Shit, it's dead now.
The damn trigger wheel has been wobbling for like a year, and it's been getting worse and worse. Well drove it 260 miles home and on the last 10 miles the power goes to shit. Like I'm at 1/2 throttle in boost just to keep going 45-50 mph. Ran, but no power. I figured a wire messed up and it revereted to 10*BTDC, as it felt like it was getting NO advance, but ran on all four. I took it easy and drove it home.
Well today I pulled out a meter and tested all the wiring, it's good. So I break out a timing light and sure enough it's advancing when I rev it, but everything's wayyyyy retarded. So I aim the light and it's idling at 20* ATDC...... Checked the timing table, ignition settings, etc, they're all good. Tore it down and sure enough, it sheared the key holding the harmonic balancer/destroyed the cast iron piece and crankshaft the key went into in the process. Crank if fucked.......
I got another engine, engine gasket set, etc. Pretty much everything to fix it. But I think I'm gonna wait a few weeks and do a mild build. On that note...
I KNOW I want to do forged rods, as they're 300 bucks and the rods are the weak link in these engines. I'm thinking I could pull the spare engine down, hone the cylinders to get an extra .001-.0015" clearance over factory spec, new rings, forged rods, and back together again. Maybe a shim on the oil pressure relief valve for good measure.
Sound like a plan? Or should I go ahead and do forged pistons too? I think they'd be a waste, as stock ones are fine. I only see stock pistons fail when the motor detonates, or runs too lean/pistons seizes/melts. Also are topline rings any good in a boosted engine? I don't wanna spend 100 fucking bucks on some damn "premium" rings if I don't have to.