SURPRISINGLY, EVEN
ON YEARS-OLD FUEL
DILUTED WITH SOME
FRESH STUFF, THE
SILVER BULLET FIRED
ALMOST INSTANTLY
WITH NOTHING MORE
THAN A ONCE-ONLY
PUFF OF SMOKE FROM
THE EXHAUST
donk, I could get the crap sitting over the edge
of the piston crowns up to the top of the bores
to wipe clean. I used a razorblade to scrape
the block and head-gasket faces clean and
reassembled the engine with one new head
gasket and half a set of GM’s torque-to-yield
head bolts.
Thankfully, the previous owner had bagged
and tagged just about everything, from the EFI
harness leads to the exhaust bolts, so apart
from the head gasket (and of course stuff such
as oil and power steering fluid), I didn’t have to
chase anything. One exhaust stud was broken
on the removed head, but Bondini, a fitter/
machinist, took it to his magic shed and fixed it.
Surprisingly, even on years-old fuel diluted
with some fresh stuff, the silver bullet fired
almost instantly with nothing more than a once-only puff of smoke from the exhaust. A fast idle
for 20 minutes gave me confidence the engine
was healthy, despite the check-engine light and
oil pressure warning ding-dings. The power-
steering pump wailed, so I made a note to buy
a second-hand one at my local, mail it and fit it
before I drove the wagon back to NSW on an
unrego permit.
Since whacking on a set of rego plates, I’ve
replaced the climate control panel (that was
cheaper than replacing the two $30 light bulbs
that weren’t working) and changed the oil.
Thankfully, despite my bush mechanic’s hone
with sandpaper, it doesn’t use oil.
For a few grands’ spend and a couple of
weekends’ effort, I’ve got me a daily diggler with
a bit of grunt. And crikey, how handy is it having
a wagon after all these years? Schweet! sINGL
EXHA