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So an update. I pulled the cam and found that one of the lobes is flattened pretty bad. With that being the case I think financially its only going to make sense to just rebuild/replace the engine as a whole. It has 285000 on it so I think I may have gotten enough out of it. I have a company near me that has a crate engine for sale so I'll probably just buy that assuming quality checks out. The truck is finally dead for now. But not for long.
I know how it is when you keep something going longer than you really need to. I had an '84 with a 318. At 210K I refreshed the engine with a new timing chain (probably the second one in it) and new expansion plugs along with other minor stuff that is a stinker to do in the truck. Later on, I had milked that engine for everything I could and dropped a junk yard engine in at 330K. At just shy of 400K the frame broke for the 4th time and the rear lost a seal for the 7th time. I sold the truck off for parts but the guy who bought it was a better welder than me and he planned to weld the frame with plate along the sides and he replaced he rear end.As far as I know, it's still on the road. It had 3.21 gears which really let it cook in the snow.
To this day I miss that truck. Get a fresh motor and you won't regret the time and expense.
So I went and looked at the motor at the junkyard. Looks like its a mishmash of problems so I'm back to rebuilding my existing motor. Was cleaning the timing cover when I noticed something interesting. My harmonic balancer came loose a few years back and I had to replace it. Apparently it machined a breathing hole in my timing cover in the time between me noticing it was bad. Thankfully I had a ridiculously bad power steering leak that sealed it up but anybody every seen this before? Almost looks like its meant to be. lined up just right with the timing ticks on the cover even. Anyways I went though and cleaned all of the top end components and it looks like they actually are in great shape. I'm going to get an upgraded cam and replace the springs off of a new set of EQ heads. Bores look decent but I'll have to borrow a bore gauge from work to verify. Only minor scoring that you can't really feel with your fingernail so if were only +/-).005 or so then I'll just re-hone and used the old pistons with new rings. Bottom of the crank bearings looked really good so I'm not going to pull the whole motor and just do the rebuild in place. The cam bearings were showing some minor wear but I'm going to replace them regardless. Anybody have a good method for these? They look like they can be done with a c-clamp but I'm not sure if there is something to watch out for besides the oil hole. Parts are on their way and with a little luck this truck will be among the living again.
