I intended to rid myself of my old 216 after I pulled it to make way for a 270 I just spent $3,000 to rebuild. After installing the 270 and running it for 5 or 10 minutes I discovered the re-builder used the wrong main bearings scoring my crank and sending metal shavings throughout the engine. I had to retrieve the 216 from the junk pile out back I had dropped it in. I'm still using that old 216. I no longer throw away old truck parts that might still serve a purpose to someone.
My wife is a very encouraging person. Lately she's been "encouraging" me to reduce my spare parts inventory. Even though I know in my gut that I shouldn't throw away parts.....I've never heard an example as clear and concise as yours. That's a fantastic story. (Except for the part about the $3000 engine that was scattered in 5 minutes).
My retort was something lame like: "they aren't making this stuff anymore." To which she replied, "there's a reason....it's junk." She's not just encouraging....she's also clever.
I robbed an exhaust manifold off spare engine a few months ago when I found my heat riser was hopelessly stuck. That whole engine cost probably 1/3 of what folks are asking on EBay for just the manifold.
