Why My 428 Just wasn't Quick enough.

[Denny S.]

Well, Here's the story. I assumed ( First Mistake) that the former
owner of my car had set up the MSD and the timing. Well I was wrong. After blowing a hed gasket at 1800 miles. I started to check more closely at a few things. My MSD Distributor was set to give me max advance at 5000 rpm and limit it to 20 degrees. No wonder it felt kinda not like 500 hp. And the wires to my coil are backwards. And checking with the engine builder I found out that the car got hot on more than one occasion on the initial run and as few times after that. I'm assuming thats why my head gasket left. I'm hoping now that my heads and block are still straight.
So never assume anything .....

[Clois Harlan]

I also have a 428 CJ and I have changed oil pans, oil pumps, windage tray. You get the picture. At any rate each time I have taken the oil pan off I had to disconnect the lines that go to my oil cooler and remote oil filter. And the last time I connected my lines backwards (reversed my oils circulation). Usually (I am told) this doesn't cause any problems however, the oil filter I was using seems to have some kind of a check valve in it so the oil will not drain out of the oil pump. It also will not circulate backwards through the engine and 15 minutes of running with limited lubrication can cost a lot ie: crank had to be turned, new bearings, new rings, and two new pistons, basically a complete rebuild. In short don't assume anything and double check everything-these engines are very expensive.