Sled

[jhwkns]

My truck's a sled. Last week I was tooling along up the freeway. It was a normal afternoon in the Mojave desert, 110 in the shade, and considerably hotter on the pavement. My temperature gauge made a quick move to the right so I took the next exit. There weren't any fluids leaking. I cooled things down, and headed towards home. By the time I made it home it'd gotten pretty warm again. It was then that I removed the oil cap to reveal what appeared to be a milkshake under my valve cover. I was quite certain that nobody was dumping frostys in my engine so it only left one other possibility. My cooling system was having a block party with my oiling system. This is never a good thing. I let things cool down a little, and pulled the heads. It wasn't hard to spot the crack in the #8 cyl. Doh!

I originally built the engine about 12 years ago for a camaro I had. It's was a wicked 350 ( 6" rods, lightweight crank, forged pistons, big cam, iron eagle heads) It lived in the camaro for a couple years, then my boat, and then my stockcar. I put it in the truck six years ago with fresh rings, and bearings. Two years later I added the dart heads. That block had been through hell before it broke. There I sat in dire need of an engine.

My good friend, and racing buddie offered up a 305 that he had. It came from a '93 camaro that he'd installed it in for a customer who wrecked the car a couple months later. Its a bone stock 5.0 from a local re-builder. This thing is gutless. It doesn't have half the power it did before. The thrill is gone. My trucks a sled.