Gene
New Member
Posts: 22
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Post by Gene on May 12, 2012 22:48:28 GMT -7
I went to the track last night and the car was running really good. The night air was cool and I ran some of my best times in time trials...15.25 and 15.26...all was good. Then first round came around and I dialed a 15.25 but lost the race to a 10 second car at the stripe. I stop to get my time slip and it is idling pretty rough and the car slowed to a 15.42 on that pass. I check the carb and timing at the track but still idling rough. This morning I pulled the plugs and they all looked pretty decent...a few were a little dark. I pulled the valve cover and everything looked fine. I decided to check the valve lash and every one was quite tight...couldn't even get the feeler guage in there. So I re-adjusted all the valves, check air fuel and timing and it is still idling really rough. I hope I haven't blown another head gasket.  |
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Post by Ryan on May 14, 2012 8:13:11 GMT -7
Bummer Gene. I would take the cabr off and blow it all out before going too much deeper. Maybe something go in there and is messing things up. Could also do a compression test to see if a cylinder is low.
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Post by Steel Horse Musclecars on May 14, 2012 23:31:56 GMT -7
that sucks, like ryan said tho, really check carb 1st and also if it were me id look for a vacuum leak really hard (which is what it sounds like if your sure about all the other checks you did).
Goodluck tho hope you dont have to really take it apart.
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Gene
New Member
Posts: 22
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Post by Gene on May 20, 2012 6:55:36 GMT -7
UPDATE: Yesterday I did a compression test and the results are disappointing. The number 1 cylinder is only reading 60-65 while all the others are 155-160. This is a fairly new build so I'm not sure what to think. Burnt exhaust valve maybe? |
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Post by Ryan on May 21, 2012 7:21:45 GMT -7
That is sad news Gene. Looks like more prcatice removing and reinstalling the head. Let me know if you need a hand lifting it off.
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Gene
New Member
Posts: 22
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Post by Gene on May 23, 2012 13:24:10 GMT -7
That is sad news Gene. Looks like more prcatice removing and reinstalling the head. Let me know if you need a hand lifting it off. The news gets worse...looks like I will need more than just help lifting off the head. Here's the latest. I didn't think much about the fact that the week before my issue I was racing and I kept blowing my valve cover breather off. So before the last race I replaced it with a snugger fitting one. Problem solved...well sort of...it didn't blow off any more but......when I limped home from the last race and looked at it the next morning I noticed oil splashed on the side of the block and on the oil pan and converter cover. The motor doesn't leak a drop of oil so the only place it could be coming from was the dipstick. I thought this was weird that this was happening all of a sudden but didn't put two and two together. When I told my machinest about this he told me that most likely I have broken the ring land on the number one piston and there is so much blow by going into the crankcase and forcing the oil out the dipstick. Crap! A little history is I blew the head gasket a month ago on the chassis dyno on the number one cylinder. This may have caused an extremely lean condition and hurt the piston. |
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Gene
New Member
Posts: 22
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Post by Gene on Jun 14, 2012 16:58:09 GMT -7
I finally got the head off last night and was hoping to see signs of a blown head gasket on the pushrod side of the motor...nope. Head gasket looks good but completely covered with oil. The previous head gasket was in the same condition...covered with oil. Not sure what to think of that. Also this time the top of every piston is covered with oil. Could doing the compression test caused oil to get up on top of the pistons? One good thing so far is I turned the motor over to get the number one piston at the bottom of the stroke and the cylinder looks perfect...no scoring or any signs of carnage. Just to make certain the head is ok I am going to take it to my machinest to have him check it out. Assuming that is ok then the next step is pull the motor and take the number one piston out and see what's going on there. I hate it when things break!
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Post by Steel Horse Musclecars on Jun 22, 2012 15:08:30 GMT -7
that sucks man, seems like you havent really had alot of time to enjoy the car before this happened either
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Gene
New Member
Posts: 22
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Post by Gene on Jul 14, 2012 11:48:07 GMT -7
I got the motor pulled this morning and the number one piston out. The ring land is broken in two pieces. The good news is the cylinder wall looks fine and I have an extra piston and rings left over from the original build.  Attachments:
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Post by Ryan on Jul 16, 2012 8:25:45 GMT -7
thats part of the problem. But whats causing the head gasket to leak?
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Gene
New Member
Posts: 22
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Post by Gene on Jul 16, 2012 8:35:33 GMT -7
I believe the blown head gasket from 3 months ago was the beginning of the problem with this piston. The head gasket did not blow this time, but I suspect one of two issues to have possibly caused the previously blown head gasket...faulty gasket or detonation or both. I have realized that I have been sucking oil thru my pcv valve since the valve cover is not baffled. Oil in the fuel mixture, I have been told, can contribute to detonation. I am going to eliminate the pcv and just run two breathers.
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Gene
New Member
Posts: 22
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Post by Gene on Aug 31, 2012 14:03:26 GMT -7
Hoping to get my motor back together this weekend...  |
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Gene
New Member
Posts: 22
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Post by Gene on Sept 3, 2012 12:51:28 GMT -7
Got the short block back together this weekend! Time to get this motor back in the car.  |
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