Track tip

[David Pozzi]

A buddy of mine ran his car at Laguna Seca yesterday, a funny thing happened that could have been serious.



His car puked oil on the exhaust while on the track, flames shot out from under the car from the burning oil mist! Luckily when he backed off, it went out.

The cause was the oil cap came off, it was on very tight but when he started the engine in the pits, the valve cover was jumping up near the filler cap! Further investigation found a snapped rocker stud, the pushrod was hitting the valve cover and flapping it up and down.

Lesson learned:
He was using 1.6 rockers on a Z/28 cam, edelbrock heads with their 7/16" studs. I suspect the 1.6 rockers are not adviseable on the Z/28 cam with an engine that can rev above 7600, the first thing that broke when he put the rockers on was a valve spring, now a stud snapped. I advised he get 7/16" ARP studs and I personally think he should either use 1.5 rockers on that cam or get a cam ground for 1.6 rockers and use the springs that are recomended for that combo.

Either way, carry a fire extinguisher in your car!
David