Actually, I have to disagree to a certain point. At the time my son and I were rebuilding his slant six, we had absolutely ZERO experience with auto mechanics. He was 14 years old, and I had never done any major wrenching in my 50 years - nothing beyond your typical water pump, fuel pump, or points replacement.
We took the engine completely apart to see what made it tick, then dropped if off at a machine shop for a going-over. We told the machinist that we wanted to put it back together as a learning experience. All he did was install the valves (even though I also wanted to do that). Imagine Aaron's and my surprise when we picked up the engine from the shop and was handed a box the size of a coffee table full of new rebuild parts - pistons, rings, bearings, etc.
We did not have a clue what to do, but I had already bought a Haynes manual to do the tear-down and it got us completely through the rebuild with what I thought was fairly thorough information. As I recall, there were very few questions left unanswered by Haynes. Aaron now has about 25,000 miles and three years on the rebuild, so I guess we didn't do too badly.
It's like everything else in life, everyone has his preference. Being ignorant at the time, we didn't have a predisposition towards or against Haynes, and to be quite honest, I didn't even know about a Factory Service Manual. I now have one on CD that I refer to occasionally, but even it doesn't answer all my questions.
That's why I come here :toothy7:
Jerry
