We bought an 06 GTO for the wife in March and in July we blasted up to Yakima Washington to purchase a full Kooks exhaust system. On the way home we stopped for lunch and right as we got on the freeway Essie started running rough. I knew right away that we dropped a cylinder. As it turned out we had #2 intake valve stick and it decided to become friendly with the piston.
I looked into options and knowing that an LS swap is in the future because of 1 my engine isn't ready, 2 the headers that I wanted were on hold due to the EPA, 3 the T56 that I was going to use was temporarily in the GTO and it was definitely going to need synchros at a minimum, 4 in that an LS wasn't in the cards, I didn't want to spend a bunch of money that would be wasted and finally 5 because I have too many freaking things pulling me in way too many directions!
I called my contact at the wrecking yard that I deal with and I told him, "I need an engine for my personal truck, I want the full parts and labor warranty and I don't care how long it takes, I just want a good engine.". A week and change later I get a 4.3 that is pretty greasy but it has a bar code sticker on the distributor cap that I only recall on original caps. It also has Packard Belcor wires with the cylinder number on them which I've never seen on even replacement AC Delco wires so I'm kind of excited about this engine! Until I did a compression check... The plugs were seriously worn AC Delcos and they were apparently installed by a gorilla. The compression was pathetic. There was a stock number that I Googled and I found the truck at auction before the yard got it, 226k miles! Kiss my butt! I called my contact and he apologized and said that he would get me another engine. I reminded him that this was my personal truck and I didn't care about how long it took. Engine #2 showed up a week later and it wasn't much better. A compression check was ok. When I pulled the intake I found a chunk of wood by the balance shaft. The water ports looked like the burnt crap in the bottom of a pan of candied yams. I ended up pulling the heads and sending them to the machine shop. Both heads were cracked. I wasn't happy.
I called the yard and told them what happened and that I just wanted my money back. I was told that I violated the warranty by pulling the heads without asking. After reminding him how much I spent through him I hung up the phone. He called me back a short time later and said that if I reassemble the engine and send it back that this one time they would refund me. I did and they didn't. They don't get my business anymore.
I finally said screw it, I miss my truck and I just bought a Jasper rebuild. I told them the same thing and it took 6 weeks to get the engine and I'm perfectly fine with that.
Currently the old engine is on a pallet waiting for pick up. The new engine is waiting for the paint to dry. I color matched it to the truck. I kept having the fuel gauge drop out so I replaced the assembly. I have to clean and paint all of the brackets and accessories.
If all goes well I will get it back together this weekend. It has been a long time because as usual, I put myself last.
