The original engines were the normal chevy orange. The gray engines were rebuilds. Very few of the trucks still had their first engine in them...it was a lot of weight to move for a 350, even more so if it had a van body.
The trucks were even harder on transmissions, and pretty much all of them got a transfer case as the chains stretched. Towards the end, the transmissions were notorious for cracking. Not sure if that was due to metal fatigue or poor mounts, but it happened a lot.
I think the engines were being rebuilt by Western rebuilders towards the end. The gearboxes and axle assemblies were rebuilt by Westrans out of Winnipeg.
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