Here's what I've been doing w/ the last 100 hrs. or so of my spare time. I picked up a '99.5 PSD F-250 4x4 last fall w/ a sick motor for a bargain price and was bragging here about my mad eBay skillz. HA!
Anyhoo...., I rolled the dice that it would not need a complete motor but the price allowed for one as long as I supplied all labor. And I do mean ALL labor. It had one dead hole, (#7), OK, no problem, could be a bad injector, right?
I flew up to Utah to fetch it and drive home, (they told me that it ran and drove fine but had a miss), about 50 miles south of SCL it started knocking so loud that it was like there was a psychotic mormon standing in the bed hitting the cab w/ a sledge hammer. OK, so maybe I did not dodge the rebuild bullet, thought I. Pulled into a truck stop and everyone just completely stopped what they were doing and stared at me and the ticking grenade. Some guy actually told me that I had a knock. No schit, Sherlock.
"How far are you going?"
"Only another 700 miles".
I just felt like I'd proven what an idiot I was one more time, (always wanted to be a savant, but missed the mark), so I was going to make it home damn it. I couldn't return the thing, it was sold as needing a possible rebuild. Since I was on a lucky streak, and still deluded about being a savant, I decided to stop in Vegas and hit the tables at the HRC where I lost the rest of my pocket $$ and dignity. It made it home, barely, and managed over 18 mpg even w/ a blown engine. The photos to follow will explain the knock, as well as the incredible strength of the bottom end that allowed it to still run and drive 700+ miles.
Here is what it looked like when I got it:
