Spring is in the air

[racerrad8]

Spring is popping here in California and the season is ramping up quickly. I go to the shop yesterday to find a ton of work in progress and a ton more to get started on.

Robert is in the middle of four sets of carb rebuilds and there are two more sets in boxes for next week.




There are five engines that came in this week for rebuilds, three of them from one family where the father and two sons race together. It makes my heart feel full, this dad is doing the same thing I did with my sons at a young and impressionable age.





With all of the recent conversation about shim over or under bucket based on concerns of the shim coming out and getting damaged. Well, one of these engines did spit a shim. According to the owner and it ran fine until the smoke from the oil leaking onto the exhaust from hole in the valve cover cause him to be black flagged. Well, unfortunately the source of the shim coming out of the bucket is from the fact it dropped the head of and into the cylinder. Once the head of the valve is removed from the valve stem there is no control of the bucket or shim and the shim comes out and gets eaten up by the cam...




I really hope Noel is able to put into words the reasoning that the piston speed is the limiting factor for the FJ lump as he so graciously posted to the forum last month: Piston Speed is the limiting factor?

I would like to be able to look for any issues these engines might have due to excessive piston speed.

The weather has been great and I know this is going to be a great year of riding & racing.

Randy - RPM

[aviationfred]

Good to see the shop so busy.

That piston is a sad sight to see. I can guess what I circled in the photo is the errant shim?

Fred

[fj1289]

Fred - that's the valve head that broke off the stem and caused all the carnage

The valve shim will still be in the top side of the head raising hell on the camshaft

[Motofun]

The weather has been great and I know this is going to be a great year of riding & racing.

Randy - RPM

Great year for racing if they only would quit canceling everything!