I went to the track today to get some seat time, and test some new suspenions settings.
The first 45 minutes were awesome. The weather was perfect, the track was fast, and the car was just smokin' fast. When you're in the groove, it just feels so good.
Then, all of a sudden, things went south in a hurry. As I came off the back stretch and in to turn 4, the car instantly ran rough, and smoke was coming out the right tail pipe. Dang it. As soon as I could get off the racing line, I pulled it over in the grass. It didn't appear to be leaking anywhere, just steam from the tail pipe.
I turned the keay, and it started right up. It was clearly running on 7 cylinder, but it ran OK. I drive the mile or so back to the pits, and drove it onto the trailer. When I got home, I drove it up onto the lift, and started taking it aparts.
My first clue was these three mystery bits. The two small ones were on the intake manifold. The longer piece was sitting on top of the #4 throttle blade (8 stack EFI).
When I pulled the valve cover off, the #4 valve springs didn;t look right. I pulled the rocker off, and the valve came with it. Uh, oh. That can't be good.
A dropped valve always cause some damage. I had no idea.
One of the valve heads (intake?) is imbedded in the chamber wall. That's an
oil ring stretching across the ports.
The piston didn't fare so well, either.
Well, I was planning to rebuild this engine in a couple of months. I still had three races, two club events, and a show or two to attend. This is going to cost more than a simple overhaul. It will take me at least a month to get it running again.
Sigh.
Engine Carnage
Threaded Mode
