[BodybyFisher]

Kevin (KHE) is our first member inducted into the Caddyinfo Hall of Fame. Kevin found this car on ebay with Ted's help if I recall, he drove a long distance to get it, flat bedded it home and promptly timeserted it. I recall being impressed with his speed, determination and lack of problems throughout the job.

Kevin is a no nonsense type of guy who stays on point and is always quick to respond with focused and accurate information and help. He is an air conditioning expert and from what I can see an experienced and knowledgable mechainc.

Congratulations Kevin on being our first inductee, here are Kevin's impressions of the job and links:

Type of repair or procedure: Timesert/Head gaskets
Dropped Carriage? How? Removed engine from the top.
Did a head gasket/timesert with the engine in car? No.
Did you Lift the body? How? No.
Case-half seals also? No - that was done on a previous repair prior to me buying the car.
Have a lift? Not a vehicle lift - just an engine hoist.
Anyone help? No
Estimated cost? $800 - $1000
Special tools? Timesert kit
What is your mechanical experience? I'm not afraid to do any type of job.
Can a DIYer do this? Absolutely - as long as they have the proper tools and the the ability to follow the proper procedures in the shop manual.
What was the hardest part of this job? Removing the flexplate to torque converter bolts. Removing the heads while fighting broken Timeserts is a close second.
How many miles since you did the job? 39,000
Did you replace anything else "as long as you were there?" The HVAC case.
What do you regret doing or not doing? Not replacing the first generation blower motor - it failed a year and a half later. It would have been a piece of cake to replace it with the engine out.
How is your Cadillac running now? Perfectly fine.

I developed some unique combinations of cuss words... Bourbon, gin, scotch helped calm the situation... Actually, it wasn't that bad of a job - following the service manual to the letter was key to success.

Here is the link to my trip to pick up my '97 STS that had blown head gaskets.

http://caddyinfo.ipb...?showtopic=8917

Next is the link to the engine repair thread.

http://caddyinfo.ipb...?showtopic=9085

I bought the car with 105,000 miles on it and it now has 144,000 miles on it and performs flawlessly. A very fun car to drive

Kevin added these comments:
Just to add - my project was very gratifying - I had fun and I learned a lot. It gave me a great deal of satisfaction repairing my car myself as well as appreciating the engineering that went into the development of the Northstar engine