Well,
We got to Bonneville on Friday night with the car in tow.  Bob Waitz and I
were in the F150, Ed Bauer and three others were in the Suburban pulling the
race car in a 24 foot trailer.
Next morning we made it out to the salt and set up the pit site so
graciously held for us by the Avanti Kid Dave Bloomberg and his brother.
After some prep, we rolled down to get the car inspected.  They went over
the car again with a fine toothed comb, and made some minor suggestions on
routing of the fuel cell breather and adjustment of the seats and seatbelts.
At that time, I passed my "bailout" check, which is where the inspectors
determine if the driver can get out of the car in a hurry if something goes
wrong. Later, all five of us would pass this test.  We got gassed up and
into prestaging, but didn't get in a run, as the corrections required had
taken too much time.  The car sat in pre-staging over night, and the next
day, we arrived early. We decided Ed was the next driver, and before too
long, he was speeding down the salt (which was quite bumpy this year).
First  gear wound well, as did second, but Ed couldn't get it into 3rd.  He
went into fourth, with a long bog through the traps. Still did about 125.
Turns out that the bridal strap holding his shifter hand kept him from
getting into 3rd.  Next run we loosened it up the strap and he wound it up
through all four gears.  About the time Ed went through the 3rd mile, the
radiator hose popped off.  The  engine was pretty hot after that. The
surprise came along the return road when the timing slip came back to us at
130mph  in the first quarter of the timed mile. Unfortunately, we determined
not too long after that, that cylinders 3 and 4 were puking water.  Back to
the pits to check it out.  pulling the head,we found that the repairs from
last year had opened up.  Number four, pinned last year had recracked, and
number three, with a new cylinder liner last year pulled away.  We peened
everything shut and dumped a bunch of Aluma-Seal in the block.  After a
while the leak stopped, but the cylinders were still low on compression.
105--110 on 1-2-5-6 but 65 on 3-4. The thing was that the car sounded pretty
good when revving.  We decided to give it another shot, and put it back in
line Tuesday.  Joe Helm was next, and he got about one mile into the run.
It was running well in first, second, third and fourth, all the way up to
4500rpm, (about 4300 in 4th). There was a bang, and then clutch parts all
over the course, but none in joe's foot.  the scatter shield worked great...
That was the end of racing for us. Well the weather was coming in, just as
predicted, and I thiink we were the last run of the meet.  Winds came in at
60mph, and picked up the salt like a sand blaster.  The flats were covered
with water in a very short time.  That was that.

We figured the engine hydrolocked and took out 3-4 and tore up the clutch.
Now, what's left of the engine is about to be taken apart.  We're going to
need a pristine 185" block.....
I need any info on other experiences with those engines regarding how they
hold together, especially any troubles around cylinders 3 and 4. We need to
decide if this engine can hold up to the 230+ horsepower we are getting.
Any constructive thoughts are welcome.
Think Stude!
Greg Meyers
advo@mn.rr.com