Hello, I blew a head gasket the other day on my '89 C1500 with 4.3
TBI. Since I have everything on the front of the engine taken of
anyway, should I take this time to change the timing chain? it's
original with about 350,000 miles on it.

thanks,
nanook

"nanook" <chrisaltus (AT) teleshare (DOT) net> wrote

Since you have everything else off the front of the engine you might want to
check the play in the chain.
How is the rest of the engine? 350K sounds like it may be getting close to
a complete rebuild anyway.

On Sun, 13 May 2007 18:07:28 -0400, "Mark Schooley"
<markschooley (AT) cox (DOT) net> wrote:


thanks for your response. the engine smokes a little at start up and
goes through a quart about every 3000 miles. I haven't gotten the
heads off yet to see if there is any damage to it, hopefully it's just
the gasket.

I'm new to the engine rebuilding gig, it's a real option for me, as a
new 4.3 is $3700 from Chevy. what does that entail and how much can I
do myself? I have plenty of space and getting my hands on the tools
won't be a problem. my skills aren't too terrible, I do all my own
maintenance and most of my repairs on both our vehicles, mowers and
other gas/diesel equipment. I've probably done everything short of a
rebuild.

if/when I go the rebuilding route, what should I be looking at in the
way of parts and maintaining the use of the factory computer? I'd
like to see another 350k miles out of the engine, as long as they are
reliable ones. If I go for a quality rebuild with no compromises, how
much do you think I'm going to spend?

thanks again for responding and any advice you have.

nanook wrote:
Your going to have to Drop the oil pan anyways to replace the chain
cover lower gasket

well hell yea its only about 50 bucks for a double roller
why not
"nanook" <chrisaltus (AT) teleshare (DOT) net> wrote