That definately sucks to hear JET. If there is anything we can do, let me know.

Damn,

Sorry to hear that Jet, was hoping it was just the head gasket also.


Hopefully all goes well with the rebuild. Think you're still going to make the shoot out this weekend. Or is that basically a wash?


Hopefully it'll rain here on the 14th and then I'm sure you won't feel so bad if you stay home. ;)

I think I am heading up to BIR for the weekend instead. Maybe I will run into Jim, Mike and Swanny while I am up there :D

Why what are they doing up there? What new project they got going on?

just watching some faster cars run :)...maybe jack a few ideas :).
Actually its a weekend to get away from it all...

Yeah, my car isn't going to be done for the SO and I really want to use my days off to complete it. I'll work on the car Thursday and Friday and head to BIR for Friday night Saturday and Sunday. I have never seen or felt a top fuel dragster run down the track, so I am pretty pumped to see them. I'll save some money this weekend too and put it into the Talon.

I may go to the Grove Creek drag strip before heading up to Brainerd Friday night if I get the talon done in time.


Jim

Well, I was thinking it through and I might give it one more shot to get it running this year. I am going to get some new pistons, hone the cylinders, check the bearings and rods, have Mike weld the head and mill it down myself and clean up the welds.

It shouldn't be too bad, depending on the wait for pistons. It should be ~$600.

Well best of luck. - you and i both seem to be in simular situations.


Both looking at possibly being out for the rest of the year. - hopefully the oil pump swap will solve my problem.

Otherwise She's off to the Jackstands till next spring. (at least I got 2 weeks of use out of my $3000 spent on it this year) :headache:

And got to feel the 456.7whp for a total of 4 days of running around. (which is probably the reason I'm not thinking about parting it out... loved how it felt at that level of HP, can't wait to make more :3gears: )

Sorry to hear it Jet. Our trailer gang is getting smaller. :ohmy:

Alright, here are some pics of the carnage!!

Notice the huge blow outs in the back of the head gasket.

The #1 and #4 electrodes were burned off the plugs. That is probably why they didn't detonate as bad and melt through the head like #2 and #3 did. That groove is probably 1/4" deep and 1/2" wide. It didn't hit any passages though, so it should be fixable.

is the block damaged? that's gnarly!

The block is totally fine. I just need to hone the cylinders as there is a little bit of aluminum build up. You can't see it in the pic's, but the pistons are melted slightly too. I will post up some pic's of them when I get them out.

Thanks to QPR for getting my new pistons so quick!!

Your welcome JET. Bring the head over whenever you want and I can weld it up for you. It is definately fixable. The last one I welded had cracks way down into the water jacket and that one turned out fine. We can pressure test it after as well to make sure all is good.

Wow, thats hardcore for 1 pull!

It was actually like four pulls, three to try to set the boost and then the final one. So I am sure that everything was good and heated up when we did the full pull in fourth and thats why it went so quick.

I am guessing that somehow the car was running 30+ degrees of timing. Even though the AEM was set to like 13.6 degrees under full boost. Must have been something in there that got fucked up in the last year when the car was down. Once its back together we are putting V1.1 and then reloading the map and reloading all the sensors and hopefully that will take care of it.

CRAIG

Damn, looks like you're having my kind of luck with new engines.

Yeah, I was tring to rush things to get it ready for the SO. Bad idea! I just threw a map in it from someone with a similar car and didn't go through and check everything. I did set the timing and everything, but something was off between his setup and my last years. Some value that doesn't change with maps, must have been off. It made it run too much timing some how and that was the result.

That is why I am gong to start with a clean install this time. I have been with the AEM since version .73, so it is time for a clean install. That is like upgrading windows the whole time from version 3.1!!