I sympathize, it's a tough decision.  If it could be put on the
road for less $$$, then I'd keep driving it.  Another option might
be to do a 5.0 Ford conversion.  If it were my 960, and I didn't
worry about having to have it fixed ASAP so I could drive it to work
then I'd consider something like that.  I think the company is
Converse that makes parts to help.

I'll take that bet!!!

Seriously, I do not have the tools, the time, or the talent to swap out
an engine.  This would be soooo far beyond anything that I am capable
of doing.

-Zag

I spoke with my mechanic today and he said that the clips holding the
piston to the connecting rod had broken off.  This evidently caused
large/deep gouges in the cylinder wall (from the piston hitting the
wall, I guess).  He said he had never seen this happen before.  He does
not think it is due to coolant leaking into the engine but can't really
give me a good explanation of how this occurred.

The sequence of events went something like this:
1)  Noticed slow coolant leak.  The resevoir tank would drop down to
the min position.  No pools under the car, no clear indication that
coolant was leaking into either the engine or transmission.  Heating
coil was not affected.  Filled the resevoir tank and about 4 days later
noticed the same thing.

2)  Took car to mechanic #1.  He performed a pressure check and
replaced the thermostat/housing and sent me on my way.

3)  4-5 days later, the coolant light comes on and the resevoir is back
down to "min".  I take it back to mechanic #1 and he does a pressure
test overnight and also does a compression test.  He says that
everything is ok and there might be an air bubble in the coolant system
(which makes no sense to me).  He tells me there is a chance that the
gasket has a small leak but it will cost over 2K to replace it.  I
decide to take it to another shop to get a second opinion.

4)  Next day, my wife is driving the car home and tells me that it is
shaking.  I check it out and it is idling very rough.  I have an
appointment to take it to another shop in a couple of days so I just
let the car sit in my driveway until then.

5)  I take it to the other shop.  They tell me that the first thing
they did was a compression test and there was no compression on cyl #5.
OK, that explains why the car is shaking.  They open up the engine and
find that the cylinder has been gouged and the pins/clamps holding the
piston to the connector rod have failed.  Again, they say that they
have never seen this and "it shouldn't happen."

6)  Result is a new engine.  Evidently the gouges are really deep and
cannot be machined out.  I am going to the shop on Friday and see
exactly what they are talking about.

I don't think it was the timing belt as I am pretty careful about
having the scheduled maintenance and I believe that it was done not
that long aog.  Anyway, the second mechanic checked that and didn't
note any problem there.

Well, that's my whole sad story and I hope can learn something by it.

-Zag