Engine Open, Mild Setbacks Begin

When we removed the valve cover, everything looked good. Maybe a little too good. It looked like a freshly rebuilt engine. We briefly considered leaving well enough alone and closing it back up. That is until we noticed some slack in the old timing chain. "HMMMMMMMMMMMMM" we all said. So we pulled off the oil pan.














Here's what we found in there. It looks pretty good, right? Like a fresh motor. But wait! What are those little flecks of metal on the oil screen? Why are there more flecks of metal in the oil pan?

Maybe we should remove the timing chain cover and have a look...

Oh man! Both of the chain tensioner shoes are completely f'ed, better head over to Autozone and...

So, there's that. And maybe some of the valves aren't as "sealy" as we'd prefer. So.

Here we are, a few short months from race day and we're still short a hell of a lot of parts and a hell of a lot of cash to acquire said parts.