If you are using VP fuels and especially C-12 and have the carb. close to being perfect then the plugs will look lean, never put much faith when tuning a pulling engine by the plugs unless they are fouled really bad. If it runs good on top end and bottom and the plug fires correctly then you are in business!!

You are not pulling a "stock" motor by no means so LOOSE the red spring!!!!! Anytime you start pumping the power that you are building you will not get the red spring to hold your clutch, and once your clutch starts slipping like you described while under power and full spring pressure then it has started circling the drain. I have had the 3 puck and the 4 puck clutch used in a 47 cid "super stock" then the 4 puck on the 50.0 engine had tons of trouble holding off the line but once locked up worked ok at other end but could not control the lock up at the line and cost me several pulls. The cupped side of the disk goes towards the engine if I remember correctly but you are right you cannot use the 4 puck disk with the 3 disk components. If you have a chunk of aluminum and a lathe you can make your own otherwise call julian and get one from him. A little late for this hint ut don't use any clutch hub that uses the pin, always get a clutch hub that will bolt to the flywheel!! anyway the issues you are having is not uncommon with the red spring, you are making too much power for that spring tension to hold it and you can compress it until it coil binds and it will not solve your problem. When you go to the yellow spring and compress it accordingly, and it has been said here before- use the split lock collars. I use two of them on the back side of the yellow spring when using that clutch. Use a bearing set lock tite on the inner surface once you have them located and tighten them up so that the splits on the collars are 180 degrees apart and you should not have any trouble, just check the spring length occasionally. I whole heartedly belive that when you go to the yellow spring it will/should solve your clutch issues. But you also have to make sure your clutch pieces are in good shape as well. Take the time to put the yellow spring in and check all your clutch components even the teaser spring then give it a try but above all keep us posted!!!    Bruce

I watched the last video, and that was a good hole shot for sure. You did your part right, sounds like it labored just a little when topping out. When you get a chance start your engine let it warm just to where it would be when you get ready to run it, hold it open and let it top out then turn the high speed screw out until it starts choking a little then screw it back in just a little bit, you don't want to run a gas motor lean it will kill you at the other end. Also you want to make sure your idle air screw is screwed in as lean as you can get and still get it to idle, you don't want that circuit kicking in while trying to tune your top end and it will if it is screwed out too much. It sounds like you are really close, What are you setting you ignition timing at? What fuel with what specific gravity are you using. Fuel weight is really what helps these gassers, octane enough so it will not ping but thats as far as I rely on octane numbers it is all in the fuel weight. Depending on your clubs rules, most back in the day limited the fuel weight to 0.750 specific gravity, and getting something as close to that as possible will help. They never issued rules on octane because the octane was never a huge as player in the scheme of things as the fuel weight! Keep on keeping on with it, you have done a very good job with this machine and you are dam close to getting it!!! Let me/us know if there is anything we can help out with!!  Bruce

Randy, before you do anything else or spend any more money. I want to see video of your run with the entire hole shot! This is very very important, when the video starts it sounds like the motor has not topped out yet, these classes with lots of restriction you MUST wind them all the way up at the line then very slowly ease out of the clutch!!!!! There may not be anything wrong at all with your engine, just remember to tune this thing a little rich for gas, not too lean for methanol but above anything else you MUST have a strong hole shot. Engines with heavier flywheels don't build power very well when under load. They MUST be in their power band before you load them. I cannot stress this enough, strong hole shot can make up for a few less ponies and smaller b_lls on the other end if the motor is used properly. DON"T spend any more money or change anything until we can see the entire run starting before you wind up the motor to then end, then we can give you a more definate opinion on how to proceed!!!

I just got back on here after a few weeks away, Really sorry to hear about your crank. Stock cranks will start breaking around 30-35hp, 30lb/ft torque. Quicker if there was a defect in the casting or previous stressing was too great. You are definately moving in the right direction with the Vogel forged crank for reliability and cost effectiveness. If you do weld up the block, here is what I have learned. 1:) hot tank the block first, then pre heat the entire block to 450 F. localized heating will/can cause stress after the welding process is over. For what you are wanting to do I would recomend brazing, you are after more of sealing up than taking stress in that area. DO NOT USE Nickel or stainless steel, it will fail and cause a weak zone all along the edge of the weld with this grade of cast iron, these are not high quality nodular iron blocks. If welding the ports for a massive build up I use cast iron, yes the old cast iron melting/welding process, any thing else I use brazing, do a good pre heat with the entire block, heat the area really strong and move out some just prior to brazing then use PLENTY of flux. The iron will accept the brass if properly done right more like capillary action. You can see the pores of the metal open up then thats the good time to start adding your brass.
  Again, sorry about your mis-fortune with this, if there is anything I can do to help you just let me know or someone else know. This is a great site with a lot of good people willing to share and to help out!!

Good luck, Bruce

Here is what we learned years when switching to methanol. 1: It has been said here already, that methanol will get into your oil. We run gapless rings so it is not really that bad unless you are running really fat on either the idle or high speed. We tune a little leaner sometimes on methanol than gas, I said sometimes; depends on what motor needs. We use "Cenpeco garden go" engine oil, this oil is developed to absorb the methanol so you will not get oil displacement and maintain lubricity. We run straight methanol and can run a set of rings at least one year sometimes two depending on season( a little embarrased to say that!), if you use a top end lubricant with the methanol you will get better results but I would seat the rings in with the straight methanol. 2: Jetting is 150-200% that compared to race gas, we noticed that a engine will rev up on a lean load of methanol and sound great, then when you load it it will fall on its face and act like there is a serious leakage problem with the motor. 3: Its not rocket science, there is nothing to be scared of!!! Tractor pulling you will get more torque and lower engine temperatures with the methanol compared to gas. 3: Alchohol is pickier with head design, depending on how the flow bank and cc is made you can pool alchohol in the head at high speed, you will have a motor that just will not tune on top end no matter what you do>solution-put a second spark plug in strategically located and it will usually fix problem. 4:depending on engine characteristics and what carb. you are running the carb. size can be a killer if it is too big. Alchohol is heavier than gas and if there is not the velocity through the venturi that is strong enough then the fuel will not be picked up good enough. Two motors built the same may require different jets depending on how the motor flows, you can notice a larger range of jet size from motor to motor with methanol, it all depends on the motors air flow.5: There is not one size fits all, every engine will have to be tuned to get optimum performance, no tuning by ear-use egt if you can.

We heated ours until the color change stopped then put the gasket on and torqued the bolts while it was still hot. You don't want to heat it until it melts, just until it get soft. If you don't heat it and put it in then you are basically putting a shim between your head and block and may not seal properly.