I went 12.03 and then this happened... (BIG DUW!)

A little background... this past weekend I ran my best time ever, a 12.03, and on the last pass I made (which would have been an 11 second run based on the 60' and 330'!!!) I missed 4th and jammed the tranny into 2nd. Needless to say this wasn't good and below are the results of that mishap. Looks like I need all new exhaust valves and springs at a minimum.

I tore it down last night and here are the results.

I hit every exhaust valve, the pictures tell the story. It could have been a lot worse though...

I have NO idea what I'm going to do at this point. I spent all my "car fund" on my front suspension and theres nothing left in it. I can probably swing new valves and springs, but I hate to NOT do something with my well worn shortblock at this point since I'm already in there. I just don't know what to do...

To keep this tech, is there anything else I should check before I put it back together?

Thanks for the sympathy guys, I appreciate it.


As for how it happened....
After my 12.03 run I was kicking myself knowing that I was so close... had I known that maybe I could have nailed a shift quicker or something. Well, instead of just doing what I always do I got greedy and put too much effort into shifting and on the run after the 12.03 pass I missed 4th. This really made me mad because it WAS my 11 second run. Here's how close it was...

my 12.03 run.........versus.........would be 11 second run
60'......1.649...........................1.627
330'.....4.920..........................4.891

There's no use comparing the 1/8th mile on since I shift to 4th BEFORE the 1/8th and missing the shift there screwed up the run from there on out.

So on the next pass I was frustrated that I missed out on my 11 second time slip. This frustration led me to again force the gears instead of letting them go in on their own. When I missed 4th again instead of just aborting the run I got pissed off and pulled with all my might to get it in... only I pulled towards me and back. I have since discovered what I believe to be a big reason for this... when I race I sit INCREADIBLY close to the steering wheel so I don't have to "reach" for ths shifter. On this day I forgot to re-adjust my seat and this reach had me pulling the shifter towards me and not straight back. It sounds dumb but when you are shifting AS FAST AS YOU HUMALY CAN you don't have time to think "am I pulling it to the side instead of staright back?" All in all, it was MY fault and not the tranny or the shifter, I just tried too hard and screwed up. I think the tranny is fine as I drove it down the shut down area and back into the pits and up onto the trailer.

As for WHY the valves hit... it wasn't a PTV problem. For those that don't know I've had this combo together since 2001 and it has be run at the track more times than I can count and I checked it way back then. Hell, I've tagged the factory 7000rpm limiter a few times by accident (before I lowered it to 6400 last fall), and I have made dyno pulls to 6300 with NO PROBLEMS and NO signs of valve float. What I think happened in this case WAS valve float and it occured from the sheer speed at which I accelerated the motor/valvetrain when I let the clutch out at 80mph in 2nd gear. Going from 3rd to 2nd at 80mph probably only resulted in ~300-400 more rpm (based on gear ratio) so it wasn't a massive amount of rpm that did it I don't think.
EDIT: BOY was I wrong about this... I did the calculations and low and behold it was more like 8400rpms when I hit 2nd... OUCH! I don't know what I was thinking when I said 300-400

I'm glad you guys like the K member, it really does look good. I am very pleased with it. Thye new suspension definitely works as I almost stalled the car on my first run because it hooked so good... I launched at 4500 and it pulled the wheels off the ground and then BLAH it bogged and I almost bit the steering wheel! LOL! I dropped ~60-65lbs with it.

DonJohn- At most I can save a $100/month for the car fund, so as you can see it will be a LONG time before I am able to get it up and running again if I have to wait on that.

Rob- I understand your fear, but look at how long I have raced this car. Honestly this is the FIRST time since I started racing it in '97 that I had to have it trailered home from the track. That's pretty impressive concidering how much I race it. I wouldn't worry too much about it. Its not like you are going to be launching off the limiter on slicks, if you were THEN I'd be a little worried about your stock rear and such.


Striped- what you said about running 11's with what I have is the internal delema I'm going through right now. Honestly in my heart I did it, even though I don't have the paper slip to prove it. Looking at what it ran and what it would have run with the timeslips have lets me know I accomplished what I set out to do, and that was to run 11's WITH THE CURRENT COMBO of "little" parts without changing anything on the motor, but it would be nice to have that little piece of paper with it printed on. I just don't know what to do at this point. I HONESTLY was DONE racing my car after I ran an 11 second pass...now with this I don't know whether or not to just retire the car now and put it back together as quickly as possible and just enjoy driving it on the street, or up the ante a little and do some more work while I'm in there and have at it one more time to see how far INTO the 11's I can go. I promised my wife and family that I was done chasing the clock once I hit 11's and I plan to hold to that, but if I decide to go back for that 11 second slip, should I try and do a little more now to REALLY blast into the 11's???