Re: 4.3 rebuild vs replace with reman.
I am not a believer in reman stuff. Go ahead flame away but the reason why these companies offer a guarantee is because they know that some tolerance or goof is going to stack up and eventually cause an issue with the lack of QA. They have an insurance carrier for this risk as well. Also, working long distance with reman companies is not fun with the ?I?ll send you mine if you send me yours? thing. Find a ?local? engine machine shop that is reputable and go talk to them about what your situation is and costs (some shops will even show you around if you show up at the ?right time?). Look at their work going out the door too. If they do not want to talk and answer your questions, then go elsewhere.
I do not know your skill set or tools, so I do not know if you are capable of removing the engine and disassembling/assembling it yourself to get it ready for the machine shop.
I used to work for a very good machine shop and we would get the ?reman? engines (mostly marine) with issues. We would take them apart and I can write a book on what I have seen. The list goes on, rods in backward, pistons mismatched, deck-heights wrong, rings lined up, different head gaskets, oil pickups loose, cylinder walls you could file your nails on. The list goes on. I am not trying to scare you here but be careful of reman stuff. This is my opinion and I speak from experience and not hearsay. I assemble all my own engines (always have since I was 16) and check every clearance there is to check (no not plasti-gauge). The machine shop I currently use is dead on with everything they do as I recheck it and check it again.
