Thanks, Rex...this will be fun to build. I had a long visit with Dave Phillips today (he was on the Ford Indy V8 project) and he really set me straight on some things. Dave and Larry Slutter worked together at TRD, back when my wife was the front desk. Both those gentlemen did their best to teach me a little, and I hope to apply some of that to this new project.
I needed to get that explained, so folks dont think I completely know what I am doing. So, with that cleared up.... the plan is moderate boost, plenty of flow, batch fired efi, ice water intercooling, more compression than seems logical, and engine temps held low.
I have been running this bike keeping the heads and block as cool as possible (I can lay a bare hand on the cylnder head at the end of my turnout.) This method has let me run very high compression ratio (without detonation) and enough lead to spin 11,000 or so to cover my 3-4 and 4-5 upshift.
I pull the pistons after each event and find no sign of ring gap line-up while running A19A. Larry taught me to be absolutely sure I am not making the rings line up, even if the piston crown and plug porcelin look perfect. You cant assume...you must tear down and look. My tune up has been safe, all this time.
That said, I still have problems to solve, notably the constant head gasket leaks. This engine is an early open deck design and the fire rings are stretching on the very first pass, every year. I was lucky this year; the high wind on Saturday forced me to ease a few times on my first pass. I was able to leave the line Sunday morning with one cylinder still good, and the other not too bad, which made the good return run. I either have to rearrange components to allow head gasket change in impound, or find a way to O-ring these cylinders.
As usual, I got to ramblin' again. I do enjoy the camaraderie of this group, and the great knowledge base to learn from. I get real nervous, sometimes, when folks start sayin' nice stuff to me.... shortly after I just had a full physical.
Did my VA Doc tell ya'all something she dont want me to hear?
Regards, JimL