After all that waiting I finally got to make a pass down the track today and something's wrong.

The engine is spewing oil out the right front corner somewhere. I'm guessing maybe a timing cover gasket but it might also be a head gasket.

The engine is also running way too hot. With alcohol, I shouldn't need to turn on the rad fan. At the end of the run the engine was at 230* and it was 180* before the run.

My shift light is set to 6800 rpm. I never saw it come on because the engine was barking way before that. I don't know what the rpms were but I short shifted both gears and still ran 11.599 @ 116.85. 60' time was only 1.665 and the track was very cold and slippery. Not quite what I was expecting but then I wasn't expecting the engine to act up.

The engine still starts and runs fine. Hopefully the oil leak is only a minor problem but it doesn't leak while driving around the pits so it might be hard to find. The overheating needs to be fixed before the next race. I loaded up the car after only one pass, got a full refund for the weekend and brought it home.

I'm suspecting a bad head gasket but there's no oil on the coolent and no coolent in the oil.

 

im thinkin maybe timming cover or oil pan gasket or dip stick tube.

those are the only things i can think of that could be leakig from that side.

 

Sorry to hear the first day was full of trouble Stephen. Hopefully you will have it all sorted out soon. But I guess with a new setup there could be some teething problems.

 

that really blows when you have a bad day at the track! especially after waitng so long. i feel bad for you brother. good luck and thats a very nice car you have when i have more time i'll read more about it.

 

im not trying to be a ***** because for 1. your car is awesome! and 2. 10s are fast as hell....but for an alcohol injected 468 big block, maybe its just me but it seems like it should be quicker? I dont know your exact setup or anything and would kill for you car and motor but I dunno maybe Im just retarded.

 

It's alcohol carbed, not injected. I'd love to run a Ron's toilet injection system some day but $1500 is a little high to go out and get one. If you look at it as compared to buying a Dominator carb, it's about the same price. The best setup would be a tunnel ram and 2 Ron's toilets. www.ronsfuel.com

It could be faster if the car was lighter, headers were bigger, heads were rectangular ports, valves were bigger. There's lots of things to say that will make the car faster. I'm also doing this on a 9" slick.

All the details on my engine/car and racing progress can be found at my web site listed in my sig.

 

I'd guess timing chain cover seal. That's what happened to my '88. Blew every drop of oil I had all down the side of my motor. Only I didn't find mine until it was too late. Either way I hope you find it and get it fixed. Good luck.

 

hope you get that bad boy back up and running great Stephen.

 

It isn't blowing the oil out of the bolt hole on the front of the motor that is usually used to hold the fuel pump pushrod in on assembly is it?There are the two holes right next to the timing cover on the front of the block..on a SB anyway..been awhile since I looked at a BB.I know I had that exact problem on a small block years ago and after changing every gasket I was staring at a friends motor on noticed he had this bolt that I was missing..I put one in any never leaked again.Duh!I could be way off here..but just a thought.

 

The cover seal is dry. All the holes in the front of the block have bolts in them because I use a front motor plate instead of the engine mounts on the side of the block.

The engine is out and sitting on the stand. I have a few tests to do before I strip it down. I'm suspecting either a bad head gasket or possibly a cracked block. What gets me is that the oil and coolent levels are still ok.

I'm more concerned about finding out why it ran hot than locating the oil leak. Everything I did suggests it should have run cool but it didn't so there's something wrong causing it to overheat. Technically it wouldn't take much to fire up the engine on the stand however I doubt my neighbors would appreciate that

 

The engine is mostly disassembled. There is damage but not as bad as the previous blow ups.

It looks like when the right side of the block got frozen during the winter it took out some cylinders. At least #2 and #8 will need sleeves but the other 2 will probably need to be done also. Everything else survived this time.

Cost wise it's probably cheaper to get 4 cylinders sleeved compared to finding another block core, having it line honed, decked and having all 8 cylinders bored out. I would guess sleeving would be around $500. That would be the cost of finding another core alone.

Add in the cost of new gaskets etc. The bearings are still new however now that the engine is apart, I want to change the rings. The ones I originally put in had huge ring gaps. I did a compression test before pulling the engine apart. The highest cylinder was 145 psi. Good for a street engine but low for a race engine.

No big rush putting the engine back together like last year. Now that I have a garage, I can take all the time I want to reassemble. It'll probably take a few weeks anyway to get the parts I want and have the machine work done. I might miss 1/2 the season.

Lets shoot for late July or early August before I get back on track.

