"QUICK-SILVER",
I agree...No matter what the idle is doing, no matter what carb was used, the knocking was always present.
ta man,
No difference in the spark plugs. All of them look the same.
STEELCITYFIREBIRD,
Yes, the pictures of the heads and pistons were from an earlier diagnosis but theres only been about 40 miles drive time put on the heads since the heads were reinstalled. So I assume they look similar to what it looked then. At the time, Paul and I were still communicating and we discussed having the heads inspected. He suggested that we go ahead and have someone check them out. The heads were taken to a local machine shop that has been around for many years. In matter of fact, the guy that Jeff has looking at my motor has known the brothers at this machine shop and built motors with them for over 20 years. The name of the place is C&C Auto Performance
http://www.ccautoperf.com
Paul spoke with the machinist at C&C to ensure everyone was on the same page. The recent vacuum leak was located on the passenger side around #6 or #8. The only reason I kept the dyno failure quiet was because Paul felt bad about it and I didn't want to embarrass him. Honesty, I didn't want to make him mad by sharing the dyno failure because he had my motor and I wanted him working on it while him and I were on good terms. Since I first received the knocking motor, not one part was switched out, not one test was done without going through Paul. Paul would give us a list of things to check and replace and we would do it. Nothing was done to this motor without him knowing it, agreeing with it or suggesting it. I can see how difficult this could be for Paul and Jeff. Paul says he has built hundreds of motors without a problem. None of us want to be in this situation but at this point there is no getting around it. Jeff found a good guy to look at this motor and Paul has been communicating with him. My only concern is that there has been over 165 hours of diagnosing problems that could be a result of something overlooked while installing the motor. There hasn't been too much that was incorrect other than the vacuum leak that was discovered when the motor recently was delivered. I certainly do appreciate Jeff finding a local guy that can look at the motor and the fact that Paul is communicating with him. I think we have reached a point though where this motor needs to be thoroughly inspected internally.
Paul E,
Since the motor was first discovered to be knocking, I have followed Pauls plan to diagnose the motor and replaced the parts that he thought should be replaced. I even paid to have the heads inspected after he suggested it. I agree with the oil analysis and I can get that done. I didn't have a chance to cut the filter open today but it will get done. As for the fuel change, I will leave that up to Paul, Jeff and the guy they have looking at my motor. As I said before we have 165 hours of diagnosing and we're no closer to locating the knock. The only common denominator with the few guys that have worked on this motor is that none of them have inspected the bottom end of this motor to include the guy that they have looking at it now.