NOT Good....

I know I joke alot about how miserable my experience has been building my car, but I wonder if I'm getting a sign or something.....

I pop off the valve covers to install a new set of Crane 1.5 rollers I got a deal on. I start to pull off the rocker shaft and notice a loose valve; cylinder #1 intake. Hmmm.... I pull off the rockers on both sides and start checking lifters with the push rods. All are rock-solid except for #1 intake. I snake a wire down the push rod hole and manage to pop out the lifter, grab it with a pair of long needle-nose pliers & pull it out through the opening in the head. The bottom of the lifter is gone...... worn throught to the oil passage. I see lots of very fine metal particles in the oil on the inside of the head. I slid a small metal tube down to ride on the cam lobe, mark it, and start rotating the motor. It doesn't move......the lobe appears to be gone.

A little back ground on myself . I'm an ASE certified Master Tech. I worked for Porsche-Audi for 10 yrs, spent 10 yrs. with Infiniti, and have spent the last 4 yrs. with Nissan. I know my way around a car. I'm just not familar with all the muscle car goodies I've been throwing at my car. Fuel injection I know, a Holley is a foriegn thing to me.... I know how to adjust valves, break in a motor, and NOT over-adjust a valve at the wrong point on the cam lobe. I'm looking at a major headach here and I have to wonder if this is a sign to forget about this car and move on. I'm into it for my lungs as everything is brand new where it doesn't show. Suspension, brakes, steering, motor, trans, etc..... I think I might cut my losses and sell it. I just spent a few hundred dollars this afternoon only to find out that I have to spend almost another deuce.

Any advice? I don't drink, so rule that suggestion out. I'm too tired to go for a bike ride to burn off the depression. And I'd have to bother a few too many people to find something to stuff in my old bong...... It's that bad. :pale:

Yeah, I'm pissed.