Oil Sample

[MrMarty51]

Got the results from the oil samples that I sent off to Blackstone.
As the suggestion line states, I have some bigger fish to fry.
Probably will have to tap the screen shots, then expand the in order to read them.

 

[ak diesel driver]

Might be a headgasket starting to go

 

[Will L.]

Ok Marty,
Give the run down on this engine as refresher please.
Lot of questions- all relevant.

How many miles on this engine -plans for replacement soon or trying for a ton more miles out of it?
How often do you add coolant and how much/ miles driven. If not logging that- start.

Have you added the GM coolant tablets?
What coolant?

Have you gotten it hot recently?

If it’s been apart:
What head gaskets? Head bolts or studs?
What turbo and boost numbers?
Condition on heads when apart? Have you done the sleeve into steam pockets between valves? Condition of precup cracking?

 

[Twisted Steel Performance]

Yea it's time to save for a replacement or rebuild.

 

[MrMarty51]

Ok Marty,
Give the run down on this engine as refresher please.
Lot of questions- all relevant.

How many miles on this engine -plans for replacement soon or trying for a ton more miles out of it?
How often do you add coolant and how much/ miles driven. If not logging that- start.

Have you added the GM coolant tablets?
What coolant?

Have you gotten it hot recently?

If it’s been apart:
What head gaskets? Head bolts or studs?
What turbo and boost numbers?
Condition on heads when apart? Have you done the sleeve into steam pockets between valves? Condition of precup cracking?

260,XXX Miles.
I had the temp to 210 once then You mentioned running a screw through the fan clutch, that fixed the high temp problem. Since then have gone to the viscous electronic fan system with the Duramax fan. Now fan kicks in at 198 and never goes over 200, even on the 110+ days.
This truck had the GM8 turbo when I got it and I believe it had that turbo all its life. Highest boost pressure was about 12 PSI. It now has the A-Team turbo and highest boost pressure has been less about 12PSI.
Far as I know this is the original engine to this truck and the PO I got it from had no records or info on the truck. He bought it out of an estate sale.
I have never had the heads off. I guess it is time. Like the license plate I seen on a flat black 1948 Cadillac Hurst wagon, IT IZ TIME but TIME was spelled TME as Montana has a 7 letter limit.
As far as adding coolant, maybe once every three or four months and usually just a cup or two.
The prestone level mostly stays where I fill it up to, just above those cross pieces in the OF tank. Very seldom do I ever have to add coolant, but, it has been the slight amounts that I have had to add that has raised suspicion in Mine head. One of the main reasons I have done this oil survey.
I now have the 59 Power Wagon in the garage for brake shoes. When it comes out I suspect the 6.5 will be going in and the enjun getting pulled on it. I almost went that route when dealing with the leaking valve covers but then decided to just fix it and go.
Those steam pocket tubes is something thats been on My mind. Guess it would be a good plan to get those now and have that kit setting and waiting for when the engine is lifted out of the frame, and, hoping that the block is not cracked.
If the block is cracked then possible I’ll try some of those lock and stitch devices to hold it together and maybe then be able to pop the main caps, get the crank journals all ground to the same size, get it coated and go new bearings, cam bushes too.
We shall see. Probably wind out with a reman from a recommended rebuilder, if there is such a thing for these engines.

 

[MrMarty51]

Oh yes, I do apologize for taking so long getting back to replying to this thread.
The weed killer service I was working for, the owner called and asked if I’d be capable of riding one of the four wheelers once again, over terrain that is not near so rough as the reclaimed coal landscape.
Killing weeds in the fishing access sites along the Big Horn River.
That land was mighty pleasant to ride over. Mostly riding grid, searching out Houndstongue and Canada Thistle.
I loved it.

 

[Will L.]

Ok- GM coolant sealing tablets- have you added those yet? If not that could be worth a try.

If you drive this truck places there is no cell service- be sure you can walk from there of throw a bicycle or something in the back to comfortably get to cell service. All of y’all should know to always have drinking water and a bit of food like energy bars in the rigs at all time- the importance on that just went up here just in case. If this is a cylinder wall crack starting- it could just go all at once. The heads cracking or head gasket is more likely. Head cracks are something that when the engine cools you can drive home on- might take several cooling cycles. Head gasket can be like cylinder walls and just kill the engine all at once where it doesn’t run again.

Imo this current engine being worth rebuilding is 50% at best currently.

