overly high compresion psi

[Theo]

Thanks to everyone, for your input and thoughts,i already had spoke to the owner of this cool old car about running higher octane gas even if it means mixing expensive race gas with the best pump gas we have in SoCal(91)

Your So Cal 91 Octane gas is not what this car is designed for. Even our most expensive 98 Octane gas in Germany can not satisfy my 10,5 :1 V8. Pinging is normal if you're too enthusiastic w. the gas pedal. But again, try to reset the distr. and advance curve accordingly.
An other idea is that you could possibly machine the piston domes. Not the best idea I think as you would degrade the quench area. I would suggest not to machine the top of the dome, but the step. but if no other option like better gas, timing, cam advance etc. can help and if the customer is a nervous member of the Angels or you're trapped in kind of a "Lost Highway" (By David Lynch) situation , then seriously consider it.

[DjGriff]

Hello, every one ,well i put it all back together timed it and it fired upon the spot.After taking around the bock a feww times i noticed it started to run a bit rough and after checking everything found the carb base gasket was leaking. i pulled the 2bbl motor craft and found a 1/4in gasket with another thin paper gasket that was under the thick one this is the way the thing came to me and when looking for a new gasket all the listings said 2 of the thin gaskets were called for . that seems to mean there must be a spacer or seperator plate originaly, the carb is new and after cleaning the old gasket off both the inake and carb i cut my own (Holley 2bbl would work) put it back together and it was running great(accept for the slight ping under load) the owner showed up exited to get his ride back .i told him it was good to go and as soon as i could start it it went rough again .not missing but rough from the slight vauum leak that i told him about he got in to drive it and now there was some water (steam) staring out the tail pipe. not a lot at first but it did increase some and then he got upset and said ther were no brakes i got in and there was no power assist but there was brakes. which he went on to tell me that when he had taken it to the car wash this happened 2or three times before. he left up set and i was wishing for that David Lynch world you mentioned. Iam a damed good wrench and was sure the vaumm leak probably left the bakes a bit un assisted .I pulled into my garage as my customer left trying to tell me i new about this and just as i expected to fred flinstone the bakes ,i was almost tossed into the steering wheel .power brakes decided to come back on line. now all of this leads to the real and new problem. the water i mentioned ,well now this thing is putting water through the motor almost as fast as i put it in.I did not build this thing originaly but when i pulled the intake and front cover i found there were a few mistakes like the oil galley plug(infront and inline with the distributor was missing and the intake gaskets were inslalled flipped so the end that was clearly marked FRONT> was now at the back of the engine. I corrected these things when i put it back together and every thing was great it did not leak water ,it ran smooth (untill the slight intake leak) and that had me going cause it was a slight leak(Vacuum) this happened well after dark so i did not spot the fact that water was now running through it like a steam bath.I have not checked the comp yetafter this happened but did check it after the first running after re assembly and it was all even and 220-225 i checked the Intake manifold bolts and all were tight .most of the water is going through the pass side . i know the owner is going to try to tell me it is my fault even though he brought to me because from the day he got the car no one could get it running correctly. there is vacuum at the water capon the overflow even though there is steam even coming from the breather the tailpipe and as long as it has water the engine temp reads normal i am going to check comp in the morning but for some reason i do not think the head gasket blew,if i fill it with water right now it will run great untill it warms and then it becomes a mobile steam machine. i know these MELs have a strange cooling system but it has me well beyond anything Lynch could ever dream up. I know this is a long one and i am working without a Lincoln shop/overhaul manual (I told the owner he should have one for anyone that works on the car and i got the look like im making excuses . the owner has seemed to be a good guy but now i am taking a loss on all time not to mention my reputation.

[Theo]

Sorry to hear about your hassle w. the customer. How does the water look like when you open the radiator or the expansion can? Does it have white grime swimming on top?