Funny that Dave T should recommend that I yank the block and just do the whole thing. That's what I wanted to do from the very start but everyone told me I "didn't need to do all that". That's ok. At the end of the day, I know who's responsible for the decisions I've made. Me. Now as far as running the engine for only a few hundred miles with thinned out oil and coolant, you guys haven't been paying attention. :) I haven't -driven- mine yet. I've only idled it in front of my house. I -immediately- stopped runnning it when it barfed coolant/oil on the ground. Well..2 laps around my development parking lot. But that was it. Martin, I don't quite understand the part about the manifold gaskets. I'll test fit them today and see if I can finger it out. --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Martin Gutkowski <webmaster@xxxx> wrote: > > > cruznmd wrote: > > >By and large, the bulk of the email I'm getting off list is telling me > >to just put the dang thing back together and see what happens. :) I'm > >also getting email from folks saying I've gone way further into my > >engine than they ever have. That's frightening considering I've owned > >mine less than a year. Am I just too dumb to know when I'm in over my > >head? > > > I was going to reply to specifics, but basically your first sentence > says it all. When we did our first head-job, we were on the phone every > 5 minutes to our engine guy. Now we can strip and engine down to the > block in about 90 minutes. > > >Now if I only had a pulley-puller.... > > > You can ease it off with a bit of gentle levering on sequentially > opposite sides with a pair of decent-sized flat screwdrivers. Just don't > go/get mad and bend the pulley. > > BTW a couple of hints: CHANGE THE TIMING CHAINS. Not because you > "should" but because you may find for an outlay of less than $30 your > engine exhibits a whole new lease of life. And secondly, presumably > you'll be replacing the exhaust manifold before putting the head back on > the block. MAKE SURE you don't get the little tabs on the bottom of the > manifold gaskets caught under the head....... (been there, done that) > > Martin