Now- start paying attention to what others say more than me because I will go to ‘sky could be falling’ and I am the worst victim of all times to ‘while you’re there”. Hence my hummer got torn apart and been that way for some 300 years now.

Depending on how much tearing top half of engine off is easy or hard for you-
You can rip the heads off in place. With them off you can rotate crankshaft and inspect cylinder walls for signs of cracking or overheating. Put on new head gasket, fix up whatever’s going on with the heads or new heads as needed. Be back to running easy enough.

Problem is now top half the engine is new but the bottom half is not going to go another 100,000 miles most likely. Myself- I worry next about hows the bearings from the coolant it already got. (Sky falling) So now it is a question of pulling the engine.
Rod bearings replaced easy enough (while your there) becomes new rings even if the cylinders are worn out. Might be out of spec but new rings will seal better than current ones so that becomes low cost added for more miles. And while they are new ones definitely I would go gapless.

As to the main bearings - that is a question of main web cracking. And it yours are cracked is it worth any of this $ or effort to put back together- that’s your dice roll.

So it all becomes how much money and effort, how much you want to stick with this truck and or 6.5 platform. As out friend WarWagon is never afraid to say, this isn’t the best engine choice available. To me it’s More like an ol pair of boots- make your heels tired end of day but ya know which pains to expect.

There are not as many running 6.5 to buy cheap anymore. But there is more 6.5 takeouts that can be found now. We all suffer the loss of new p400 not being abundant but optimizers and brass tube their heads is a good option imo. Opti block and p400 heads is better yet if you can swing it.
So I would get some new oil & filter. Drop in the cooling tabs and roll the dice at this point and keep driving it or yank the engine out and tear down expecting a new long block needed.

Here is link to the cooling tablets- but my paranoid suspicion for cko fake stuff would say buy these in brick and mortar store rather than the site.

Amazon.com

 

[WarWagon]

Cracked head on Patch didn't show up in the oil samples.

Odds are very good your pulling out a Zombie.

WTF for that lab? The engine oil has failed! They should have called you with "take it out of service, change engine oil immediately, and fix it". It's out of viscosity range (critical) ... and contaminated by both fuel and coolant. The high wear metals reflect this. The viscosity being low and fuel being 1.5% at this low time on oil: Well it's due for a change at 2500 miles in HD use... But it didn't make 2500 Miles. You loose oil pressure with fuel contaminated thin oil as well as the BioDiesel part of the contamination, if any, not showing up as fuel.

Cut the oil filter open and look for chunks of metal with readable part numbers. More serious than kidding. You could have scored up a cam lobe.

Pressure test cooling system. Then time to remove the (no water pump RPM) fan belt and T stat crossover. Run the stone cold engine a couple min to see what head is blowing bubbles. This way you can look harder at one side. Neither means you have a leak not subject to combustion pressure like water pump and timing chain housing area. Hopefully not a block crack that's reached coolant.

Are you running a high % of biodiesel? This could be it alone for thin oil failure.

Then I would ask how the engine runs and if it's fine with low idle time I would look at the IP leaking fuel. (IP weep hole clogged?) Then, glow plug testing, compression test, and test the injectors. How much blowby does it have, Right Now?

A leakdown test wouldn't hurt and see if any cylinder blows coolant out of the tank.

A once over on the intake, air filter, and CDR including oil leaks on the engine that could leak dust into the engine is recommended.

The above said you will need a plan and evaluate the condition of the pickup if it needs anything more than just heads on/off. Frankly with that much metal in the oil, and coolant that kills bearings, you are looking at a ATT bearing rebuild kit and having to look for block cracks before rebuilding the bottom end. So is it: a used 6.5L Good Luck!!!, a Optimizer New engine, or drop in a (a or warmed up) 350/454 Gas engine.

Yeah hope for heads on/off and inspect ATT for the wheels rubbing if your budget is patch it up beyond Frugal.

Replacement pickups are expensive so it's "value" is not as relevant as "Runs and Drives". For example can you replace the pickup for something, anything else in a pickup, for less than the cost of a new 6.5L engine and turbo rebuild? Will the body go another 100K? Don't forget the new used pickup needs $2000 in parts or they wouldn't be selling it...

And if it gets wrecked, burned to the ground, or stolen after a NEW engine is dropped in what's your insurance paying you to replace it?

