One more lean-out story, and I'll let somebody else shovel the manure! About 15 years ago, I got into building tractor pull engines. A neighbor had a Super Stock class 4WD Dodge truck, and he wanted a little more power. I built him a .060" overbored Dodge 440 engine with a lot of high performance prep work, ported & polished heads, high compression pistons, roller cam, etc. We had to run one 4-barrel carb and gasoline, but otherwise, engine modifications were wide open. I wound up making several dyno pulls at over 700 HP, at around 6,500 RPM. During one max-power run, I heard a little rattle, which must have actually been pretty loud, since I was wearing earplugs, and muffs on top of the plugs. Before I could get off the throttle and the load valve, maybe 10 seconds or so, one piston had developed a hole the size of a half dollar! The measured HP just before the meltdown was 714. I had to do a complete teardown and new buildup to get the piston debris out of the rest of the engine. I still don't know why just one piston failed, but I suspect there was a momentary lean condition on that hole for some reason.
Jerry
