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Post by greybeard360 on Jul 9, 2011 9:56:50 GMT -5
The water getting into #3 is probably what hammered the bearing......
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Post by poppaj on Jul 11, 2011 21:34:30 GMT -5
Seems like water was a problem as early as the Florida race. Thought you got tossed for water in that race. If your block is not repairable let me know I have a 63' 426 block that is still standard bore and has been checked out. It was a backup block for my SS/EA car.
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Post by Dave Schultz on Jul 12, 2011 6:43:30 GMT -5
In Florida it was a freeze plug in the head. When the motor had been rebuilt - 10 passes before I bought the car -- they used steel freeze plugs instead of brass. One in the block developed a pinhole leak at Maple Grove last year -- and I was able to stop it by draining the water, JB Weld the inside of the plug, and refilling in the morning before eliminations started. When we pulled the motor to replace with brass freeze plugs -- we couldn't find the right ones for the heads. Obviously not looking hard enough caused me a chance to win the event (I was top qualifier, and while Steve did run a 11.004 with a .023 RT in his bye -- would he have felt any pressure with me in the other lane and have still run that?) and Dallas having to again pulling the motor.
In Bradenton we found the water drip to be behind the header on the passenger side - and ASSumed that it was one of the header bolts going through a water jacket -- that Dallas forgot to Permatex. We Permatexed it and tighten all bolts and couldn't see a leak. Checked the car in the morning and after every round of eliminations -- and no leak. The track staff were looking for me (I was under a microscope) coming every round, as I had been ratted out the night before. In the Semis against Steve Wilson, I was in the first row sitting for better than 45 minutes. When I moved up -- six drops of clear water dripped on the ground between the staging lanes and the water box -- most likely from collecting on the K-Frame and dripping off it when I moved. I was backed out.
Back at home we found a pinhole in the freeze plug on the head behind the header flange. The header tightening must have been enough to hold the slow drip (about 1 drop every 30 seconds or so) until the Semis. We again pulled the engine and replaced all of the head freeze plugs with Brass, and the problem was cured.
I think my problem actually started in the first round of eliminations at Mechanicsville. The car was dead nuts on all through qualifying -- then I was a 1/10 off in the first round of eliminations. I chalked it up to being real sick at Mechanicsville -- and maybe driver error.
I didn't run the car again until Joliet -- where I was still 1/10 off in the first two Time Trials. I cranked up the timing from 32 to 35 and got the 1/10 back for the last TT -- but with all weight out of the car. Then in the 1st round of qualifying I was again 1/10 and the motor didn't sound quite right as I was crossing the stripe. I shut it down and towed back to the pits. That's when we saw a drip coming out of the #3 plug (Driver's side) -- which had loosen up.
I think it might have started to weep enough to get burned off in Mechanicsville and then a faster weep for the last pass I made in Joliet.
The oil was changed from conventional to Royal Purple between Mechanicsville and Joliet -- and there was no water in the oil. The filter is always opened on our oil changes -- and there was no gold from bearings. I made a total of four passes (three TT and one Qualifying) at Joliet.
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