Camino LS6

I agree with that assessment. This is one of those unfortunate auctions that will likely end with both the seller and bidders unhappy. An undesireable old car with very low miles in great condition is always a bit of a tragedy when it comes to placing a value on it. Still, even on CL, I think it would top out between $2,500-3k.

It will be interesting to see where the bidding ends up. I predict less than 3k.

I am pushing the jeers button because of price - the car is worth about half of the buy-it-now price.

I wish!

Pics from last night: And I finally found a use for the Jaguar

Well, what I'm doing is essentially what people call "top end" reconditioning of the engine. The intake manifold and head gaskets were shot and allowing various gases and liquids to ge where they should not. Also my timing chain was very worn, allowing the valves to be slightly out of posisiton relative to the crankshaft. All of these things combined into a undriveable condition. Usually, at this point the heads would be rebuilt before going back on. In this case, I am going to be buying a pair of heads with only a few thousand miles on them instead. This is not a full rebuild by any stretch, but it does bring the upper half of the engine to the same result which should more than solve the problems I was having with it. It also means a boatload of work.

I think that's a good bet, I also think coolant was making its way into several of the cylinders on this side. If the block is warped, I'm going to find out the hard way. As for the heads, they will either be replaced or re-done.

I was going to wait until both heads were off to post these, but since the site will be down tonight I'll do it now. I ended up having to remove the driver's side exhaust manifold after all. And the Driver's side head gave me an unexpected fight. The head bolts were really, really, tight - as if someone overtightened them to hide a head gasket leak? Who knows, but the previous owner was a real tool so it could be. At any rate, here are some pics:

Well, looking at the carboned-up mess inside my Tahoe's engine tonight sure makes me wish I could run everything on a gaseous fuel. That black sludge simply doesn't form in engines run on propane or CNG.

Heads are about ready to come off, but I'm just too beat. The exhaust manifolds where much easier than I expected, and interestingly, the most rearward bolt on both sides was simply absent. Those two would have been the toughest to remove, but I wonder why they weren't there, and why I had no exhaust leaks. The other cool thing is that once I remove the dipstick tube, I can slide the whole exhaust rearward and out of my way. I have already pulled the rockers and pushrods from the driver's side head but I stopped so that I can get a shot as is to show you guys tomorrow. Given about an hour, both heads should be on the deck. My biggest worry at the moment is being able to actually lift them out of the engine bay - the physics are all wrong. Trying to pull such heavy pieces out of what amounts to a deep hole should be an experience.

I'm a bit frustrated trying to get a handle on machine shop pricing to have my heads done. The local shop I was always familiar with has closed, and there are not many others anywhere nearby. At any rate, time to head out to the barn and see if I can get something accomplished tonight. Not feeling so hot, so it may be a short session.

Chevy just announced a new COPO Camaro. Love that idea.

Wish I could say that!

I'm really annoyed with people who don't respond when you answer their Craigslist ads.

Really cold overnight and this morning, but the sun is stronger today - should be a big melting off.

I cleaned-up the intake last night (took hours and isn't perfect yet), will go to borrow the puller today and decide what to do about the heads. Head gaskets are waiting for me at Napa.

Beautiful piece. Price is high, but not out of line with the market for woodies.

I see 2 options: 1) Add a question along the lines of "Has your preferred GM brand been discontinued and if so are you interested in Brand X?" 2) Have a heritage brand census, bundle together Saab, Saturn, Pontiac and Hummer, which allows you to compare sales if current brands to those of brands from the recent past. Instead of asking if a purchase from a heritage brand is planned, ask if a future GM purchase is a consideration. That's not a bad start.

Meh, labels are part of the problem anyway.

Not to worry, The shift in position happened when tightening the bolts. The timing marks are properly lined up. Interestingly, the position of the marks when the #1 cylinder is at TDC are not adjacent. However, they are in line, and when rotated 180 degrees (on the cam gear) they are adjacent. Believe me, I checked this quite carefully.

The one Duster I had was a tired, old POS with a 318 and lots of bondo. It was a plain Jane '71. The other one was a '73 340 Duster in black with white stripes. It was a high optioned car with buckets/console, factory sunroof, rear pass-through, half vinyl roof (white), dual exhaust, and a nice set of aluminum slots. Traded it in on my first 4x4 Chevy truck. Looked alot like this one, but with better-looking wheels and the white half top:

I owned two Dusters once upon a time...

It may be a mouthful, but it is far more precise.

Thanks Zo6. The snow interrupted this project and now there is another delay. I have to borrow the special puller to remove the power steering pulley (again) because you can't remove the brackets from the driver's side head without taking the pulley off first. Really annoying since I just did that to replace the power steering pump. I could pull the passenger side head, but then I'd be dead in the water until I get the special puller.

Setting up a new census would be interesting, but it couldn't be an apples to apples comparison because of all of the dead brands. And you can't ignore them, so how would be best to set it up?