At about the 1000' mark, something let go and I oiled down the top end of the track before I was able to shut it down. There's a hole in the side of the oil pan in front of the starter.

Good news is, the engine still runs but has a very bad vibration but at this time I don't know the extent of the damage.

No more racing for this weekend. I really doubt I can make the June 17/18 race. 3 race days in July will depend on how much work needs to be done. If it's bad enough to need a bunch of parts and machine work, it could be hard to get it done before the end of the season.

Time to buy a street car and run 16's

 

Damn sorry to hear that. Any chance for pics?

Hope it's minor and doesn't need alot of work.

 

damn sorry to hear about the damage...

just pick up a good L98 daily driver and run low 14's with slicks and converter

 

The valve train is fine. All the spark plugs are fine. The cooling system is still full and has pressure when I took the rad cap off. Pulling the intake finds chunks of cast iron and aluminum in the lifter valley. I can see a big hole under the camshaft between cylinder 7 and 8. Hard to say if the block can be saved or not at this time. I still don't know what the bottom end looks like. I doubt I can get back on track this year. Looks like another short season. I'm not racing my truck this year.

Simplest fix may be to sleeve 2 cylinders. Worst case is that the block is beyond repair and will need to be replaced. At least the currency exchange is getting better. For the cost of a new block plus all the extras such as machine work, it can be more economical to spend money to fix it if possible.

Nothing can be easily photographed yet. It's hard enough to see the hole under the camshaft.

 

Man, sorry to hear that. Thats a real bummer. Sounds like you "broke it like a man", with the chunks in the lifter valley and all. It would be bad, but, not as bad, if it let go at the end of the season.

 

Man that sucks Stephen. You are having terrible luck lately. Hopefully when you get it apart the damage isn't really horrible.

 

I've been pondering a new car name all last night. I originally went with "Quicksilver" when I saw the name on a tractor trailer as two words and thought it would make a nice race car name. The name "Hexed" may be a better choice. It would be a good excuse to paint Elvira on the side of the car or on the scoop.


Engine is still in the car and the heads are off. I can see where the extra weight came from over the winter. My race exhaust is heavy but I was able to lift the heads off the engine with one hand There's some intake valve marks on the top of pistons 4 and 6. Lots of marks on top of piston 8. Piston 8 is near the top of the cylinder and I was able to push it down when I was whiping it off. The head has a few hit marks on cylinder 8 but the head itself can be easily cleaned up with a die grinder. #8 intake isn't closed so it must be bent but if you look at the pictures, the exhaust valve took the beating. Must be those Ferrea valves. The Manley valves in my old heads would have broken off and destroyed the piston and head. I wonder how easy it is to get those as replacements? Except for the known rod damage, it looks like I may have floated the valves. Time to put some monster springs in the heads among other repairs. I can see this isn't going to be a cheap fix (again).

Once I pull the engine and take the pan off later today, the rest of the damage can be seen. Right now I have other things that need to get done.

 

Real sorry to hear about your bad luck -I know how that would feel if it happened to me...
Have not gotten a chance to get back to track - rain every day here in Pittsburgh!!
Maybe this wed.. but they never prep track on TnTs.....And calling for rain already!!

Anyway I may help, let me know.. may have something you need..

 

I looked at my SFI stuff to see what I should sell. My harness expires in May 2007. I can't see me getting back on track this year. I should sell it to make some money back. If I do get back on track I can always buy a new harness with a new date. All my other SFI stuff that has an expiry date is good to 2008 and 2009.

We've been lucky weather wise so far this year. Season opener for the oval track was last weekend with rain. Both our weekends so far have been very good weather. Yesterday's density altitude was about 5200 feet and I think today only got to 4600 feet. Anything under 5000 feet here is good air.

 

sorry to hear it broke again. doesn't sound like you've had much luck with these combos over the past few years.

 

Sorry about your bad luck with the car