 

damnnn man thats rough...ya cant get no luck huh

good luck

 

What you need is a backup engine to run while the big one is on the mend.

I'm sure there are plenty of guys who would donate their unused 305's to your cause...

 

I'm currently searching for another core from a local core supplier. This block isn't repairable because of how the cracks run around the cylinder. He was going to check for just a block, 2 or 4 bolt mains, but I told him if he has a long block with some 781 heads, I'd buy that from him. He hasn't called me back yet but tomorrow I'm going to call again and ask if the long block price is the same if he has one with some rectangular port heads, preferably 990's. Those would go on my future project engine.

Installing a SBC as a backup engine just wouldn't do. There's too much to change back to put a SBC into the car. I may use the old 400 block I have sitting in the garage to build a high rpm 377 engine. With the cam I want to put in it, the red line would be around 8500 rpm. It wouldn't go into this car though. More for a dragster or altered.

 

Any updates?

 

The new engine is sitting in the car. It needs to be all hooked up and tested before I decide to take it to the track. I race again this weekend but will probably just take the 454SS again. Although the truck is slow, only running low 15's, it brings back lots of memories from a few years ago when I raced it. It's nice to make a pass, come back to the pits and not have to even open the hood. I check the weather conditions, update my log and either read a book or wander through the pits looking at other cars.

There's a chance of rain again this weekend anyway.

If all goes well, I "should" have everything together and be able to make some passes on July 1st. If everything works out then, I'll go back to running the car on Sunday races on July 6.

Although I'd like to get that mid 10 second timeslip, I'm in no rush to slap everything together just to get the car back on the track. If there's a failure again, I don't want it to be something I did wrong.

I do have a chance at another block I might put another engine together as a spare but it won't be quite as powerfull as this one. I have almost enough spare parts to build another engine. It could be enough to push the car into the low 12's.

This new block has a lot of potential. It was o-ringed and I now use a copper head gasket. The deck has been clearanced for larger valves. I'm guessing 2.30" with over .750 lift would have no problems. The bottom end has been clearanced for a stroker crank so a 498 is possible with a stroker crank. The engine is 469 now. The water jackets around the bottom of the cylinder walls have been filled. This is a 1973 block and has a high nickle content and thick cylinder walls. It's bored +.070 now and I could take it out to +.125. The block has also been converted to a 4 bolt and I have studs down the center bolts. New main bearings (one failed for some reason and I'm glad I had to tear the engine down because it saved the crank), new rings all file fitted to .020"

If I got my butt in gear I could get everything hooked up in about 3-5 hours and see if it fires up.

Trust me, when I finally get that 10 second timeslip, everyone who reads this racing forum will know about it Don't forget, I'm also trying for a 10 second time slip at altitude. Not as bad as Bandimere but so far every race this year has been around 5000 feet density altitude. Theoretically if I can get mid 10's, that would be the same as running a high 9 at sea level and I still only use a 9" slick!

 

Sorry to hear that and that I can't help, but I just wanted to say 1)i have alot of respect for any fast car that is built using alot of time, but not necessarily a ton of money.. but what's more impressive is one that does it on skinny tires. Which class are the cars in that run 10" DR's, but still manage to lay down 8 or 9 second passes? Very impressive.

Anyhow, enough useless commentary.

Stephen, a long time ago, probably 2 years or so, you posted an article that thoroughly explained the difference in hp and torque.. you wouldn't still have it or know where I could find it do you?

 

Go to my web site and click on "tech tips" There's lots of racing articles posted on various subjects. I'm sure what you're looking for is one of the ones posted.

There's nothing saying I have to run a 9" slick. It just happens to be what I bought because it fits better. When I finally burn these off, I'll upgrade to a 29x10" and do a little sheet metal work to get them to fit. I'd love to squeeze a 12" inside the fenders but that would mean a lot of inner fender fabrication work to get them in. In the NHRA, the only class that demands a tire size is Stock and SuperStock. Maximum tire size is 30x9 for Stock. SuperStock is allowed up to 33x14.5. All other classes, it's pretty well unlimited. IHRA has some wierd classes that have limited tire sizes. So does the National Muscle Car Assiciation. That's also wherer they have crate engine classes.

The wider tire helps in consistancy since it reduces wheel spin. The trick is to squeeze the tallest tire possible inside the fenders then adjust the diff gears to compensate for the taller tire. Width only needs to increase when HP goes up considerably. A taller tire makes a longer footprint on the ground. That gives better dragstrip traction than an equally sized footprint from a wide tire.