May be better off just scrapping it, and putting the money toward getting something else to drive for the time being.......

Living on an island is great, until it isn't. The logistics of getting large parts out there are daunting.... Of course, unless you buy a car that is already on the island........ you still have to pay the ferryman..... (and I don't think two coppers is gonna cut it......)

 

Every time I think about the crusher. I think about the $2500 stereo system, the $700 headers, the $650 remote start and alarm system, the $1000 BFGoodrich tires, the brand new battery and battery cables and the rest of the new parts I just put on it! Yet, too stupid to replace the radiator! In my defense, I couldn't bring myself to buy another plastic radiator! It goes against everything I've ever learned! Costly, in the end!
Buying a used engine doesn't thrill me! Who's to say it isn't just someone else's junk?

 

I could see trying to find a place to stash it for a while then, and see what you can do about another engine...... I think long blocks are still available remanned..... but, they ain't gonna be cheap...... and then you need to get it to where you are... which also ain't gonna be cheap. Strange how shipping that HUGE hunk of cast iron is so expensive.... And then there is the core charge??? Will it end up being less than what it would cost to ship the dead one back????? Ugh.

Having your buddy bring you one on his boat would be good, but, you will likely still have to deal with getting the core back.... (and there are time limits on that.....) May wanna check on shipping costs for an 830 pound hunk of iron.....

 

As far as the manifold? HeyYou, you said if the manifold leaked the two front cylinders would be the only ones with water in them? Odd because they were the only two that didn't have water in them?

Look at the front two cylinders. Clean compared to the other 8? Does that just mean it started flooding from the back and didnt run long enough to get to the front two cylinders?

 

Looking at that, it isn't the intake that is the issue. There *might* be a coolant passage at the back of the intake, (you would be in a better position to know. ). But, even so, if there was enough coolant getting into the intake to start flooding successive cylinders, you would have ran into hydrolock LONG before that happened. Gotta be head/block issues.

 

The core charge on the $3000 long block was $400.

How about this? Those heads you sent me a picture of off eBay are $300 and that includes shipping. Ship to Seattle and put on the boat? Your saying most likely the manifold is fine? Because I saw one on eBay for $100. The heads came off an engine that dropped the lower end? How do I know the heads are ok?

 

So bolting different heads to this block. Isn't necessarily gonna fix anything if the block is jacked up? How do you check the block? I straightedged the heads and there was nowhere that the feeler guages would slide under. That straight edge was sit n flush on both heads. I did about six different points on the heads. Four straight across them and two crisscrossed.

 

With used heads, you don't know..... and I suspect when the seller found out where they need to be shipped to, he would change his tune about shipping, right quick. The trick might be, find someone you trust, with better resources available, have THEM buy the heads, and have them make a trip to the machine ship to be rebuilt. (including check for straightness, etc.....) THEN have the known good heads shipped up to ya. If you go that route, I would be REAL tempted to spend the money on a mechanics straight-edge, and verify that the block surfaces AREN'T warped, otherwise, you spend several hundred more dollars, and are still without a truck.......

Yep, same numbers I found on engine/core charges. It really wouldn't surprise me if it would cost more than the 400 bucks to ship the dead one back from where you are......

Thinking about it, if you have a cooling system pressure tester, you could pull the top half of the manifold off, and pressurize the cooling system, and see if you still get coolant out the spark plug holes, and if you see any in the intake.

 

Hard to do a pressure test on the cooling system when you know the radiator leaks, isn't it?

 

There is that..... but, you should be able to build some pressure in there.......