Note: Need to rant here for just a bit.
It's possible that lack of knowledge about this type of engine plus expecting the worst plus being a truely evil man in a past life may have caught up with me again.
I posted before about rebuilding this particular engine due to a no-warning rod knock but after getting the thing on my work table and starting to take it apart I found something.
One of the lifters has a plunger that's stuck down all the way on the #6 cylinder and I'm starting to think this may have been what I thought was a rod knock.
It was a solid sound like a spun or stacked bearing causing the piston to hit the head but after removing the heads I'm not seeing any evidence of the pistons ever having touched anything.
The cylinder bores don't even have the slightest trace of a ring ridge so I probably just did a lot of work for nothing but the only way I'll know for sure is to pull the rod caps and check.
Since I've already got the engine down this far and it's got almost 144k miles on it I may as well go ahead and rebuild it instead of just repairing what's wrong.
While it's possible that there isn't a rod knocking at all, I know my luck and frankly, I don't like the odds if I don't go ahead and take it apart.
OK, thanks for letting me vent, I'll go get a broom and sweep up the mess now.

Jim

In my opinion you're better off going ahead and rebuilding it now, no point in tearing it down twice. My ex-boss once bought an LS7 crate engine to replace an LS6 in his '57 Chevy, and found a finger sized piece of casting sitting in the lifter galley. Since the plan was to run nitrous, he sent the engine out to the machine shop for a thorough going over. Better safe than sorry...

Agreed since I definately don't want to have to pull the engine again any time soon.
It could still be a rod knock even though the evidence so far is casting doubts on that.
I'm starting to think maybe trading the car for a one eyed, three legged, deaf mule might be the way to go.
The mule couldn't cost much more to work on and if it dies on me I can at least eat it.

Jim

With that many miles on the motor rebuilding it would be the best option. I'm sure the bottom end isn't as tight as it was the day it left the assembly line. I'm amazed that there was no ring ridge though, the oil must have been changed quite regularly. Are you the original owner?

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The car is a locally bought, adult owned, one owner, I'm the second owner.
When I bought the car from the original owner she gave me a packet of service records that looked like an unabridged dictionary dating back to when the car was new.
Reading through them it looks like she was having the oil changed at the dealer's service dept. every 2500 to 3000 miles whether it needed it or not and talking to her son he said if the car so much a coughed she'd take it in to have it checked.
The lady is in her early to mid 60's and she decided to buy herself a new car.
The local Toyota dealer wasn't going to allow her much on the GP as a trade-in so her son talked her into selling it outright since the dealer would most likely just jack up the price of the Solara to cover what he allowed on the trade-in.
I gave 3k for the car which was probably too much but till the problem with the engine, everything on the car works.
Other than a few stone chips in the paint and a couple of small parking lot dings, the car is solid and tight and is an absolute blast to drive.

Jim