S-10 5.8L

[Atilla the Fun]

It seems just a little bit foolish to me that I have a small pickup that can't carry anything. This is because the driveshaft needs shortening. But even if I did that, I still wouldn't want to drive it this winter. This morning I got the LTD running, so today I'm taking the 355 out of the S-10.

[CincinnatiFiero]

Where is the 355 going???

[Atilla the Fun]

Well, since I have time and parts, but not money, I'm postponing the Mustang getting the turbocharged 5.3L LM7, and I'm giving the Mustang the 355. The money is going mostly to the 305 for the Fiero. Here's the Mustang build thread: http://mustangforums.com/forum/4-cylind ... intro.html

[Atilla the Fun]

I wanted an LT1 for this truck, but I just found me a free '96 Vortec 4.3L, complete. It has the good heads. I still have the exhaust manifolds from an '89 S-10, and also the alternator and it's bracket. This truck doesn't have a/c or p/s, and the Vortec doesn't have air injection, so I just have to mount a tensioner or two, because the '89 and the Vortec both had a/c and p/s, though the vortec is missing it's a/c compressor. I do have the compressor from the '89, but I hate to mount it up just to ease the pulley situation. Just adding weight. I will be adding p/s to this truck, and new bushings and other wear items in the IFS. Otherwise the frone end is too sloppy to pass inspection. The Vortec does have the computer, the MAF, the engine wiring harness, it's very complete other than the a/c compressor.

[Atilla the Fun]

Haven't gotten it yet. I'll post when (if?) I do.

[Atilla the Fun]

Well, I did get the computer, the wiring harness, and the MAF. Do you realize that Painless Wiring wants $740 for their harness? That's some BS. It should cost the same as the Vortec 350 harness, even if they do sell fewer of these. This is one thing where there's no excuse to raise price due to reduced sales volume. In fact, the BS pricing is probably the main reason why this harness doesn't sell. I'll just fix the damaged stock harness I got for free. It'll give me something to do on these cold winter nights.

[Atilla the Fun]

It turns out mine is the weak-suck 190 hp version. To have the 200 horses I expected, I need to change to the part number 10541691 cam, which www.gmpartsdirect.com won't show. I guess I'll just have 190 horses at 4400 rpm, and 250 foot pounds at 2800 rpm. It'll serve.

[Atilla the Fun]

It turns out I was correct, it wasn't a rod knock. It was misfiring, as I expected. But today I found out why it was misfiring. Thepushrods for cylinder # 6. Intake was broken, exhaust missing entirely. I pulled the heads for porting. Everything else looks fine. I guess some stupid teenager over-revved the damn thing. It's an Astro, you forking kids, not a race car.

[The Dark Side of Will]

Lol... a V8 AWD Astro van can be pretty mean on the strip...

[Atilla the Fun]

Was dis-assembling the heads, found a mangled exhaust valve tip, and a mangled exhaust rocker stud. Now I'm more glad I have a spare head. The short block is still together, and the crank turns too easily. Probably needs new rings. The original cross-hatch is still visible. IDK if I want to fully tear it down, but that's what needs to happen. I was surprised to find that these heads don't have the same ridge in the exhaust ports, just past the short turn, that the Vortec 350 L31 heads have. Fine, one less thing for me to grind away.

[Atilla the Fun]

More damage found, as in, a damaged lifter, and so far, the total tally of bad rocker studs is up to 2. No problem, I can get a set of ARP rocker studs for $40. These aren't stock replacements, they require I switch from the stock rockers to SBC stuff, and use poly locks. so, I'm switching from the old non-adjustable, net-lash setup to traditional hot rod stuff. Excellent!

[befarrer]

Again I'm reminded why I love EFI. The damn thing has developed a lean surge with this cold weather, I'm going to have to open up the Q-Jet, adjust the APT screw, change the primary rods, reassemble it, then readjust the idle mix, then idle speed, and maybe even play with twisting the distributor. It's not just laziness, it's knowing that even doing this with a wide band EGO, I'm still not as spot-on at all times like closed-loop. And even if I had a stock-style hot air setup, it still wouldn't help with traction in the snow. I hafta get a new ignition module in the Probe so I can drive that. The LTD has electrical gremlins too.

Isnt it Jelly 2M8 that swears by a carb because he can tune it with just a screwdriver in a few seconds?

[Atilla the Fun]

That's sort of true, and sort of not. I'm competent at adjusting carburetors, but I'm an idealist and a perfectionist. The best Q-Jet can never equal a good TBI, which can never equal a good sequential port EFI, which is soon to be surpassed by direct injection. I say soon, because so far, LS1edit and the like can't let you adjust the fuel delivery to compensate for even mild boost.
Anyway, what's the question?

[Atilla the Fun]

Since there's no way to lift the short block assembly high enough to load it, I came up with the idea of just walking the 2 miles over there with my hand truck, tying the engine to the dolly, and rolling it back here at my walking speed. Once I get it here I have a way to lift it high enough to put it on an engine stand.
Well, just as soon as the rain lets up.

[jelly2m81]

Isnt it Jelly 2M8 that swears by a carb because he can tune it with just a screwdriver in a few seconds?

Fuck no! I think people who remove EFI for carbs are fucking redneck idiots.

[Atilla the Fun]

That worked pretty well. I got the 4.3 short block assembly moved just the way I said I would. Maybe I can get it on the stand tomorrow evening.

[Atilla the Fun]

It's on the stand. It ain't much, and it ain't Fiero, but it was free, and it's what I did with my evening.

[Atilla the Fun]

found the last pushrod in the oil pan:

[Atilla the Fun]

Just pulled the lifters out, 4 had to go in the trash. It's ok, I still have a full set from my old '89 4.3, all cleaned and reassembled, ready to install. But not until I get this 4.3 apart and cleaned.