Had the cam reground. I delivered it to the machine shop where the block has been tanked, flushed, the top leveled and now sits at the boring machine waiting. The engine will be balanced. Looks like I may have it by the 1st of the year.
There was some talk on this list about finding "casting sand" in this process. I asked the machinist to keep a bit of whatever he found. Well, he gave me a baggie with a rust colored, granular material, mostly the consistency of coarse sand with a few lumps the size of a fingernail, all found in the water passages. I don't know what it actually is but he said the technical term for it is "sh - - ".
Just knowing it is not in the engine any more makes my day.
Rob Carpenter