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Bad luck with the convertor. Also got a 1/8th mile drags on at Gunnedah on the 28th & 29th of May, which is closer than Casino.

i don't have friends to stay with in Gunnedah

well with a list of issues/changes getting bigger i decided i'm not going to race anymore till i get some of the issues resolved and also get the changes done to the engine at the same time.

so with that this morning i set about removing the motor and box from the gem so i could start stripping the motor and sussing out the damage etc.

ok, the head is pretty good, it probably doesn't need too much work but i am looking at possibly shaving it a bit and also planning to go bigger valves as its currently got stock size ones, i'm also planning to get a set of roller rockers aswell.

the camshaft is pretty much screwed, i already figured this was the case is its been a bit tappety for a while now, most of the lifters are concaved and also some pitting on some of the cam lobes right on the peaks, this is not an issue as i want to get a more track suitable solid cam anyways with a bit more mid range/top end power rather than the street cam it had before.
I also noticed the timing gear set has been a bit chattery lately, and i found some pitting in the teeth of the cam gear so that will be replaced aswell!

i also found the missing ceramic bits off # 1 & 2 spark plugs .....
Not cool, but it doesn't appear to have done much damage so they should be re-usable with a bit of a clean up.

you can also see in the above picture that there is still plenty of hone marks in the bore so it doesn't seem to have worn too bad, not that i was expecting it to have done as its only been together for about 30-40,000kms in the street car before it went in the gemini for the track so hopefully the bottom end will just be a rings and bearings rebuild!

also i am quite happy with the way methanol has treated the motor, theres very little corrosion issues, and the castor oil in the fuel seems to be doing its job, all the inlet ports and valves are all nicely coated in castor oil so happy with that - i will have to pull the injectors out and see how they are in the filter area and such!

in other news, i was talking to dad about transmissions and he said he had a rebuilt v8 trimatic thats been sitting in the shed for the last 8 years or so and so thats going to go into the gem with a 6 cylinder bellhousing swap, hopefully it should do me for a while to come and i'll just get a suitable torque converter to suit the cam and such which i wanted to do anyways so that will save me a bit of money rebuilding trannys.

i'll post another update soon enough when i get some more of the engine apart if i find anymore suprises.

well the rest of the motor has been striped without any major issues, this is good

now i just need to get some money together for all the upgrades!

Can you take pics of the damaged & good spark plugs & post them up?

nope i took them to my mates workshop the other week and they have thrown them out since then.

The plugs that you are using were probably BP6EFS or BP7EFS, the "P" represents a projected nose which I believe may be some of the problem with the 12 port heads. I have a pinging problem with a 12 port 202 that I have, 10.8 comp, 248° @ .050 duration cam. same cam fitted to a 9 port 202 with 12.5 comp using the same 98 octane fuel, same dizzy & carb set up with no pinging issues. The other problem may be the way in which the air travels past the valve from the port. Both heads have the same combustion chamber.

well nothing would suprise me, the plugs are not the right ones for methanol as i have yet to be able to get any info on a part number to order!

as for the pinging i think that was a combination of more timing than i had previously aswell as hot engine temps and old plugs!

one thing i am going to do is contact NGK directly and find out what part number options i have for different heat ranges....

I'm not sure if NGK make a plug, but I found a Champion plug #286/S16C that may be ok, just not sure who carries them, maybe Rocket.

i just had a thought, are you refering to a red 12 port head or blue/black 12 port head as there are alot of differences there, namely i believe older red heads have shorter plug threads ?

also im trying to find resistor plugs as they are recommended to stop radio/ecm noise issues.