Another one bites the dust!

[diesel4me]

Well,the 250 "camelhumper"six in my 79 Bonanza C10 is toast--I was on my way to CT,but only got about 10 miles from home when I noticed it was smoking like a chimney--and I could hear a slight rap echoing off each car that passed me--I headed for the nearest exit,and made a U-turn and headed for home.I did make it home,but not by much--when I opened the hood,I saw the PVC valve hanging out of the valve cover,oil was sprayed everywhere,its a miracle I didnt burn it to the ground ,you couldnt see the highway behind me there was so much oil smoke burning off the y-pipe--it is skipping pretty bad,like only 4 cylinders are working,and if you rev it up to about 2 grand it starts to sound like a woodpecker convention in the center of the block. /forums/images/graemlins/yikes.gifI think it blew a piston,for that much blowby to pop the PVC valve out of the cover like that.This motor ran good since I got the truck afew years ago,but went downhill rapidly after driving it through the past winter,the oil got diluted from short trips in sub zero weather,and my edelbrock carb probably didnt help much /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif but it did run great for awhile.Now I have to find another motor--I've been thinking about that 500 caddy motor and TH400 I have out in the shed,but I am not sure if I want to deal with all the issues with the oil pan not fitting,etc--I am busy enough caring for my elderly mother whose health is very frail,and I dont need 3 trucks apart in her yard if she passes away(she's 76 and has emphasema)so I may just stick with a chevy motor,unless some of you caddy powered guys talk me into using the /forums/images/graemlins/screwy.gif500.The truck only has a 350 radiator,I dont know if that would handle the 500 motor or not(no AC).Now I have 3 trucks on the road,one has a blown motor,another is stuck in 4HI,and it needs tranny lines,and I noticed the oil cooler lines on the diesel are original,rusty,and scary looking,not something you want to trust on a 100 mile or more trip,and the third one is so rotted it should be condemmed,its brake rotors and frame are rusted to death.I might have to have a chevy truck yard sale this weekend!.I could put my van back on the road,but its got several issues too,like cracked main leaf in rear springs,needs an upper ball joint,rust,etc.--its getting to be a struggle just to keep one running without a steady job--dont know what I'm going to do if one more thing goes wrong around here-- /forums/images/graemlins/angryfire.gif /forums/images/graemlins/screwy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/screwy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/dunno.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[Hossbaby50]

I would just find another 6 and drop it in. The six's are tough little mills that last a long time. My roommate's '66 Chevy pickup ran on the original 6 cylinder for 34 years. It had alot of miles and alot of hard work under its belt before it went though. He now has another 6 cylinder in it and it is running like a champ for the last 3 years.

Harley

 

[diesel4me]

I have thought the same thing--its usually enough work just replacing it with the original motor,why make more work than you have to,to end up with a lot more headaches in the end.I liked the six ,but it wasnt much better on gas than a V8,and thankfully I havent towed much or carried and heavy loads with it--its not a real powerhouse.I spied a 1 ton dump at the boneyard with a 292 in it,they need different motor mount brackets and the exhaust is single rather than dual outlet manifold,and the 292 uses a 1 barrel,so no more "hot rod" 4 barrel!.A friend did the 250 to 292 swap in his 82 shortbed,and wasnt that impressed with it,poor gas mileage,and not that much more power.Another guy I know has done 4 caddy to C10 conversions,his friend ran into me at the salvage yard,he says if I dont use the caddy motor I'm nuts--he claims its fairly easy to drop in the 500 and its TH400,you only need to remove the motor mounts and bolt flat plates onto the 4 holes,the stock eldorado mounts line right up ,the driveshaft will need to be modified or swapped (my truck has a 12 bolt with the small outside clip u-joints,the caddy uses the larger internal clips,so I'd need a shorter shaft and a conversion u-joint)and he claims 2 of his trucks still have the original radiators from a 350 in them with no cooling troubles,one even still has the AC working!..He didnt mention any problems with the oilpan,or the oil filter hitting the crossmember,so I might have to track down this guy and rattle his cage about whether to go that route or not--it would be nice having the power to pull anything,even though its only a half ton--it wold be like have a 500SS instead of a 454SS !.I'm going to pull the dead soldier out tomorrow,its over 90 out there now,not exacly great motor swap weather--I'm waiting till mornig when its cooler.All I know is I want to get something around here good enough to drive 200 miles in a row without having it come home on a ramp truck!.If anyone on here wants to relate their experience with the caddy swap,I'm all /forums/images/graemlins/ears.gif /forums/images/graemlins/ears.gif /forums/images/graemlins/ears.gif /forums/images/graemlins/ears.gif /forums/images/graemlins/ears.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif