I will definitely be checking out the balancer when the time comes. I have yet to drop a timing light onto it because there were some many things a miss with it. But I did read a member post about how the balancers are bonded and with age they start to "slip". Purchasing a new one might be worth avoiding that aggravation, for sure.
I've started the process of an emissions delete. I have watched the ******* video about routing coolant hoses and what not. It all seems pretty straight forward, a little tedious, but worth it in the long run. There are also a number of awesome picture filled threads to guide me through this as well. I'm impressed by the goodness found within this forum. I was considering replacing the BPT but so many pieces to the emissions puzzle are missing from the engine it would be more trouble than its worth to track it all down. So, after pulling the intake I have capped the egr tube input on the plenum side and on the exhaust manifold too. Now to re-route a little of this and that!
The previous owner said that he had someone clean his injectors. I do not know who they were but I would not let them near any vehicle, ever. There were so many loose hose clamps and missing vacuum lines on the poor engine I'm amazed I was able to get it started at all. Between all the unmetered, escaping and miss directed air getting into and escaping from the intake, I can only think that the old fella was just happy to get some decent attention and wanted to prove itself worthy of the time spend.
Oil pressure is excellent and no odd noises from the valve train. I've discovered multiple leaks in a very punky radiator and the coolant temp gauge just sits flat even after 5 mins of attempted idle in the garage. All this is an early assessment of course, but I'm optimistic of the final outcome.
