Sometimes it just don't pay to get outta bed........Tim and I got the converter hung behind the tranny-mission after a wee bit of { you guys know what I'm talkin bout here}..."some assembly required". Had to machine .125 thousanths off the mounting tabs of the converter, cause they were WAYYYYY too thick. I removed my BG fuel pump from the front of my chassis and Tim did the required mr. fixit trick on it then handed it back to me for re-installation. Things seemed good to go. We poured some c-16 in the fuel cell...checked for leaks...[thankfully None] and fired the beast up. After letting things more or less just warm up for a bit....then I ran the tranny through its paces....Reverse?...workin' good ...Low gear?....Yup.
Trans Brake functioning?...Yup....Brakes in general stopping the rear tires??...Yup. [always a Plus to have Brakes
] High gear?...Yup. Ok...time to see where this new converter's stall goes....On the tranny brake button and mat it.......5500. Cool....I can be likin that. Do it again, just to verify....finger back on the button....mat it....tach reads 5500 again.
aaahhh....shoot....I'm bout tired of typing........
Loaded the beast up - went to the track. Made first pass around 7:30 Saturday night...a snooze inducing reaction time lead to a 1.288 60 ft time and a 5.969 @ 116.90 mph. Tim said the back tires rotated a full turn before the car even moved. Plus the fact that the ol' girl drifted towards the center line on me in high gear and had me in the marbles...all in all...not a bad lap for not being at the track in 2 years. Then there was the next pass...............
Started the burnout in low gear...felt her get up on the tires...plugged her into high...let off of the line lock and started powering forward. Rolled on into the loud pedal with the mindset of..."I'm gonna John Force it on past the starting line". Then I heard a strange noise and felt an even stranger shudder... after a fraction of a millisecond's thought of "OH $#!+!" that was about ten octaves higher than my normal thoughts usually are, I reached up and hit the kill switch and rolled to a stop over by the guard rail. When I did kill it, the back tires were still billowing copius amounts of smoke... but I didn't know if that new converter was acting stupid or WHAT the deal was....so I got out of the groove and stopped her as soon as I could. { the starting line guys and the track manager were VERY thankful about that!} After they looked underneath...they deemed everything clean and dry ... Tim came up behind me with the 4 wheeler and said put it in neutral and hang on! So...on down the track we went...at nearly 60 miles and hour...[his atv will Haul ASS...even pushin a raggedy race car!]
Got her back in the pits and checked a few things and tried to crank her up...NOPE...wouldn't crank. Hmmm...now what?
Tim used his pocket flashlite and spotted water dripping from the outside of the block on the driver's side...so we just loaded her in her rolling barn and headed back to Tim's.
When we got to Tim's...he wanted a shower and I wanted to know what was goin on with my baby...so I started taking plugs out. Number 8 was the first plug to come out....ugggh...THAT's not 'posed to look like THAT! The center electrode was all smushed over sideways. The other three plugs were fine...other than showing that the carb is jetted wayyyyyy too fat! I couldn't get to the other side of the motor inside my narrow trailer...so I called it a night. Bright and early the next morning [yestiddy] I dropped the ramp door of the trailer and let Peggy roll out onto it, and had Tim help me set the front end off. NOW I could get to things. I removed the plugs on the passenger side of the motor, starting from the front workin my way back. Number one plug was also a squished mess...the others were fine...but black...wayyyyy too fat. I removed the valve cover from the driver's side of the motor to inspect the valve train...things looked pretty good there...no obviously bent pushrods or rocker arms outta whack. Then I removed my bug catcher and gave it a good once over to make sure nothing had come apart from there and went through the motor...nope...all tight and secure. The Dominator carb was next...when I removed IT...I could see some rather large chunks of piston laying in the bottom of the intake plenum...ummm...That's not a good sign AT all...
So the intake manifold came off and there was a few chunks of piston shrapnel lying in the lifter valley...also not a good sign. The driver's side head was next to come off...[those head studs were a ROYAL pain for this skinny would-be mechanic to get loose! But I managed...] When I pryed off the head...I wanted to inspect that number 8 piston...'cept there was a problem... WHAT Piston??!! There was nothing but a wrist pin and a rod staring at me...along with a thumb sized hole in the cylinder {@ about 4:30 on a clock-face looking down at the cylinder, and perhaps an inch down in the hole} Upon looking down in the block... I noticed something rather odd...ummm...ain't there 'posed to be TWO rods on the crank journal?? Now where in the world did THAT get off to? Sighhh....Guess I'll find it when I get everything pulled apart...but for now...stick a fork in it... That'un is DONE!
That new skid lid will prolly be out of date before I get to go play with Peggy again
I ain't got nuttin to report...'cept that insurance money is gonna give me the opportunity to get a few parts ( a new converter at least) for Peggy. Ya know...Brakes on a vehicle work great....when ya actually USE them 
Oh well. So I made a donation to the city of Cairo's "dumbass" fund...that "coulda" been a new set of seat belts for Peggy. Maybe someday soon, I'll get a chance to go make some smoke...but I learned this past Sat. my BG 400 fuel pump is leaking... like a screen door tryin to hold back the Mississippi river 
