I picked up my Midstates in Nebraska from the Kalios Dec. 20 1992. My wife gave me abig red christmas bow to put on the back for the trip home.
I put it on the road Labor Day of 04. I had put in a crate 428 that was supposed to be 428hp.HA HA. after about a hundred miles I told my wife it was fast enough but not quick enough She would tell people later on that she supposed that I just wanted to get to fast quicker ( I used to own Fuelers back in the 60s ).
I located a 427 CO. shortly therafter put a 428 crank in it and went from there. It ended up to be a 484 with a TWM 50MM setup
In october 09 I was out for a ride and noticed smoke coming out of the pipes, a lot of smoke, fouling plugs every 60-70 miles. I took it home and decided to take the top end off. I didn't tear it apart untill April of 10 (went to Florida for some beach therapy).
Upon tearing it down in the spring I found a sucked in intake gasket fp1247s cracked and broken ring lands. Not the top land but the second one (This not the first time this has happened to me the first time was back in 2006 using the same pistons. These are JE sportsman pistons, don't get me wrong,I am NOT blaming JE for the problem just cannot figure out what was causing it. This set was in since Sept. 05.
I also noticed that two lifters (mechanical) were starting to wear, the cam had no wear but FISHEYES had started to form on the lobes. I had using the right oils plus additives at every
oil change.
So anyway since my old block was a mechanical casting and I had a marine block that I picked up years ago I decided to use it with a hydraulic roller setup. Called Kieth and ordered some Diamond pistons and one of his hydraulic rollers with Lunati lifters. Had my machine shop (Miller Machine Haverhill MA) whom I have been doing bussiness with for 47 years,we both ran fuelers together, get me a new Eagle crank and rods.
The motor is now in and running. I cannot do much more untill the spring when I can fool around with ECU.
I'm sorry I got a lttle long winded and of the track with this but I wanted people to know the stories you hear about the intake and the cam problems are out there and are not getting any better. Also if anyone is thinking about finding a used block and building a motor forget it. By the time I got done with mine I could have picked up a new genisis cast for about $700more