Sigh...
Well crap, this is the gift that keeps on giving.
Dropped the pan and found all sorts of chunks O Lifter in the bottom but no apparent damage. Until I ran my finger down in the broken lifter bore... Really rough and a good lifter won't go down it. Lifting the car this is what I see from the bottom:
You can't really see the scoring but the bottom part of the bore is pretty chewed up. Don't know if this can be saved or not but I doubt it without some heavy duty machine work. I could hone the bore but I expect the lifter would wobble and soon wipe the cam lobe.
Given everything else I'm leaning hard toward just buying a rebuilt, warrantied long block 292 and be done with it.
Ya pays for your education one way or the other. I've now learned that you ALWAYS need to replace the aluminum cam gear when you replace the cam because the press fit has to be tight enough not to let the cam slide backward. If I had drilled and tapped the cam for a bolt I'd have been OK.
Any thoughts and comments appreciated.
