I'm with you there Graeme, it's hard to find a good one.
At the end of the day my engine was well rooted for whatever reason, it appears these engines have a long history of destroying themselves.
I didn't even bother with a Holden dealer apart from getting a price on a new crated engine and that coupled with the cost of a clutch & labor was way out of the park.
The guy who did my " Fully Reco'd ' engine was recomended to me by a mate who is in the trade and does a fair bit of offroad racing. His explanation rang true to me as I had a cat disintegrate on our way back from holidays on the far south coast just over 12 months before and prior to that, no problems at all.
After exploring every avenue of repair this was the least inconvenient option and I had my truck back in 2 working days.
All this discussion & opinions is doing my head in wondering if I did the right thing and I'm on the verge of removing this thread, but I risk getting bagged
Thanks for all your input anyway guy's.
Maybe after this we can try to solve the Middle East problems.