I put a catch bottle on the outlet of my crankcase vacuum pump and it would pick up a bit of oil after a pass. This is even after the oil catch before the vacuum pump.
So then I got the idea to skip the vacuum pump altogether and open up the vent on the oil fill cap and see if the engine would do better with the crankcase fully vented to atmosphere versus just the 3/8th vacuum port, and it put a bit of oil out the vent into the catch bottle. This was not un-expected because my lash adjuster oil pressure regulator returns to the oil fill tube, so any gases going up the tube have a direct shot of oil entering the air stream.
It did okay, but oil pressure was a little wobbly at the end, so I thought I'd add a 1/2 quart of oil and then really wind up the rpms to see if I could crack into the 14's. But it wasn't meant to be. It nosed over very hard at the top end of 2nd, then a bunch of smoke coming out from under the hood, though oil pressure was still good. Turns out it nearly filled the oil catch bottle, then proceeded to oil down the engine bay. Called it the day and week. I finished Drag Week 2018 and the car still ran.
Then a friend of mine in Montana was rolling home with an empty trailer, so we loaded the car up on his trailer so I could fly home with my family.
Then in October I flew up to Montana and picked up the car to finish it's drive home.
Made it home!!
Now, I want to put the rear axle back in my Skylark and put the 8.5" back in. I've decided to buy some upgraded moser axles for the 8.5" and put in the 4.56 gears I have on the shelf. I figure the gears are good until I run about 108mph in the 1/4, depending how well the new engine and head breath. At which point I can decide if I want to go back to the 3.42 gears or buy a 9" rear end with a different ratio. At some point over the winter I'll get the other engine together.
