Engine Tech is really a supplier of other manufacturer's parts. Some parts might have Engine Tech name, but I am sure that Engine Tech doesn't actually manufacture them. Because they target other businesses as their customers (engine rebuilders), I think quality should be OK or they would soon be gone!

 

Sorry to plant more seeds in your garden, but there are definitely six bolts holding trans to engine block and three bolts holding trans to oil pan - so that makes 9 bolts!! If you only took out eight, then one is left and you can guess which one that would be!! It's really quite hidden because the firewall is so close. Look up from behind the drivers side front wheel, with your eye even with the rear of the engine block - it's the only way to see it. Can't see it from the top or even from the bottom if your eye is not exactly in the right place. You might have to move the wiring harness. I can't remember if removing the front driveshaft was necessary to spot this bolt, but I do remember that I took that driveshaft out for some reason - maybe to try to work removing this bolt before cutting the flap in the floor.

I know what you mean about recovering the dropped bolt when engine is out. I dropped two wrenches down the transmission from the back of the engine. I never found one of them! Either it fell out during driving, or it was a gift when I had transmission rebuilt later.

Just curious where in Poland are you located? I have spent a few days in Warsaw and have been through the airports a number of times in both Warsaw and Krakow. Warsaw seemed like a typical large modern European city except for the small historical district (which I understand is not original buildings). What happens when a city gets bombed into oblivion. A lot of history gets lost. And finally, one of my favorite bands is Riverside!

 

Today was a harsh day. I've been connecting a hoist to the back side of the engine block and got my bolt fallen right into the opened exhaust pipe end! I felt like I won the lottery Then I came back with a magnet trying to get the bolt out, and guess what? O2 sensors says "Hello! How do You like me now?".

Getting to the last bolt took me nearly half a day. I wasn't keen on cutting out the firewall so at first I've tried removing the cross member of a transfer case. That idea lead me nowhere - one side has a bolts in a horizontal direction, these are easy to remove. Only annoying thing is a socket falling off the ratchet into a frame... The other end has a bolts in a vertical position, so attaching a contra-key on top of the frame is impossible.

God bless the person who said You may lift the body. I've released the body pins and lifted everything up for 1...1.5".
I must say a body lift is a *must* for Blazer. It solves so many problems: 2nd cylinder spark plug, bell housing bolts, plus a lot of clearance everywhere in the engine bay. I decided to keep the body lifted - of course not on a parquet pieces as it stands now

Crossing my fingers I'll get on time tomorrow to get the measurements done. Otherwise I'd have to wait till Monday. Keep You updated.

 

Good to hear you found the last bolt and figured out your preferred way to remove it!

 

Finally I got the measurements done.
Long story short - crankshaft is over ($400), cylinders bores may be honed ($50 per bore / $300 total), one connecting rod over ($50), rebuild kit - pistons, bearings gaskets, timing set ($500), valve lifters, and maybe a camshaft ($400). I've estimated the rebuild for amount of +/- $2k. Hardly makes sense... Maybe if I spot shafts on the ebay one day, I'll rebuild it. A friend advised me to use my V block to do a nice, geek table

What swap options do I have? As I understand, the "small block GM engines". Anything else than GM too?
Cheers,
Mike

 

Sorry to hear it.... and that doesn't even get your cylinder heads done, which can be quite expensive.

So I assume that you found one or more bad bearings, and that was the cause of the lifter tick? Let's talk about how bad the bearings were. What did the shop say about the connecting rod? Are the pistons out of the engine at this point? Is the camshaft/lifters really that bad? Maybe the smartest thing, is to do just enough to get it back in running condition with no knocks. That would mean minimum of crankshaft kit w/bearings and some gaskets.

Easiest swap options are gen I small block Chevy including 1998-1999 or so 5.7 liter Vortec engine from pickup.
Or LS Motor from pickups 2000-2005.
Both of these swaps have swap parts available and have been done before, but will be far more expensive than rebuilding your V6. Key is to retain computer for fuel injection so will play nice with electronic trans and rest of the modules on the data bus like the BCM, TCCM, SIR, ABS, etc.

 

Nah, minimum is a crankshaft (missing 2mm under one of a connecting rod bearing) + bearings, one connecting rod (old one got pretty oval), honed cylinders + piston w/rings, timing cover, and the valve lifters. And a gaskets + seals of course.

They carried out a crankshaft, connecting rod, pistons and cylinder measurement. They did not check the valve play, but said, that "heads seem to be in a quite good condition". They did not check the camshaft either, but does not have a signs of significant wear.

I got under a bad event conjunction with driving a long time on a highway with a cruise control on.

As for the swap - my intention was to go for some more popular motor than GM. Something that might be an option here. On second thought I don't want to end up with a never ending story of a Blazer rebuilding. As for the engine computers stuff - I'd love to play There are some universal computers that may be customized. Tbh, I've been always missing a marine style of engine monitoring, so that within a few clicks You may nail a main engine problem. Pretty everything comes with a sensors - cooling, lubrication, exhausts - You name it. It was even funnier, if the vessel had additional 7 thrusters