Sounds rather familiar. Penny bought a beautiful '74 GT two summers
ago. One brag from the previous owner was that he used it to run
back & forth to LA (4-500mi). Well, when we took our first long trip
ionj the beast, it was running quite "ROUGH" by the time we hit the
Colorado River. Made it back OK, Interstate travel at 80+, etc., but
no power, rough running, etc. A compression check showed none in #3.
Drove it around town for a couple of months until I got around to
replacing the head....there was an 1/8" x 1/4" notch burned through a
valve by unleaded gas!!!
Had missed the clue inherent in the LA trips...long distance travel,
and only unleaded fuel available in la-la-land.
Ordered a new head form Rhode Island for less than a local rebuild
job was quoted at. One problem with that, though.. GT now burning
more than its share of oil, especially when cold. I now remember
that when I had my '77 rdstr head rebuilt, they were apalled at the
LBC valve seals and substituted (upgraded?) good old 'Murrican-type
jobbies...it does not burn after 8-10yrs, 55K mi like the GT does
after 1 year!!
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