Put the engine back together today after getting all my gaskets in.
Ready to drop in
Going in
In
So after all that, I'm not entirely sold on this engine. When I went to turn over the engine to put in the flexplate to TC bolts, the engine wouldn't budge. I used a screwdriver on the flexplate to slowly inch it along, and then used a breaker bar to rotate it further. It almost seemed like water had gotten in the cylinders and froze up the pistons. Once I did one full revolution, it rotated just fine. After everything was buttoned up, I disconnected the ICM and cranked it over a few times to prime the oil pump. I reconnected the ICM and fired it up again. The engine ran just fine, but I noticed that the oil pressure was at 0. I shut the engine off immediately and checked for leaks or anything out of the ordinary. Nothing. I fired it up again, and this time I had 40psi. I watched it while it was running, and all of a sudden the pressure dropped to 0 again. This whole time, the engine sounds fine, and doesn't change in tone at all. If the engine was really running at 0 oil pressure, it would be knocking all over the place, its not. I killed it and started it again... pressure seems to consistently stay at 40psi, but drops as low as 30psi! I know its common for these sensors to fail and read 120psi, but this one is doing the opposite. I gave up on it for tonight, and tomorrow I'll throw in a new sensor.
If indeed the engine does only have 30-40psi, the junkyard will be hearing from me!
