Well here is what shut me down for the weekend (see photos), two pieces of an intake valve on cylinder #6. found the smaller piece in Cylinder #1 and the larger piece stayed in 6. i bought the engine from someone off Team Baja Marine and it was fresh out of Merkel Race Engines in L.I., but guess they did not put S.S. Intake valves and Imconel Exhausts in. so the intakes being in a damp environment began to pit last season and it just so happened while tuning it saturday, #6 cyl. intake gave way and shut me down for the hudson run.
Anthony (Nordic95) - i talked to frank, he is extremely busy and will call me tomorrow to see what he can do and provide his pricing. but i was just told there is a guy (mike or mark bend?) right here in Greenwood lake who has a machine shop right in his garage and does crazy roundy round motors. so i am going to give him a call and see what he might be able to do. might be a diamond in the ruff. the guys i talked to say this guys engines are bullet proof, he worked for Olsen engines for years then decided to work out of his house and do it for him self. they say his garage is spotless as well. that is a big plus in my book (not to say mine is in any way, shape or form) but by engine being built by someone like that makes me feel a lot better when i drop a few grand.
also, as per our discussion about reversion, frank stated if did not see water in the oil, then he highly doubts with the CMI exhaust i had a reversion issue. he feels it was mainly due to the cheap valves in the heads.