Quick update- Cleaned everything up, put the bed back on, looped the trans cooler lines for now, put it back out front. Still have a few small things to deal with.

Since UPS lost the Koni shocks, I'm borrowing a set of rears from another racer, and bought his old fronts. I'll slap them on tomorrow, then see what's on the docket for the weekend. Trying to hit a race on Saturday night.

While I had the bed off, I went ahead and lifted the cab as well and removed the factory fuel and EVAP lines.

 

I'm just gonna lump a pile of photos here...don't feel like writing a long story. Yo neccesito dormir.

 

So after our last race in May, we found some aluminum in the oil filter. We pulled the pan off but couldn't find anything obvious. Since we had 35 runs or so on the rod bearings, we went ahead and put new ones in. The old ones had some funny wear patterns.

We make the first qualifying run on Friday night, it's set up on about a 3.90 run but only goes 3.98 . Get back and pull the onboard data recorder data, we left with about 20 pounds of boost (down from 24 nominal) and by the end of the track it was down to 12 pounds. The oil sump catch can also had a bunch of fuel in it. We thought we'd broke the blower or lost the strip seals, so we pulled the injector hat off but couldn't find anything. We took a huge amount of fuel away for Q2 thinking maybe we washed the piston rings out, hoping we hadn't pushed an intake gasket.

Go up for Q2 and the car rolls deep in the beam when dad applied the transbrake (implies something hydraulically failed in the reverse clutch of the transmission), it leaves okay, then right after the shift I hear a loud bang and it goes quiet. I thought maybe we popped the burst panel.

We get back and start troubleshooting, and the starter refuses to turn the engine over. So we think it's battery. Check it out, everything is good. Then take the turning bar and try to turn the engine over by hand...nada. 4 foot bar and it's not even budging. So we know the crank is broke, so we packed up and came home.

The best thing we ever did was add 4 LED's to the rig, wired to reverse lights. One inside each dually fender and 2 on the back of the trailer. It brightens up the driveway just enough to make the turn without falling in the ditch.

We went into the race #2 in points. Two of the top 4 did not come to this race, they went to the NHRA race in Oklahoma city. By showing up, we inherited the points lead, and the other car in the top 4 became #2, 30 points behind us. After we broke, we figured he would inherit the points lead (20 points per round win), but right before we left, he came over and said he wiped out a lifter, pushrod, rocker, and possibly cam. He was set up 3.90 to match us, and went 4.11.

So as of right now, we have a 30ish point lead over him, then another 20 back to #3 and 25 or so more to #4.

The next race is in St. Louis in a couple weeks. We're not sure what we are going to do yet to try and get this championship. We really need the show-up points and some round points.

We have the bracket 565 on a stand that could go in, but we have to fix the transmission and find a set of 4.30 gears. That engine won't tow the 3.70's. Even then it may not qualify.

We got up Saturday morning, pulled the pan off, and found the break behind the #1 main. We had to use a cutting wheel to un-wedge the crank so that we could turn it enough to get the converter bolts out. We pulled the blower off and dropped the trans out, called it a day, and headed to the track.

Our friend showed up in his procharged dragster, so we helped him. It just so happens the qualifying sheet ended up that he had us first round, which was a competition bye, then second round would be a ladder bye. So our friend ended up in the Semi's, where laid down a dead-on run to get into the final. In the final he ran 4.087 on a 4.09 dial while the other lane broke out by more.

So we did find our way to the winner circle. Just not with our car.

Got the rest of the engine torn down over the last 4 hours.

It did tag the exhaust valves, but the heads look otherwise okay. Can't even feel anything where the marks are, but they're still more than likely bent. $1,000 in brand new titanium valves with all of maybe 35 runs on them.

The block is our biggest concern. It took a big chunk out of the #1 saddle.

My legs/feet are killing me. I covered a solid 3 or more miles yesterday...about half of those were jogging/running.

 

Ouch. That sucks.

Congrats!

In that order.

What chemical are you using with your wand to clean the block, and where did you get that wand??

 

We use Naptha for cleaning agent. Getting clean stuff is easy. Disposing of the dirty stuff...not so easy. Very few people take it. We have a 45 gallon parts cleaner, we have 30 gallons of water and 45 of naptha in it, and who knows how much dirt, and getting it drained and refilled is a chore.

Dad's had the wand for a long time. Most of them use the same design regardless of brand. Example: https://www.harborfreight.com/engine...gun-68290.html

 

I have one of those..... (wand) and it isn't nearly as effective as I would like. It just doesn't seem to flow enough to actually clean anything. I can spray stuff onto whatever it is I want to clean, but, it's nothing like my power washer, (which is TOO efficient.....) May have something to do with the degreaser I use as well..... It's supposedly 'environmentally friendly', which translates too "doesn't work as well".....

 

Even with the mix **** all the way out? strange.

 

Yep. I think I just need a different (higher flow) tip on it. Haven't looked to see if harbor freight has 'em yet though.

 

Oh, yea if you look at ours, the tip is cut off. It's just a 3/8" open ended tube.

 

I can see how that would make a difference.