 

[MrMarty51]

All good points.
I am thinking that I’ll pull this engine. Drop the pan, check the cracked main webs, I am sure they are, and if they are cracked then I dont know.
I do want to at least do a rering and bearings, cam bushings and the head tube kits.
I will pull the t-stat cross over and see which side is bubbles but probably will do the fix on both heads if the block is worth messing with.
Maybe sell it back to the guy i bought it for, four or five grand and cut my losses and run.
I even thought about a duramax conversion. But the truck would not be worth that. Who knows when differentials is going to blow, etc.
I took off and came to the cabin. Not sure when I’m going to go home. Next week sometime, Wednesday, thursday ? The Power Wagon needs to come out before I can mess with the 6.5.

 

[dbrannon79]

I can't say for the metals in the oil, but is there a chance any coolant got into the engine when you had it apart fixing the cover gaskets and messing with injectors? how long was this oil ran before and leading up to the adventure on the valve cover gaskets?

what I'm getting at is as long as your not seeing your coolant levels going down, or any different "knock" noises from the engine, drive it to get some miles on the current oil change and send another sample off to be examined. you might even send a sample now and then again just before you decide to change it again.

do follow the about recommendation to keep an backup plan + food and water in the truck just in case. worst case is you have underlying major issues, best case is your sample was somehow contaminated between you bottling it to them testing it. I have heard of it happening where somewhere in the mix, it just turned out the be a bad sample. order you a oil sample suction gun and some tubing. the sample bottles we use a work screw to the gun, you attach a 1/8" piece of tubing and run it down the dipstick tube to pull a sample.

I have been told by others that when you pull a sample from the drain plug. it can easily get a bottle full of what's in the bottom of the pan.

 

[jrsavoie]

All good points.
I am thinking that I’ll pull this engine. Drop the pan, check the cracked main webs, I am sure they are, and if they are cracked then I dont know.
I do want to at least do a rering and bearings, cam bushings and the head tube kits.
I will pull the t-stat cross over and see which side is bubbles but probably will do the fix on both heads if the block is worth messing with.
Maybe sell it back to the guy i bought it for, four or five grand and cut my losses and run.
I even thought about a duramax conversion. But the truck would not be worth that. Who knows when differentials is going to blow, etc.
I took off and came to the cabin. Not sure when I’m going to go home. Next week sometime, Wednesday, thursday ? The Power Wagon needs to come out before I can mess with the 6.5.

I'm more of a look for a donor vehicle kind of guy. I've had hundreds of thousands of miles of good results.

I sold the last few good 6.5 parts vehicles I had to a friend.
He scrapped them all. But I wasn't going to be able to do anything with them anyway and they'd still be sitting, I can't find anyone to hire me to work on stuff

 

[MrMarty51]

I can't say for the metals in the oil, but is there a chance any coolant got into the engine when you had it apart fixing the cover gaskets and messing with injectors? how long was this oil ran before and leading up to the adventure on the valve cover gaskets?

what I'm getting at is as long as your not seeing your coolant levels going down, or any different "knock" noises from the engine, drive it to get some miles on the current oil change and send another sample off to be examined. you might even send a sample now and then again just before you decide to change it again.

do follow the about recommendation to keep an backup plan + food and water in the truck just in case. worst case is you have underlying major issues, best case is your sample was somehow contaminated between you bottling it to them testing it. I have heard of it happening where somewhere in the mix, it just turned out the be a bad sample. order you a oil sample suction gun and some tubing. the sample bottles we use a work screw to the gun, you attach a 1/8" piece of tubing and run it down the dipstick tube to pull a sample.

I have been told by others that when you pull a sample from the drain plug. it can easily get a bottle full of what's in the bottom of the pan.

Yeah, that sample set in a pan in the garage for a couple of weeks before the sampler kit arrived.
I had been welding and grinding and that tin pan was not covered.
Right now, this fresh oil change has about 170 miles on it. Supposedly there is more sampler kits on the way. When they arrive I’ll be sending in another sampling.
By the time I get home from the cabin this oil will have about 370 miles or slightly less on it. I will change oil once again and run that oil for about 500 miles or so then send in another sample.
I do have that remanned IP that I had loaned out to Big T a couple of times. It has been tested and so no doubt that its a functional unit.
I am now considering pulling the engine, at the least rod and cam bearings/bushings and gapless rings.
IDK if the IP is leaking fuel, the truck is setting on a slight side hill so I could not get an accurate measure of the oil level on the dipstick. I will move the truck so that it is on top of the ridge where its level, let it set for a couple hours then check the level. When I left home the oil was just covering the F on the FULL mark so if it is above that then it definetely is leaking past the IP seals and diluting the oil.
If that is the case then I figure I’ll drive the twenty or thirty miles into Sheridan WYO. And get the necessary components to do a oil change, drain pan, funnel to put oil back into the oil containers, etc and come back to the cabin and change the oil again. I do not want to have a runaway situation with this engine. Just in case it is a good rebuildable block.

