We arrived Friday evening, trailering the car from Midland to Dearborn, MI.
After unloading the car and completing registration at the off site parking, I drove the speedster the 3ish miles to Greenfield Village. Probably the longest trip since completing the car.
Sunday morning came and I went for a ride. After about 10 minutes I noticed steam coming from the radiator.
Strange since the temperature gauge was still reading cool. Brought the car back to our spot and parked it. Checked the radiator and it needed water. So I added some and some more…
I tried to turn the car over after adding water (mistake).
The car did not want to start. I pulled the plugs and found water in cylinder #3.
Oh boy – blown head gasket (at least).
Got back to the trailer, loaded the car. Got back home and pulled the motor.
Turns out the sleeve in cylinder #3 moved, causing the head gasket failure.
Water in the cylinders caused bent rods, scored cylinder and pistons. It will need a total rebuild.
Needless to say, we didn’t make it to TROG 3 weeks later.
As of this post, we are waiting on insert bearings. Something about a pandemic and supply chain issues.
So 12ish motors in the truck, 4 blocks needed to build this one.
So while we are not running NASCAR, seems like motor 16 wasn’t the lucky one.