Next I tore the engine down and inspected it as it had a "tic" in the valvetrain that I heard when I did a preauction inspection. I knew something wasn't right, but wasn't as concerned as I knew I would be doing a basic rebuild anyway. I sent the block and crank out to the machinist and the tranny to the tranny shop to get new clutches and the tail converted to 2WD from the tail and housing for AWD.
Sorry no pics of the tear down as I was in a hurry to get it to the machinist. The tic was from a lifter that looked like it wasn't pumping up fully and was galling the lobe. But, all is not lost. I promised the boss it would go back stock. No wild or loud engine with an aggressive cam. This gave the excuse I needed to put a mild cam in it form Texas Speed. A win for the little man!
You can't really see it in the picture behind the engine, but that is the radiator from the caddy. I built a rolling test stand for the engine/tranny/radiator/exhaust so that I can hook the ECU and harness to it and check the initial fire up and tune without it being in the truck.