 

[Will L.]

Doug said a key point that I thought and didn’t say, should have emphasized.

Why I said the cooling tablets:
I asked how much coolant you have to add and your answer was basically so little coolant that I almost wouldn’t worry about it.you are not dumping a ton of coolant in there constantly. They are telling you switch to oil changes at 1,000 mile’s because you are doing a flush of the system basically.

Yea the oil in there now is bad. Yes it is showing bearing wear and all that. But 260,000 miles on this engine that we know most likely they are not good candidates for a rebuild. With the expense is takes it’s better to trashcan the GM unit and find an optimizer to put money into. So who care if the gm block blows up.

If you are in a situation where truck breaks down on the road it could be dangerous for you- like I have a friend missing right leg- he can’t walk 5 miles so for him it could be deadly. For me, it is gonna be a sucky day because my plans for 1 day get ruined while I walk a few hours until cell service then wait for a tow truck. Maybe use a sick day at work.

I pulled out my optimizer and tore it down because it had low mileage and I knew it was a great candidate for rebuilding. But if my nephews 1988 6.2 starts to go- we aren’t pulling that engine until it is fully seized and has a couple rods laying on the ground. Get every last mile out it. Rare, but I have seen condemned engines run for 40,000 miles before actually dying. Most of the time they go about 5,000 miles when getting early warnings like this. But when dealing with a block not most likely to rebuild- might as well drive it unless you are in a dangerous area, or risky health condition.

You are talking about leaky ip- we all are seeing coolant in the oil- not diesel fuel.
And btw- I would be putting in low cost oil not synthetic anything. Yeah- run it for 1,000 miles and spin on new filter. Probably do that for next two thousand miles and would not bother with sampling- this is a condemned engine at this point. Don’t waste money on trying to get longest life from it. Then when you get close to the 3,000 mile level and it’s about time for the next oil change- THEN send in a sample.

Obviously you are watching for any loss of coolant along the way. If you start adding coolant frequently then expect engine death soon.

If money is a situation where you will probably get rid of the rig once engine is gone- or you’re not gonna put a new one in the truck but have to keep this running long as possible at lowest cost possible- then the right answer is pull both heads, new gaskets and diy the brass sleeves. Ignore bottom end keep running it.

260,000 miles on a truck that didn’t get the life extension tactics applied until 200,000 mile mark is not gonna make it to 350,000. Your shooting for 300,000 target. So running say 30,000 miles on bearings half gone- so what. Starts blow by soon- so what.

Other than doing a few oil changes at 1,000 mile mark and adding those tablets at this oil change, I would not spend an extra dime on longevity because it is looking like it is done soon.

If this engine were a candidate for - or you have to make it work because of money- yes do all the testing WarWagon is saying to. Otherwise- meh.

I once had a gm inline 6, 250 cid gasser. Head cracked and was sipping coolant like this 6.5 seems to be doing. I was broke and the roof of that car looked like roof of my home if ya get what I’m saying . I would change the oil at 1,000 miles and kept the old oil in a couple glass pickle jars. Old oil filter stored so it would drain out inside the new filters box. The next month was about 1,000 miles and the coolant separated from the oil. The filter dripped dry. That oil and filter went back in the engine and what came out sat there the next month.
About 8 weeks into this the head crack got bad enough I removed the pushrods to the bad cylinders valves. Dropped the pan and pulled that rod/piston. Popped the pan back on.

Still had to keep cycling to oil because of coolant contamination- which since only 3 months of winter here means cold enough- most the time was just water in the system- not spending money on antifreeze.

No, that engine didn’t make it super long- only about 35,000 miles, and i think I only bought 2 more qts of oil and never another filter. No more spark plugs or anything. Rented mule treatment. But money saved went to a better engine.

In your case the tablets are a worth while gamble. Not much else if ya wanna just push it. If ya wanna tear off heads- don’t buy tablets yet.

 

[Twisted Steel Performance]

Fyi I can get brand new optimizer blocks from GEP.

 

[MrMarty51]

Doug said a key point that I thought and didn’t say, should have emphasized.

