The car broke down...please let it be a cheap fix!

About a year ago my Suburban started to run really rough.  We could not figure out what was wrong with it so we took it to the mechanic.  $350.00 later we found out that there was a small leak and antifreeze was getting into the 6^th cylinder and fouling the spark plug.  He switched out the spark plug and it ran great again.  I told this to my mechanic brother Adam and he said lets change the head gaskets and rebuild the engine so it does not do that anymore.  I was totally happy changing the spark plug every 6 months.  He has been very persistent in this quest so this last week we had time and he came up with his daughter while his wife was at girls camp.  He got to my place and recruited my son Mayson as an assistant and proceeded to tear down the engine in my driveway.  He brought every tool under the sun with him generators, air compressors, and boxes and boxes of specialty tools designed to take out 1 bolt in a specific spot on a specific engine.  Oil stains, plastic bags and lots of little parts began to pile up in the drive way. 

I am not a complete novice when it comes to mechanical work.  The one thing I know really well is I don’t like doing it.  Nothing quite like cracking your knuckles on a wrench under the hood of a car on your only day off, that makes the weekend really sweet.  Doing basic maintenance like the plugs, filters and fluids is easy (I still hate doing it).  I can even change starters, alternators, fuel pumps, breaks, water pumps and some vacuum parts, pretty much the stuff that bolts to the outside of an engine.  I have never torn into the engine its self.  When that is needed it is time to buy a new car.  However this no man’s land in my paradigm is a place Adam is quite comfortable (he is a helicopter mechanic in his day job). Things were going great he would have even been done earlier than expected if weren’t for a crack in the intake manifold.  For those of you less auto savvy this is a really bad thing.  Now we he gets to take the engine  apart again and either find a welder to repair the crack or somehow find a new part today so he can go home before his wife gets done with girls camp. 

Don’t worry Adam I am behind you all the way!  I am sure you will get it done, this being the only vehicle we have that can haul my entire family.  Nothing quite like making 2 trips to church to get everyone there.  I did take a few pictures of their adventures.

Here is my Brother Adam with what used to be my Suburban engine.  But now to the untrained is a dirty mess. 

This is Mayson and putting new seals on a the valves.  After being showed how to do it he changed out both heads.

There should be more parts there.  This is not a great photo but if you look you can see the exposed pistons.  Not my idea of a good time.