Here's the good news:
After spending a lot of time fiddling with the ignition and timing, finally figured out what I was doing wrong on Saturday. I never checked the dwell on the brand new set of points I installed. Assumed it would be factory set close to where it needed to be. Nope. Way off. Did it right this time, got the dwell dialed in, and, bam, fired right up. Sounded strong with fires in all cylinders.
A while back, I noticed the clutch rod was a bit sloppy. So I adjusted the clutch. On Saturday, I was able to test it out with the truck running. Nice and smooth in 1st, 2nd, and reverse. Almost wanted to take it for a spin, but I knew the brakes are not yet ready for any amount of speed. Just moved the truck forward and reverse a few times to make sure the clutch was working good.
Then, I saw it. Water coming from the side of the block, but not from one of the expansion plugs that I already replaced. So, I crawled under the truck, and saw what I feared the most: a large c-shaped crack had opened up in the block with water coming out. I could run my finger along the edge of the crack from just above the oil pan all the way up to the bottom of the head. I don't know if this just happened, or if this has been lurking for a long time.
I am so bummed right now. After spending so much time already on this truck, trying to get it running and driveable, now I have to decide if I want to start over with another engine. I know I can pick up a used block for pretty cheap, but then I would have to build it. I can't afford a new or rebuilt complete engine.
So here are my choices:
1) Pick up a new block, and swap everything over;
2) Pick up a complete and ready-to-run 283 or 327(or other SBC);
3) Give up and sell it; or
4) Pull the leaky 5.3 out of my Tahoe and rebuild it for the C20, and find a clean replacement for the Tahoe. Ok, this one might be a little out of my ballpark right now, but I can always dream.
My low-budget, quick get it driveable project isn't turning out that way.
