I have always heard that bad things happen in threes.
On my way home, my wife calls and tells me that the clothes washer keeps showing an error code and that she just left the vet with our dog, Daisy. Well Daisy has a torn ligament in her hind leg and being a young working breed, she is very active and would rather chase a ball you through then have you pet her most of the time. She has to have surgery to repair it and has to stay off her leg for 2 weeks after the surgery. We love our dogs and treat them like family. So, she will have surgery next week.
I get home and start checking on the washer. The error is for an unbalanced load. I go thru the normal steps for that code and start it again. The basket is not turning... I pull the rear cover off and the motor is turning, but the basket does not. Get on the phone with a service tech and decide it is what they call the "spider assembly", I call it a coupling between the motor and the shaft that turns the basket. Get that on order, over $100 shipped to the house, it will be here Wednesday....
Ok, while I am diagnosing the washer, Korbin come over with the dowel pins for the heads/block. So him and Owen head out to the shop and start getting head bolts and part rounded up. I head out there between calls and give them some other parts that I picked up yesterday. Owen takes and installs the front shocks while Korbin and I go over the heads/bolts/block that we plan to get done tonight. He needs to go help a buddy with his truck that is scheduled to go to LST also, so he leaves and I go back in the house to update my wife on the washer, we also discuss me skipping LST for financial reasons, but she urges me to keep my promise to the boys and get my truck together and go to the show, got to lover her for that! I grab a bite to eat and after that I head out to the shop. Damn, I am already worn out....
SO, out to the shop I go. I get the heads scrapped down to remove the old head gasket and clean them up the best I can. Put the dowels in the block, wipe down the deck, the MLS gaskets and get the heads on. Get all the bolts in the correct holes and torque them down. Next, I go gather up all the push rods, the rocker stands, bolts and the rockers. Put a drop of lube on the end of the push rods and drop them in place. Cleaned up the stands and placed them on the heads. Get the rockers out of the box and they are nasty, and I only have 12... So, I drop them in some solvent to soak them over night, Korbin says he has 4 more. I primed and installed the oil pump before calling it a night. Little earlier than I planned, but that's life.
Engine at my stopping point for the night:
Owen got the shocks on:
While I was looking for the rockers and parts, Owen pulled out the rear shock crossmember and got it cleaned up to put in. We will do that tonight.
My gasket set and the new knock sensors should arrive today, so the plan is to work a bit latter tonight and get the engine all put together and possibly mated to the trans and put back in the truck. Stay tuned!