Yeah that did bother me a bit, it was not steaming hard, I ran out of coolant mix, so it was pulling plain water from the overflow, maybe that and the fact it went a tad over 225F for 2-3 minutes..
I think it did hit 245F at the last mile, but it did not stay that hot for long..
I read these motors can run hot for a good while before damaging the heads...

Ouch 245, I wouldn't let it get there. They are on the more resilient end of the spectrum, but I wouldn't push it.

Yeah I'd have stopped, but I was right down the road from the place, it did not stay hot too long, so I think it is ok.
I would have felt better had it stayed 225F and below, but I really was close to the place, so I took a chance.
Since I seen how fast it does heat up like that, I doubt I'll ever risk it like that again.

Mechanic called me this morning, said it was leaking coolant from the timing chain cover gasket.
He gave me a decent quote with all the fluids replaced, we were around 750 or 800, I asked about my intermediate shaft that I bought per the old TSB they had, he said yeah I worked for GM for 15 years, I rememebr that TSB, and he mentioned the changes they made back and forth, which I also know about, so he knows his GM vehicles, that makes me happy, lol
I had planned to get my front end checked out due to play which I thought were tie rods and sway bars, never mentioned that to him, but he was like oh by the way, you have a lot of play in the tie rods...
So now for 850.00 total he is going to do the Gasket job, replace timing chain, sprockets, dampener.., replace the intermediate shaft, tie rods, and all fluids for 875.00
Not too bad, for the gasket alone my old mechanic would have wanted a good grand...

Overall considering the total amount of work ahead, that is a pretty good deal William.
A 15 year experienced GM mechanic too boot !
I'd address the tie rods, get an alignment when you can.
When do you expect to get the car back?

Yea I am happy with the amount he is charging me, and how good he seems to be, I now have a new mechanic, and have already recommended him to a friend.

That is a good bit of work, parts I provided are only the timing chain, and the intermediate shaft.
He is getting the sprockets, dampener, tie rods, gaskets and fluids.
He is replacing the tie rods and getting it aligned for me before I pick it up.
He said it would be ready sometime Wednesday afternoon.

I am really happy because I did not know he could fix the tire leaking at the bead/rim, so I was going to take it to a tire shop later on, then I planned to go pay somebody to diagnose my front end issue since I just could not find time, but he diagnose the issue for free, and it was one of the part I figured it would be, I just hope he uses AC Delco ones, I should have told him I'd pay a lil extra for the best parts, I don't like no cheap crap on my baby, lol

Now when I get her back since I saved so much on the tie rods and all,, I can drop another 250.00 on the audio, I need a decent 2 channel AMP for my Rockford Fosgate 6x9'*, they push up to 150W...
That will put me at 2,000.00 on the system upgrade, only other penny I will spend on that is to eventually add sound deadening to stop any vibrating areas, and maybe on my doors to cut down on the itty bitty bit of road noise...
Not that I can hear it when I turn my radio up, lol

Good call on the timing cover!

Odds of that are so slim you should go play the lottery now.

Sounds like you found one of the few remaining real mechanics out there. They are becoming rare.

I was really hoping I was wrong, but I knew what all I had done to the car, and there was not much left to be able to leak, sucks that I spent 210.00 paying the old mechanic 50$ to diagnose a water-pump that was fine, if he pressure tested it he should have seen it was not coming from the pump at all, and then the new one I bout to replace a fine/working old one was 160.00 total...
The same mechanic had the nerve to tell me he'd call me back in 15mins when I called for a estimate on the timing cover gasket job, and then never called me back, hell the Buick dealership did the same thing, which was a blessing in the end.
Dude had me when I told him the make and model, and that I had a coolant leak, he straight said "leaking from the timing chain cover" and I was like this guy knows his ****.
Then how well he diagnosed and noticed stuff, and hos prices are agreeable, yeah man I lucked up for sure, I still plan to do a lot of my work myself, I love getting my hands greasy, and busting up a knuckle or two, putting that love into your own car feels great, just there are times where I may not make as much at work daily as I am paying out, but I cannot always do jobs on the weekends, and I def cannot always take days off, eventually I use up all my PTO or Vacation time and then I lose my job, lol
This garage stay may have cost me almost 2 weeks pay unless I work overtime, but it was well worth it.

Got my baby back, she drives a lot better with the new tie rods and alignment.
I misheard him, the price was 1087.12, still not too bad considering all he did, he showed me the dampener for the timing chain, it was pitted a bit, so he replaced it for me, only thing is he forgot to put my intermediate shaft in, he said he was sorry he forgot, he said bring it back by in a few days and he'd put it in for me.

He told me he saw a small leak with my rack, which I knew about, and one day planned to replace the whole rack, but it is a tiny leak so it can wait, he also noticed a little hole in one boot over a drive shaft..
But he said overall everything else looked good.
He told me if I ever wanted to sell it he'd like to buy it, lol
I told him how much I love it and how long I searched for it, he said yeah she has one of the best push rod motors you can get..
I did hear a belt a tad squeaky at first, prob had a lil fluid on it, they are fairly new...
I still have a tiny bit of vibration when I break, probably the rotors got some LRO from the old/bad tie rods...

That is great you now have it back! That is a lot of work done. Your have been dropping some serious$ on your ride!, New Lighting, stereo ++
I don't blame him for wanting to buy it from you!
And William is saying not a chance, you can forget about it, it'* mine!