I'm taking Paddy up to Vintage Sports Car tomorrow morning for a head gasket replacement and tune-up. Vintage Sports Car Inc. is a division of Historic Race Car, LLC in Woodstock, IL. Vintage Sports Car is a separate division for their street car customers, as not all vintage car owners see their beloved old timer as a race car.
Paddy started running rough and as noted below I began the process of tracking down the cause. I had taken him into a local "specialty" shop but they just seemed to make things worse and were not truly addressing the isssues. It was time to take matters into my own hands.
After shooting the video below, I started my engine diagnosis with a cylinder compression check. I QUICKLY found out that Paddy had no compression in cylinders #2 and #3. Hmmmmm? That's gotta be a head gasket. Right?
I contacted Bill Gilcrease at Mincomp Racing in California (Paddy's engine builder) to get his thoughts. He confirmed my fears.
Replace the head gasket Brian! While the head is off I would suggest that you lap the exhaust valves paying special attention to the center ones! There are good and there are bad head gaskets, let me know if you would like me to send you the proper parts to use.
Joe, at Vintage Sports Car, confirmed Bill's thoughts and I made an appointment to have Paddy stay with them for a couple of weeks! Meanwhile, Mincomp is sending them the correct head gasket AND offered to give them advice if needed.
While in their shop, Paddy will get a new head gasket (obviously) but they'll also get those twin SU carburettors set correctly.
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