[BDH79TA]

So I read a thread today talking about cobbled together engines and it reminded me of a time in my life. Mid 90s. I saw a 1978 Solar Gold TA parked in the back of a rinky dink buy here pay here lot. I passed that car going to work for several weeks. I finally decided to stop and check it out. It was rough and had been through a lot. After messing with vacuum lines and plug wire routing I was able to get it to fire up. That knock I heard ended up NOT being a cracked flex plate. Spun rod bearing. Anyway, I traded a 1980 Olds Omega straight across and limped it home.

Once I found out it was actually a spun rod I yanked the engine and sent it to the machine shop. Unfortunately the car soon had to fill the position of DD and with a wife and 2 kids money was limited. I found a 400 in the paper...no real internet yet. It was sitting on a tire in the back yard covered with some heavy plastic. The guy had pulled it complete by cutting the starter wires, etc. To show it wasn't locked up he pulled the battery out of his truck, grounded a wire, touched the hot to the battery and it shot water out of the exhaust! Well......it's not locked up. He had a P4B intake, a couple of carbs and for the $200 he wanted I figured I could recoup most of it if it was shot.

I brought that engine home and tore it down. As I said, money was tight. I did a light hone, reused the gmm400 stamped bearings, pistons, rings, oil pump and timing chain. It got a new cam and lifters and a full gasket set. That's pretty much it. It was only going to be a temporary engine anyway. Right? 2 months later I'm going through a divorce and couldn't afford to pay for the engine in the machine shop. I drove that car for more than 4 years. The only issue I ever had was that I'd have to remove the number 1 plug once or twice a year and clean off the oil fouled build up.

I've been working on my current project for 15 years now and not driven it down the driveway. I got a lot of joy out of that pieced together POS and sometimes wonder if it's really worth all the money and effort. I'm sure once I turn the key and take that first drive those doubts will disappear. Anyway, that's just a fond memory of a time with one of my Pontiacs.