Kronoss

Thanks for the valve spring tip, Ponchovisa. By the way, you must be right in my general vacinity, since I live in Prior Lake. Beautiful car you have there, be great to see it sometime. Regarding the cam bolt/dowel combo, I don't know off the top of my head what the tourqe specs on the cam bolt are, but it certainly couldn't have been close to spec as the thing was not real tight. As for the dowel, other than constantly checking the thing, is there anything else I can do to better secure it in the future? –Mark A

I did notice the cam dowel was missing, although I thought it came adrift whan I removed the timing gear from the cam. I looked under the car, etc but haven't found it yet...so perhaps that was the cause of the problem last weekend.

Thanks, prieth...I'll contact you privately. I'm new to this forum posting deal, so I'll combine posts in the future. Yes, this valve destruction happened at Blackhawk last weekend. I'll be there on the 25th if I can diagnose my engine problem.

Hello, Bent 6 intake valves at the track last weekend, and assumed a timing issue was the cause. After removing timing gear and related components, all appears to be in order (no missing teeth on gears, tensioner in good shape). Also, the oil pump/distributor drive gear is fine. Now I'm thinking the valve springs were at fault. I didn't build the engine that's currently in the car, but it certainly appears that the head ( an N47) is equipped with stock springs. I'd like to just upgrade the springs and run this engine as-is with current cam (after repairing the valves)...any suggestions on valve spring upgrades? I had the engine at 6000-6500 RPM frequently, so I need a setup that will live in that range. Thanks for any feedback -Mark A

Hello, Had my CP vintage racer out to Blackhawk Farms (located in northern Illinois) this past weekend, and overall had a great outing. I qualified well, and was running in second position during the vintage feature. On lap 8, I noticed smoke beginning to enter the cockpit, but oil pressure/water temp was good...so I pressed on. On lap 9, entering turn 3A (a twisty section) the motor quit with a muffled bang, so I immediately took to the grass. My initial thought was head gasket, and a preliminary inspection has shown zero compression on all 6 holes. When cranked by hand with a turnover bar, all appears to be functioning (valves actuating, rotor turning). The timing chain is in place, although there seems to be excessive lash (in my opinion, anyway). There was oil blowby evident on the RH side of the block towards the rear(just aft of the dipstick tube). Before I pull the head off, does anyone want to venture a guess as to what may have happened? The motor seems to be way out of time, plus I doubt that I blew the rings (or valves) on all 6 pistions at the same time. The car ran great all weekend, up to the incident...so I'm a bit puzzled. -Thanks for any feedback Mark Atkinson

Howdy, My first post on this fine site. A couple of pics of my nearly complete rebuild of a formerly bashed and thrashed ITS car that was campaigned originally down in the southwestern US. I had the car out for it's first shakedown test this past weekend, and the new car gremlins were on hand as the clutch master failed, ending my day early. This car will be raced in vintage events in the upper midwest area. The cars specs are pretty basic, as it's prepared to '71 C production rules. L24 with Weber 40 DCOE's, 4 speed, locked 3:90, drum brakes on the rear, coilovers, etc. This is a great site, hope to see some of you at the races...