Would you ditch this truck, do engine swap, or swap the head gasket?

[98vortec]

redfishsc while u have the intake off get a gallon or 2 of mystery marvel oil and pour down the valley and the top of the heads rockers maybe some trans fluid too. then drain out after sitting over night. i bought a 1998 chevy with vortec 305 and same happen intake let loose but hell lot worse than urs was pouring watering into oil pan as fast as i poured it in rad. but ya bout 5 gallons of oil and marvel oil later and new gaskets i saved it lol

 

[redfishsc]

So here's the $300 question. Upgrade to MPFI or leave the old (functional) SCPI spider injectors.

 

[JCribb]

So here's the $300 question. Upgrade to MPFI or leave the old (functional) SCPI spider injectors.

That all depends on how much money you have to spend. Personally, I would address the issue at hand first before worrying about other things that aren't directly related to the job that requires your undivided attention.

Go ahead and keep that idea in mind, but maybe for a later project. I am guilty of obsessing about unrelated items in the middle of a project, but all it does is create a distraction.

 

[inscarguy]

believe it or not, that's not as bad as I have seen. my GF's of K5 blazer with the TBI 350 had the same issue but worse. took it all apart, checked the heads, resurfaced them, put it all back together and all was well in the world. truck had 145000 on it. lasted till 185,000 when we sold it.

you might wan to try some Rislone to clean the engine. FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS TO A "T".

 

[skylark]

redfishsc while u have the intake off get a gallon or 2 of mystery marvel oil and pour down the valley and the top of the heads rockers maybe some trans fluid too. then drain out after sitting over night. i bought a 1998 chevy with vortec 305 and same happen intake let loose but hell lot worse than urs was pouring watering into oil pan as fast as i poured it in rad. but ya bout 5 gallons of oil and marvel oil later and new gaskets i saved it lol

Do this with diesel fuel. Much cheaper.

 

[redfishsc]

I happen to have a Gallon of butyl cellusolve which I recently read was recommended (by some manufacturer somewhere) that effectively removes glycol from the engine crankcase.

I need to look that back up first but it may end up being part of my cleanup.

 

[1BigCarrot]

Skylark gives good advice.

Diesel is kerosene based which leaves a film on material, inhibiting corrosion.

I use kerosene on parts especially internals (its safe on bearings etc) and acetone on gasket surfaces.

 

[redfishsc]

Well damn. Head is cracked on Cyl 6 exhaust. Look at the top edge of the poppet. It's really obvious in person. I didn't even look at the intake side of the head. The piston had a lot of orange staining on top of it also. Interestingly the head gasket itself didn't appear to have failed. This explains why compression was at 120 in this one.

This wore out motor is getting expensive quickly. What's a fair priced to pay for a used/reman head? If the other head appears OK, I assume there's no need to replace them in pairs.

Also..... anyone know of any good tutorials/videos on how to yank one of these motors out and bolt up a new one? Seems like I'm already halfway there. Another $2K and I can put a new crate motor in this thing.

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[JCribb]

This is for a person local to me, but surely you can find something similar near you.

https://tulsa.craigslist.org/pts/d/chevy-350-vortec-heads-906/6368661952.html

 

[skylark]

Here you go. Keep the engine and part the rest.
https://charleston.craigslist.org/cto/d/1997-chevy-silverado/6371221168.html
https://columbia.craigslist.org/cto/d/1997-gmc-savana-2500-explorer/6377769487.html
Or...
https://charleston.craigslist.org/pts/d/1998-chevy-vortec-350/6389956114.html