[toni1595]

Hey ctwrihgt, don't beat yourself up over your comment. I've been wrong a few times myself, like when I bought this P.O.S. I really wasn't considering doing that anyway. I think JB Weld has its uses, but inside of an engine really isn't one of them.

What your saying curtis73 makes sense. That would explain why the skipping that the motor was doing would ease up after it warmed up some, probably closes the gap somewhat. I guess the coolant leak wasn't necessarily related, it just happened at the same time.

I'll just have to go on the hunt for another head. I called around a bit this morning, but being a Saturday, not all the area yards are open. I do have a guy I've used before and he is pretty reliable, I'll try him on Monday. I really don't relish the idea of doing all this work again. It isn't necessarily a difficult job, its just tedious removing all of the pieces in order to get to the parts you want to repair.

This will give some time to fish the end of the dipstick tube out of the oil pan, which conveniently broke off when I attempted to remove it from the block. I tried my darndest to get it out from the top, but alas I ended up driving it down into the pan. I guess in the worst case, I'll have to remove the oil pan. I think I'll remove the oil sensor from the bottom of the pan next and see what that will net me. I've been fishing from the drain plug hole and so far have come up empty handed.

By the way, the heads are made of aluminum, not cast iron. The engine block itself is made of iron though. I think that's possibly the reason these engines fail, due to differences in expansion and contraction of the metals involved.

All the best, Toni.