New kid on the block

[missinglink]

Hi,

In 1989 bought a barely used (5,000 miles) 1988 Mighty Max. I drove it for the next 12 years and 260,000 miles, performed nearly all maintenance and repairs myself, and...it was the best vehicle I ever owned. When it failed a smog check miserably with NOx levels off the charts, the state of California classified it as a "gross polluter" and offered to buy it for $1100. At that point in time I was out of work, needed cash, and I took the $1100, a decision I always regretted.

Last month at an auction of donated vehicles I ran across an '87 Mighty Max, G63B, manual trans., perfectly straight/rust free body, not modified or molested in any way, badly sun damaged paint, aged interior, 190,000 miles, and barely running. I bought it and trailered it home.

I knew zero about it's history. The plugs were old with a little carbon fouling. Compression in #1 and #2 cylinders was approx. 165 #3 was 150 and #4 about 135. I did a leak-down test of sorts and heard air in the carburetor and felt it at rear of valve cover, where there was also a massive oil leak. The pcv valve was plugged too. My assumption was that i would find a lot of carbon buildup so I bought a flexible scope, looked in each combustion chamber and it did look like a carbon jungle. With the help of jafromobile, Eric the car guy, and the humble mechanic I dove in, pulled the head, stripped it down, cleaned it up and measured everything.

Now, on the verge of putting everything back together I got around to the egr valve. I know now I should have started there but anyway it was toast, fouled up with a torn diaphragm. So now considering the cost of a new egr valve, the usual belts, hoses, wires, spark plugs, the bottom end with 190,000 miles, the Mikuni (?) carburetor with the spaghetti factory of vacuum lines, plus the fact that I live in California where our politicians hate cars and hate the people who love cars I've decided to go for an engine swap and replace the G63B.

I'll be cruising the forums and asking questions. I'm not looking to build a hot rod or a show truck but I'm looking for engine ideas---maybe a diesel.