am leaning towards keeping it original, if for no other reason than I know it fits.
