1985 Monte Carlo SS known as Barney

[SSLance]

Originally Posted by WSSix

The event pics were great. That 70 Chevelle looks so good even with that pole accident in the drive's side.

Glad the car is working well for you, Lance!

Mike's car is awesome, all hand built in his home shop too. His wife Amanda always does a great job behind the viewfinder as well. When I get a chance later I'll show his in progress pics fixing the dent. It's in a real bad spot and a royal PITA to repair, but hes getting there.

[flatoutz]

Hi Lance,
The car is looking good and seems to be performing well. The sec gen camaro on the side of you looks interesting.Is the owner a member on lateral-g?


Mike,

[SSLance]

Originally Posted by flatoutz

Hi Lance,
The car is looking good and seems to be performing well. The sec gen camaro on the side of you looks interesting.Is the owner a member on lateral-g?


Mike,

So that is Dennis Riehle, do not believe he is member here. He's raced that car forever in ESP, so its "stockish" compared to our CAM builds but runs 12" wide slicks on all 4 and is very fast.

[OLDFLM]

That Dart looks pretty cool too!

[SSLance]

Had a blast at a track day last Saturday, but my day ended early with some strange engine related symptoms.

Here was my first dry session of the day...and the session when the symptoms started.




Here is video from my friend Sean's car who was behind me when it happened.





And this is from Valerie's car starting right when Sean passed me.

https://www.facebook.com/DragonladyG...3272482/?t=507


Symptoms are excessive blowby out valve cover at idle, a bit extra oil pressure at idle (30 vs normal 20 psi) coolant level has risen in recovery tank but appears pretty clean still, smoke out both exhausts (with X pipe) under acceleration after hard deceleration, no strange noises and still runs smooth and powerful at normal operating temp. I parked it on the trailer right after, unloaded and drove into garage and it hasn't started since.

A friend me called last night and brow beat me into finally doing some diagnosis. First pic is oil that came from the bottom of the pan after car has sat since Saturday evening.



Oil level was still just touching the end of dipstick like it should have been and it doesn't appear to me that there is any foreign substance in the oil at the bottom of the pan.

Next up is pics of all 8 plugs. Only thing I really noticed is #4 and #5 looking a little bit oily. #2 and #3 may be a bit cleaner than the rest but not that unusual to my eye. Maybe someone here will see something I'm missing though. If you want better pics of a certain plug, just ask.













Last is coolant recovery tank. Probably a quart high and it had blown some out already as well. Pretty clean looking, no real sign of oil in it but does have a brownish tint.



Best case scenario I see is head gasket? Worst case scenario could be hole burnt in piston or broken ring or ring gland.

Anyone see anything I may be missing?

[hackster]

Love the videos, also its very clear that Barney corners much flatter than I would anticipate for how much travel it has nice work man. Looks like a blast and glad that you are out there using it as it should be =)....We need more people from here out beating on their cars like we do

I am by no stretch of the imagination an engine expert but cylinder number 4 spark plug has more than a little bit of oil on it. If I were a betting man, I would guess broken Ring or Ringland on cylinder 4 and possibly 5.

Coolant level up is a bit of a question though without it being much different in color.

Whats next? Change oil, fresh plugs and run it? Compression test would probably give you a good indicator if you broke a ring, compression on that hole would be down.

Bummer about the engine, but glad you are having fun with it.

Sean

[hackster]

Also 3 looks like its pretty lean with a totally white ceramic I wonder if 4 was lean?. Are you logging air fuels? Have a guage to monitor?

Its saved my ass a time or two when I had a fueling issue.

Sean

[SSLance]

Originally Posted by hackster

Love the videos, also its very clear that Barney corners much flatter than I would anticipate for how much travel it has nice work man. Looks like a blast and glad that you are out there using it as it should be =)....We need more people from here out beating on their cars like we do

I am by no stretch of the imagination an engine expert but cylinder number 4 spark plug has more than a little bit of oil on it. If I were a betting man, I would guess broken Ring or Ringland on cylinder 4 and possibly 5.

Coolant level up is a bit of a question though without it being much different in color.

Whats next? Change oil, fresh plugs and run it? Compression test would probably give you a good indicator if you broke a ring, compression on that hole would be down.

Bummer about the engine, but glad you are having fun with it.

Sean

Thanks, I REALLY enjoyed watching the videos from Sean and Val when they were behind my car. First time I've had that view and it looked good. Had a blast behind the wheel also, I'll post the previous wet session video up below...it was a hoot as well. Just wish I could have enjoyed the drier sessions more.

What is strange about the coolant gain is it has been pushing antifreeze out the recovery tank for a couple of events now. At first I thought the cap on my tank failed after 35 years, so I put a new tank and cap on it...still leaked out. Then I just chalked it up to possibly being overfilled when it puked coolant out at next event. It also puked a bunch out after my 2nd wet session on track...again, first time it's been run hard in long time.

When it didn't go back down after the blowby stuff started, that's when things got strange. Oil level is about where it should be so maybe it's just got a dang air pocket in the cooling system now? I have a 1/8" hole in my thermostat and have NEVER had a hard time getting air out of system. Fill rad up, start engine, when t-stat opens a bit radiator level drops, top off, put cap on and fill recovery tank up boom...done...

The smoke started the first time when it blew the breather off the driver side valve cover. I thought it just fell off and oil drained down on right turns and hit headers. I cleaned it all back up and went out for next session. End of first long straight, big backfire on decel, big puff of smoke out tailpipes, then it went away, next turn...again big puff of smoke in mirrors. I pulled off track and it was huffing smoke out my catch can filter.

BTW, this was all that was in my catch can. Hadn't been emptied in 1500 hard miles.



Leakdown test tonight... We'll see. Not really mad or anything, thing has been beat on like a rented mule...just want to know so I can formulate a plan. All I really don't want hurt is the heads. The rest is easily replaceable.

[SSLance]

Originally Posted by hackster

Also 3 looks like its pretty lean with a totally white ceramic I wonder if 4 was lean?. Are you logging air fuels? Have a guage to monitor?

Its saved my ass a time or two when I had a fueling issue.

Sean

I wasn't logging at the track but have lots of times before while tuning. I need to see if I can zoom in on my GoPro video to the Holley LCD. The lower right corner of the screen is my AFR and I think I see it going yellow at high RPMS on the long straight. Need to see if I can actually read it if zoomed in.

[SSLance]

So this is my normal screen layout



This is the scaling settings on the AFR in lower right.



And here is the video zoomed in showing the AFR going yellow at times.



It very well could have been going lean on the straights for some reason.