Round 6 in the saga of this nightmare.
History:
1. Bought a $7500 434 from a 'friend' because it had all the right parts, and he needed some help. Found it had exploded a gear drive and all he did was drain the crap out of the pan and change the timing set (lots of the 'right' parts were junk, lies and basically BURNED by the friend) Bored, freshened everything new carbs, pistons, cam, shaft rockers, had 11 bent valves, replaced the Eagle rods with better Lunati ProMod rods...... $5000 later it dyno tunes to
666HP and 590 ft lbs torque. Nova ran high 9's for 3-4 races then something came up and I built a bigger bullet.
2. Use the Motown block to build another Nova motor and stuff everything else in a GM 509 casting,,, adding splayed mains, short fill, bla bla,,, going through 3 blocks to find a good one,, and $2900 and the motor sat for 2 years as a 'backup'
3. 2010 I put this 'backup' motor in the truck,, in 3 passes it busted the deck at the bolt holes, pinched a piston.
4. buy Dart little M to repair the failed GM casting.... (machine work and everything ,, $2650..... less than 15 laps squirter screws fall out of carb and are injested through 3 pistons, lots of welding and repair on the heads. $3100
5. 6 passes later it looses oil pressure on the top end... MY error I tried to save a stupid $65 one piece pan gasket with too much silicone and it squeezed inside enough that the crank beats the bead off the pan rail (as a 4" stroke in a sbc will do) and plugs the oil pump. Spins 3 rods. BIG issue is the Lunati LAD-1 ProMod rods are no longer produced. Soooo going to do it right I put a set of Olivers rods in it.
6. Everything top drawer,, crank reworked in cale,, re-nitrided, rods capable of 1200HP and the short block 100% first class now,, another $3700 later.... I go to the track last Saturday for ADRA race #1. FIRST LAP OUT OF THE TRAILER.... Somewhere, somehow, from God only knows where,, a something finds it's way into one of the carbs coming out of the water,, carb hangs open and I can't get it to shut down below 4000rpm. On the brakes sliding through the beams,, damn near bending the throttle toehook I FINALLY think to hit the ignition switch and get stoped just BARELY before smacking the wall.
With no idea what had happened,, what's the first thing I do,,
pump the gas (dumping the nut into the intake) and fire it back up.. bang bang bang....
The 666HP MF'n SOB POS sbc is out of the truck and on the stand. Here's a shot of the edge of #8 piston looking with a borescope.. I'm not sure I have the heart to finish pulling it down. I'm done. The truck is going back to a street truck with a little pump gas 383 block I've been saving.
