[ghinmi]

Back together. Always wanted to drive it around with the front end off so why not?







Unfortunately the driving was short lived. It nearly immediately started dumping coolant out the radiator cap under boost. Thinking it was possibly an air pocket in the engine, I kept trying to bleed it and also found a leak in the radiator that I temporarily patched while waiting for a new one. Turns out the whole radiator got ballooned out when it torched that head.



On Wednesday the 12th while sitting at work I decided I was going to drive it down to Indy on the 15th to help my friend with his car at the 1/2 mile airstrip event. I would have to quit grasping at straws and tear the engine down, find the problem, fix it, and put it back together in 2 days so I could leave on the 14th. I lucked out and it was a simple blown head gasket. Confirmed to be a defective gasket, $15 unit straight from Mexico. #6 cylinder this time. I was able to get it all apart, fixed, and prepped for reassembly Wednesday night. Cometics and head studs showed up Thursday, got it all back together Thursday night. Drove it to work Friday. Did a quick retorque on the heads after work and drove straight to Indy with my fingers crossed.



Got down to Indy late Friday night. Went to spectate. And wouldn't you know it, I've got some great friends. There was a racer ticket waiting for me. Now here's the dilemma. I'm 3 hours from home. I have been WOT with this engine exactly zero times since it's hurt itself twice. And now I'm about to go wide open 1/2 mile at a time. So I pulled a bunch of power and ran it. Made 4 passes the first day. Best mph 155. No carnage. Pretty thrilled.









On the second day it went 156 on the first pass and I got talked into turning it up just a teeny tiny bit and it went 160 on the second pass. Awesome. Back to the reliable workhorse it has been for the past few years.