Peyote lost power on the last lap of the last race at the columbia river
classic last weekend, and started blowing oil out of the catch tank. Oh
no, methinks, the number four piston stuck.
Yup.
Actually looks like the edge of the piston greatly overheated near the
exhaust port. No clear sign of detonation though. Anyway, I have a growing
collection of #4 pistons and liners. Any ideas out there? I have a water
line from the heater connection to the rear freeze plug, I've opened the
holes in the gasket and "ported" the head and liner area to get lots of
water to it. I'm running out of ideas.
I probably shouldn't have been running pump gas (92), though I never heard
any detonation and the head I'm running has been barely shaved--probably
only .020". Still, with 87.5mm pistons it's probably 9.5-1 or thereabouts.
I should cc it.
Time to stick on the high compression head anyway. I needed an extra ten
HP last weekend. There was a big Healy in my class (a 3000) that could
pull me on the straight and then was too squirrely in the corners to pass.
I needed to outbrake him on the entrance to the infield and have the whole
twisty section to make it stick, but I couldn't stay close enough. That
meant the Pooper would inevitably get me also--he's a tiny bit faster down
the straight and nearly as fast in the big corners--it's only the fiddly
stuff where Peyote has an advantage, and the Healy held me back. I
finished second once, third twice and DNF'ed the last race (though I could
have taken the checker third just coasting--fourth place was quite a ways
behind).
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