Where to begin? I've had my 2000 Silver Lightning since March and I started road racing it in September. I've been to Seattle International and Portland International raceways and absolutely love this truck. On October 24, I was running at Seattle Internation Raceway with these mods: 1.5" drop in rear, JohnnyLighting air ram and SuperChip on the street program, 305/30R18 Hoosier racing slicks on stock rims, non-platnum spark plugs and roughly 94 octane gas (I didn't want it to even have a chance of detonation, there is nothing like going 120MPH down the straight and hearing the truck shift into overdrive to try to go even faster :-).

The spark plugs had already lasted through one lapping day, but here is the sad part. I wanted to put NGK's in, but couldn't find them locally, so I got the champion equivalent until I could get the NGK's. After about 15 laps on the slicks (I was faster than everyone there except there was a brand new Ferrari that could have beat me if he was't babying the car so much) I started missing an got off the track ASAP. It turns out that the #3 plug disintegrated and now the compression pressure on the cylinder is only about 25% of what it should be (as measure with a compression tester, not the computer :-).

As I was racing, didn't have stock plugs, and there were overboost warnings on the computer, the dealer says they won't fix it under warrantee. So, I'm going to pull the heads myself and see what damage there is.

A couple of questions for those who've done this:

1) Should I get the shop manuals first?
2) Can you get the heads out with the engine in the vehicle and the cab still on the truck :-)?
3) How likely is it that there is also damage to the piston or cylinder walls?
4) Since I would have the heads off anyway, what aftermarket valvetrain parts should I have installed?
5) Any other mods? Time for headers? Porting?
6) Does anyone know a great machine shop in the Seattle area that they would recommend?
7) Should I just buy a crate engine, swap, and fix this one later?
8) I have the NGK's now. Is there any guarantee this won't happen again with these plugs?

I work at a computer startup, so the chances that I'll be driving the truck again before the new year are slim (not much free time), so I want to mod whatever I can to make this time without the truck absolutely worth it as far as the reliability and performance of the engine goes once I have it running again.

As I have only 4500 miles on the truck, I'm slightly disappointed, but I'm looking at what Ford sold me as a platform with great potential rather than something that is perfect from the start.

I also want to say that JohnnyLighting is a super guy and has been a great help through all this.

Thanks,
Ross

 

I don't actually have any answers to your questions, but I'm in Renton and work in Kirkland, and I've got a set of manuals (they are about $240 - ridiculous, I know). I can't let you take them, I use them too often, but if you want to make some photocopies, you're welcome. Or come over this weekend and take a look at them, I'll be out in my shop all weekend. I've got the bed off now and working on lowering the rear and reinforcing the frame.

I wish I'd known there was something going on at SIR last week. I've raced my Vette around the track many times, but not the truck yet, except for just a 1/4 mile of it over and over. Or did you go through the ProFormance driving school and were using one of their lapping days?

Seattle International Raceway


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Mark
'00 Lightning
'79+ Corvette

 

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the generous offer. Yes, I was doing the ProFormance lapping day. You can't beat $150 for roughly 4 hours of lapping on a 2 mile track. Unfortunately, I only got 20 minutes in, but the school gave me $75 credit for next year.

Drop me a line at jekel@hotmail.com. Where do you work? I'm also a Software Engineer and am always looking for a better job. Left the Evil Empire in March and the startup I'm at now doesn't leave much time for working on my truck :-).

Ross

 

You've got mail.

I did have some thoughts on question 5:
Yes, polish the exhaust side and port & polish the intake side while they are out, then dyno it so the rest of us can decide if it's worth it or not.

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Mark
'00 Lightning
'79+ Corvette

 

Look for bent valves as the result of your compression loss... the other two guys I heard had something similar happen (Lightning Tuner & High Risk) both burned off plugs and had the debree bend intake/exhaust valves on some cylinders. The valve-stems are very thin and can't handle much going wrong.

Daniel

 

Same here with the burned plugs. Dealer wouldn't fix mine either so I fixed it. I pulled the entire motor though and it took about 6 hours. Burned all 8 plugs and #4 cylinder was at a loss,( must have been a freak of nature????). Intercooler was damaged as well. Ended up being the valve on the exhaust side. Busted a portion off about the size of your little finger. I got a used head from a friend and took the valve. and re-ringed and gasketed the motor and now runs just as good. Went to the track Friday night and truck was filthy and stock tires with 30lbs and pulled up to a red L and put the smack down. I am currently running the Swanson chip, 4:10's and pro-m and turned a best of 13:33 @103mph. I am happy but still selling.

Best of luck!

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ALL BOTTLE No THROTTLE

 

I would agree, considering the heads will be off, might as well go and do some porting/polishing. Let us know how it turns out Good Luck

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Spiro-"The Greek"
BLK. #1476

Best run to date
12.632 @107.96
Best 60` 1.81
Best m.p.h. 107.98
@ 4700 lbs.
_________________________
JDM Engineering- Ford Specialist
_________________________

"Empty Pockets Racing"Drag Race Team NJ-DE
Spiro99SVT@aol.com



[This message has been edited by Spiro99SVT (edited 10-29-2000).]

 

I'm sitting in the same boat right now. I put a set of ported heads on in August this year if you stud the heads it is impossible to put them on unless you pull the motor or the cab. When I swapped heads I pulled the cab off it's not as hard as it sounds. I will pull the cab to take the heads off again to check the damage from the E-town trip. I have at least one dead cylinder maybe more haven't investigated yet.

HIGH RISK