Why I said the cooling tablets:
I asked how much coolant you have to add and your answer was basically so little coolant that I almost wouldn’t worry about it.you are not dumping a ton of coolant in there constantly. They are telling you switch to oil changes at 1,000 mile’s because you are doing a flush of the system basically.

Yea the oil in there now is bad. Yes it is showing bearing wear and all that. But 260,000 miles on this engine that we know most likely they are not good candidates for a rebuild. With the expense is takes it’s better to trashcan the GM unit and find an optimizer to put money into. So who care if the gm block blows up.

If you are in a situation where truck breaks down on the road it could be dangerous for you- like I have a friend missing right leg- he can’t walk 5 miles so for him it could be deadly. For me, it is gonna be a sucky day because my plans for 1 day get ruined while I walk a few hours until cell service then wait for a tow truck. Maybe use a sick day at work.

I pulled out my optimizer and tore it down because it had low mileage and I knew it was a great candidate for rebuilding. But if my nephews 1988 6.2 starts to go- we aren’t pulling that engine until it is fully seized and has a couple rods laying on the ground. Get every last mile out it. Rare, but I have seen condemned engines run for 40,000 miles before actually dying. Most of the time they go about 5,000 miles when getting early warnings like this. But when dealing with a block not most likely to rebuild- might as well drive it unless you are in a dangerous area, or risky health condition.

You are talking about leaky ip- we all are seeing coolant in the oil- not diesel fuel.
And btw- I would be putting in low cost oil not synthetic anything. Yeah- run it for 1,000 miles and spin on new filter. Probably do that for next two thousand miles and would not bother with sampling- this is a condemned engine at this point. Don’t waste money on trying to get longest life from it. Then when you get close to the 3,000 mile level and it’s about time for the next oil change- THEN send in a sample.

Obviously you are watching for any loss of coolant along the way. If you start adding coolant frequently then expect engine death soon.

If money is a situation where you will probably get rid of the rig once engine is gone- or you’re not gonna put a new one in the truck but have to keep this running long as possible at lowest cost possible- then the right answer is pull both heads, new gaskets and diy the brass sleeves. Ignore bottom end keep running it.

260,000 miles on a truck that didn’t get the life extension tactics applied until 200,000 mile mark is not gonna make it to 350,000. Your shooting for 300,000 target. So running say 30,000 miles on bearings half gone- so what. Starts blow by soon- so what.

Other than doing a few oil changes at 1,000 mile mark and adding those tablets at this oil change, I would not spend an extra dime on longevity because it is looking like it is done soon.

If this engine were a candidate for - or you have to make it work because of money- yes do all the testing WarWagon is saying to. Otherwise- meh.

I once had a gm inline 6, 250 cid gasser. Head cracked and was sipping coolant like this 6.5 seems to be doing. I was broke and the roof of that car looked like roof of my home if ya get what I’m saying . I would change the oil at 1,000 miles and kept the old oil in a couple glass pickle jars. Old oil filter stored so it would drain out inside the new filters box. The next month was about 1,000 miles and the coolant separated from the oil. The filter dripped dry. That oil and filter went back in the engine and what came out sat there the next month.
About 8 weeks into this the head crack got bad enough I removed the pushrods to the bad cylinders valves. Dropped the pan and pulled that rod/piston. Popped the pan back on.

Still had to keep cycling to oil because of coolant contamination- which since only 3 months of winter here means cold enough- most the time was just water in the system- not spending money on antifreeze.

No, that engine didn’t make it super long- only about 35,000 miles, and i think I only bought 2 more qts of oil and never another filter. No more spark plugs or anything. Rented mule treatment. But money saved went to a better engine.

In your case the tablets are a worth while gamble. Not much else if ya wanna just push it. If ya wanna tear off heads- don’t buy tablets yet.

I may have screwed up. I had some sort of stop leak from over the counter parts house stuff and added about a half of a bottle of that. Maybe six ounces. Dont rememer the brand. I will go to the Chevy dealer when I get back home and get some tablets, although, i am torn at the tablets or pull the heads. I’ll think on that a while.
I think You are right, about runner till she blows.
I dont know how I can afford and Optimizer at this time in my life but a different truck, as in what @WarWagon mentioned, and I also know from experience, it takes several thousand dollars to make right what some PO or shop has screwed up. Then its steering, suspension, and who knows what else is lacking on making it a worthy unit.
At least this truck I know what it is, I know if I pull that engine, the transmission will get a kit and uprated components.
This is a tough situation that I put myself into, taking out that HELOC to purchase this cabin is a heavy burden.
I am working that weed killer job but the hours are far anf ohew between and so is the paydays. Then the main accounts being the coal reclamation lands and My back sont take that rough of a ride on the four wheelers so that really limits the time I can work that job.
I keep asking around, trying to find some type of employment that would be enjoyable but no one is hiring.
I am thinking I need to jump into the CC and take the CDL drivers class at the local college, then maybe I could get some local driving job that would be a steady income to get worked through these situations.

