im in va beach, its not my daily driver, but my buddy that im buying it from lives in baltimore. So i took 2 1/2 weeks off of work to go and work on it. Its not that it HAS to be done. I would just really like to get it done all in one trip

ImClueless, you can do what im going to do,... take no more than a 1000 dollars and get a nice little truck as a daily driver so that you can take your time on your rebuild. If your engine does need milling work atleast you will have your primary means of transportation. Just remember,... **** happens.

Ouch, I forgot about the clutch package and pilot bearing, might as well get that too. Keep digging in those pockets, your're right there and won't want to tear into it again down the road a few thousand miles.

and why don't you

rebuild your power steering rack, change the canister...
change your struts..........
Slave, Master..........
New Grounds....
Radiator....sensors....fans............


:D

Funny how it never ends..........

Nope - it it never really does end. But there does come a time when you exceed the point of cost vs. benefit.

(couple of shortcuts)

Easy way to check the head for vertical warpage: set the head on a known flat reference surface. a clean table with a hunk of clean plate glass works very well. Measure with a feeler gauge. If it passes that test, Mark the gasket surface with a sharpie or some other permanant marker. Take a piece of jewlers rouge cloth and set it on the reference surface. Set the head on the cloth and slide the head back and forth across the rouge cloth - without putting undue pressure on it - any high/low spots will be instantly visible.

(Note be careful to use JEWLERS rouge - it is used to polish gold and other precious metals because it doesn't remove any metal. You can usually pick up a couple of cloths pretty cheaply in any good jewlrey shop)

AFJuvat

i have a 97 montero as my daily driver. This will be a second car. I just dont want to keep driving 4 hours to fix it. So i would like to rebuild it in the 2 weeks of vacation i have. The navy is pretty stingy about the vacation time.