Rusty cylinders

The top two photos show some of the wear from last summer's racing at Iowa Speedway. The bearings from one inner axle tripod are gone, which must have made for some serious vibration for the later drivers. In addition, the rubber bushing for the upper a-arm is pretty trashed.

Tore the race engine apart yesterday. The cylinders do not look very good, which you can see in the other two photos. When the engine overheated at Iowa last summer, it apparently warped the head because water was getting into the cylinders. We knew that at the time. However, I was not able to get to the engine tear down until lately, so rust was able to form in all four cylinders over the winter. That rust extends to the valves in the head. The head gasket held up, so the head itself must have warped due to the heat. Don't know yet if it is salvageable. I'm hoping that it can be cleaned up with a little honing.

I did not disassemble the gearbox, but several gear teeth came out when the lube was drained. We know that 3rd gear went away early in the Iowa race, so that will need to be replaced.

Did some cleanup in the engine compartment of the racer on Sunday, so it isn't quite so gross. There was a lot of oily sand in most of the usual collecting places, and a bit of engine degreaser followed by a high pressure douche got rid of most of it. Followed up with several cans of brake cleaner to get much of the rest.

Also tried to do some work on the engine out of the parts car but did not have the correct size socket to remove the crankshaft pulley (27mm).

Looks like the right side engine mount is bad, but the one out of the parts car may suffice as a replacement.

Less than three weeks to race day and there is a lot of work to do.