 

[Twisted Steel Performance]

So, you had 2200 miles on the oil, what oil was this, and did you change filters, what brand filter?

The TBN is way way off from a high quality oil for only 2k miles...

On the thought of rebuild or get rid of.... Used trucks aren't cheap, the way I look at it a quality build will go 200-300k miles with proper service, if the truck itself will last it's a good investment to spend 10k on a motor... To me anyway...

 

[MrMarty51]

So, you had 2200 miles on the oil, what oil was this, and did you change filters, what brand filter?

The TBN is way way off from a high quality oil for only 2k miles...

On the thought of rebuild or get rid of.... Used trucks aren't cheap, the way I look at it a quality build will go 200-300k miles with proper service, if the truck itself will last it's a good investment to spend 10k on a motor... To me anyway...

And the rebuild will be what will need to be done. I’ll do the transmission while I’m at it.
Mobile Delvac 15-40. Dont remember if it is a syn oil.
I have a five gallon bucket left.
The filter is a Mobil 1 302A.
I checked the oil yesterday, 150 miles over to the cabin, the oil level is down near one pint. This engine has never used oil in such quantities. I think I better get rid of this Delvac and get back to Rotella.
I bought this Delvac after the Rotella had gone from the stores. It was still priced at the old prices so I grabbed it not knowing how long before Rotella would reappear.
Rotella is now back on the shelves so I’ll give this delvac to a guy with a truck repair shop and change the oil back to Rotella after I get home.

 

[Twisted Steel Performance]

Take your time and exhaust the options mentioned here, baby it, change the oil as often as needed to make it last as long as possible.
I hate to hear anyone getting further into debt with the way things are going these days, your motor still runs, don't spend what you don't need to, when the time comes several on this forum have found take out motors that were in very good shape.

 

[MrMarty51]

Yes.
I have to get the 59 Power Giants brakes back on and get that out of the shed. The step son bought a 1972 K2500, 454 with a TH400 and 205 T-Case. He asked if I could seal those two units for Him, get that done then I thnk the engine is coming out of this truck. No sense doing some of the work on it and not replace the rear main seal. Hope the cylinders can withstand a set of rings, if that no. 8 aint ate out. If main webs is cracked then cam bushes, rod bearings, gapless rings and fix the heads and back together.
Minimal to get it limping along. Hope to win a lottery, if ever I’d buy a ticket.

 

[MrMarty51]

Got home from the cabin, about 300 mile round trip.
Oil is down over a quart. Engine idles real smooth, Going to see if I can find a compression tester and see what those results brings.
What I did discover after doing a walk around inspection this morning.
From somewheres towards the front of the engine there is a major oil leak. I am suspecting front pan gasket, or, front crank shaft seal. The FCS seal was replaced not all too long ago when I installed the fluid dampener.
The oil pressure is good, about 45PSI at operating temp and on the road.
The blow by is greater than what I care to see.
This is with the CDR disconnected and the CDR blow hole plugged.

And the filler cap will lift some but also there is enough vibration that it will not set there no matter what.

And so at this time, my plan, pull the engine, drop the pan and inspect the block.
No matter what, at least cam bushes and rod bearings with gapless rings.
Tube kits in the heads, valves ground and guides refurbished. Rather they can be replaced I dont know, if not then they will get reamed, new bronze guide tubes and then those reamed to fit the valve stems.
Put it back together and runner till she blows and hope that by then there will be enough money set aside to get one of those ready to drop in units.
Thats about the best I can do for now.
Selling this as is would be pointless, maybe get three thousand for it, add another three thousand to get a fairly decent K1500 or some such then like I told Vicki, spend another $2500.00 to $3,000.00 to get that wehicle dependable and trustworthy.
No matter how good a PO tells a person that a vehicle runs, it will never run to meet my expectations without dumping a bunch into it.
Fix what I have and be happy.