Just wonder what the plug #7 looks like...is it melted, too?

 

Looks like detonation to me ,espesially the erosion of the piston to the top ring land and the aluminun transfer to the bore.Muratic acid will remove the aluminum stuck to the bore,throw another soldier in and let it rip!

 

It was pretty obvious something was wrong. Like I said, it happened during a dragstrip run. I immediately noticed:
1) a huge trail of smoke from behind my car at the end of the run (uh-oh), and
2) a 13.20 timeslip. (This car never runs slower than 12.40)

On my drive home, going up a slight incline, the car really felt like it was "lugging." Had to shift from OD to D just to be able to drive normally. Right then I knew I was down 1 cylinder at least.

When I got home, I left the car running and popped the hood. When I opened the oil filler cap, oil shot out and exhaust shot out as well, in rhythm with the exhaust coming out the tailpipes. My friend Darren came over & said, and I quote, "Oh yeah... You've got a really nice-sized hole in one of your pistons."

Darren has the car right now at his shop, Harden Motorsports... I'm going over to visit the car this afternoon. I haven't seen the #7 plug yet.

 

Just for my own info. were you get any clanking, ticking etc. nosies from the bottom of the car?

 

How was #8? It is usually right in there with 7 as far as lean. Doesn't seem like the injectors should have had any problem at that power level - aren't people pushing way more than that on stock injectors?

Maybe that one injector clogged or went bad?? Send them off to TPIS and have them flow tested to find out. Just a thought.

 

No clanking, ticking, etc. #8 cylinder looks fine.

I surveyed the damage myself for the first time today. Found out a couple things...
First, it appears that I was getting quite a bit of oil in the cylinders... Every plug was saturated with oil. I'm sure SOME of that happened after I lost the #7 cylinder, but it may also have been part of the CAUSE of the damage. I have a catch can on my car for the PCV line, but I only recently put it on (like a couple months ago)... Could have already had some damage done before I put the catch can on.

Second, whether it was the oil or something else, Darren says I was DEFINITELY getting some big-time detonation, since the crank bolt had managed to not only loosen, but COME COMPLETELY OFF! He was pretty surprised when he went to turn the crank bolt and found it wasn't even there. That may have been one cause of my front oil seal leak, if the ASP crank pulley was "shimmying" at all from not having that supporting bolt.

Anyway, all the parts are on order for the rebuild now, and I expect to be back up & running even stronger in a couple weeks.

So... Who wants to talk detonation and the probable causes of it in my case?

 

Gary, did you re-use your stock crank bolt when you switched to the ASP pulley?

 

You know me better than that. Heck, I even replace parts that DON'T need replacing occasionally! Nope, new bolt when I swapped the pulley, and another on the way right now, for the current rebuild.