Hi all,

So it looks like I need to do the HG on my 88 22re. All the signs are there - bad unsteady idle, coolant overflow when rad cap is off and engine revved, coolant smell under hood, and finally, in the last couple of days, white smoke/steam out of the tailpipe for first ten minutes or so of driving. I haven't done a compression test but that white smoke couldn't be anything else.

Sooo, I'm wondering what the most cost effective way of doing this is. Once I pull the head, if it passes the tests for straightness am I good to just install the new gasket? Or should I take it to a machine shop to get some work done? I see rebuilt heads on ebay shipped for 200 bucks. Is this the cheap way to go? If I don't have the block and head resurfaced (which seems expensive...) am I just asking for premature HG failure?

This truck is at 200k and I'm sure a complete rebuild would do it some good, but I don't think I can afford to have the block worked on. I just want it to run reliably for now.

Lastly, if I do have machine work done, can anyone recommend someone in the northern Colorado area?

Any and all advice is much appreciated,

andy