Patting Myself On The Back- Major Achievement!

I'm a construction contractor that specializes in kitchens and bathrooms. A few years back I purchased this awesome 1987 Chevy step van that was formerly a dive rescue vehicle for a rural rescue squad.

Although this jewel is 30 years old it only has 33.000 miles on her- I would imagine due to her rare use as a dive rescue vehicle. I've had her for about 5 years now and she's never given me a bit of trouble until recently.

So the other day I started her up and she started billowing thick white smoke from the drivers side exhaust pipe. So I shut her down and called my master mechanic/machinist buddy Russ to ask him what the problem was. He told me that it was most likely my head gasket on the drivers side head had somehow allowed coolant/water to get into one of my cylinders. He suggested I pull one plug at a time and then turn the motor over.

I pulled the first plug on the drivers side and sure enough when I cranked it water shot out of the spark plug hole verifying that the head gasket had become corrupted.

I didn't take it into a shop for an estimate but I would guess that this repair was going to cost between $2,500- $3k.

I've always done minor auto repairs on my vehicles such as water pumps, alternators, starters and such but never a top end rebuild which was what it was going to take to get Special Unit 13 rolling again. Considering the cost of the repair and that I wasn't starting my next project for over a week I made the bold decision to undertake a top end rebuild of this Chevy 350 motor.

Now I realize this isn't that big a deal for a real motorhead but for me it was a bit intimidating and I wondered whether I wasn't getting in a little deeper than I should but alas I thought VICTORY GOES TO THE BOLD and I was going to make this major repair a successful reality.

Normally when I get into an auto repair I get easily frustrated because number one I'm not a mechanic and number two I just don't enjoy it. For this repair however I decided an entirely different mindset was in order. First I kept telling myself that I was being paid a reasonable wage for the work due to the savings I was enjoying by doing the repair myself. Secondly I took a very zen approach- not at all in a hurry and determined to find the solutions to whatever problems may arise- I was also quick to take a break from the work if I started to get frustrated.

There were a couple of instances where I tried and tried but could not get bolts loosened- usually because they were very difficult to access. In both instances I'm a big believer that we are all very powerful co-creators that can literally change our reality purely through thought. So I envisioned those bolts becoming loose and even sent vibrational energy to each of them in order to assist in loosening them- Guess what? In both instances it worked!

Here's a few pics of the engine being broken down..........

I'd like to recognize my good friend Russ who spent many hours on the phone with me explaining the exact procedures I should follow- it's amazing how many nuances are involved in a repair of this magnitude and Russ was awesome at making me aware of all of them- I am eternally grateful for his assistance and told him I owe him a day of free labor (he's in the process of building a country home). I'm not saying I couldn't have accomplished this task without Russ' help but it would have been immensely more difficult- I didn't know what I didn't know.

Often times a head gasket will blow, allowing coolant and oil to mix (a very bad thing) due to a vehicle being overheated and the head or block cracking or warping but in this instance it was merely due to age- I guess 30 years is a reasonable lifespan for a head gasket. The heads and valves were sill in very good shape so I took the heads down to Russ at his machine shop and after an inspection he determined a clean up and light resurfacing was in order as opposed to rebuilding the heads which saved me a nice chink of change.

I spent probably 40 hours total on this repair but again considering the cost had I taken it to a shop it was time very well spent.

You have no idea how elated I was when I got her reassembled and after resolving some timing/distributor issues she roared back to life.........

I know to some this may not seem like a big deal but to me it is. It really reinforced my belief that we are all power co-creators and capable of virtually anything we put our minds to. Giving myself a HUGE pat on the back and an ATTA BOY to boot!

Oh and if any of my fellow Steemians ever need to perform a top end rebuild on their Chevy 350 please don't call me- although it was fun accomplishing the process itself wasn't my idea of fun at all. I'm kidding in that I'd be happy to coach you via telephone or email as my buddy Russ shared many a trick and important details with me.

So just remember in life that even though something may seem insurmountable YOU are a powerful co-creator and YOU with your own thoughts and intentions can achieve things that you may have thought yourself incapable of!

Thanks for reading.