Thread: Running on 7 cylinders temporarily?

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I bought a 91 Chevy school bus (G30 van chassis) with a 5.7 sbc for $1 on a whim. Owner said it didn't start but had no other information on it, and just wanted to get rid of it.

After a little investigation, it looks like there's something just barely poking through the oil pan, leading me to assume that a rod snapped. Haven't pulled the pan yet, but my dad and I were thinking that we could conceivably remove the remains of the con rod as much as possible, disable the valves/spark plug for that cylinder, and try to limp it home.

This would only be temporary, we just need it to limp back home (about 20 freeway miles) where we can work on either fitting it with another engine or scrapping it.

Assuming the crank isn't too FUBAR, does this seem like something that could work just enough to get is home?

You cannot just remove the rod....that would create a massive oil
leak inside the engine. Some people have taken two rod caps and
bolted them together (with bearings of course) to create a circle
around that area of the crank.

Take out the two push rods for that cylinder. Disconnect the plug wire
or disable the spark plug by closing the gap.

valves will not open on that cyl, piston is gone, no spark

or use a tow rope