I didn't see a need to compression test it before I started pulling it out. The sound and the violent shaking was enough to tell me it was something at least somewhat catastrophic.
I've got the transmission and transfer case on the ground and finally have everything on the engine disconnected. I'm hoping to be able to pull it out tomorrow, assuming I can find a good spot to put a chain without having to take a bunch more off the top end.
As for plans...I started pulling it out with the express intention of a full build, up to my budget of around $15k. Thinking fingers pistons, carillos, studs, turbo, and injectors. But that leaves me no room for contingencies. I'm also considering buying the built long block in the garage sale, but I'm waiting until I find out what the real damage in mine is.
The truck is a daily driver, with very occaisional towing duty. I moved from Alaska to New Jersey, towing a 52' trailer at a touch over 31k CGVW. Made it through the mountains in AK and Canada, across the Rockies, and up and down Raton Pass. Motor gave way on flat ground in Texas. Truck has 130k miles, been tuned at 490rwhp since around 30k miles, and never had a hiccup. I figured 100k miles at that power level, and towing as heavy as I've sometimes towed (29k total weight from GA to AK, for instance) something was bound to turn loose one day. I was just lucky that I'd been setting aside for a performance build for a little while. I was hoping to continue saving for another couple of years and really go full-tilt, but such is life.
Now that I'm into the truck, I'm kind of going back and forth between the performance build, or a really mild, much cheaper engine rebuild and doing some aesthetic mods with the rest of the cash. I guess once i see what the real damage is tomorrow (hopefully) I'll finally make up my mind what I'm going to do with the engine and start ordering parts.
As for the 4094, honestly, the main reason I wanted to go with it is it's a drop in replacement, and--from what I remember a few years ago when I was really heavy into reading the forums for performance info--the 4094 was the hot ticket for a while.
I'm usually one to research something ad nauseum and build a solid plan before laying out the cash. This failure just accelerated my timeline and cut out my planning/research phase.
