A few weeks back i hurt 4 pistons,the part numbers off the pistons were stamped on the bottom of the heads(mike ware keeps yelling at me for shifting that motor like a small block chivy)anyway some of the pistons were smashed and pinched the ring lands,i had a race event at brown county last weekend(and new pistons wouldn,t make it here for that event) So i McGivered the pistons with a file,My cranking Compression numbers were way down and i had no vacume numbers to speak of,I had promised the owner of brown county that i would be there...even knowing my motor was hurt We still went...first pass off the trailor(motor only)the bird went it fastest ever in a 1/8 mile..5.96 @ 118 mph(i was still in second gear going threw the traps)and on spray...i,m saveing that # for bigtimeauto if he shows up next month at MIR...bottom line don,t be afraid of takeing chances and don,t be afraid of being a McGiver..It worked for me.

heck glad it worked for you....

ive installed an adjustible pushrod in an old motor ..durning an event..it was eating up a cam lobe...we just kept adding adjustment to the pushrod to allow the car to stay running..as we where going rounds.. i even slid a borrowed 1.7* rocker on it..and it was worth $900.00 for a runner up..
you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes...
like guys ive seen install and or rebuild transmissions inbetween rounds...
or pulling a trans from a round loosers car or heck i was at an event NMCA
where a guy borrowed the drivers door from a spectators montecarlo..just to stay in the race..
they took the door off the spectators monte and put it on the race car..
they didnt even know each other before this ...he just asked the guy...and he said yes..


cheapst

Why didn't you just pull a piston out of the Super Bee? Duct tape a couple beer cans around it to take up the slack, and have at it? It's just a 383...

I'm drinkin vodka, is that ok?

A variation of your story.. Don't quit... This happened in 97 at The March Meet


I spent a couple years helping out on the "Gold Rush" car Owned & Driven by a Madman named Greg Meek...27 Ford Altered body, BBC blown alky...We split a cylinder in the last round of qualifying but did get in the show at #15...No spare engines floating around in the ol'"Easy Bake Oven" & if you saw his old trailer you'll know just what I mean..;I drove my Challenger into Bakersfield to the Home Depot & bought a couple bags of thinset tile grout & we mixed it up & did a poor mans block fill..Put the engine back together & in the morning we fired it up & it actually sounded pretty good..BTW the night before the #17 qualifier was in our pits trying to get Greg to drop out..Most of the guys in NE stopped by for a chuckle.."Would you look at those idiots pouring grout in their engine" ;Anyway first round we didn't know what to expect but we fired it up & greg did his burnout, we backed him up & watched the fun..The lights came down & Greg nailed the tree & ran a 7.503...Got the win & had the best time of the round ;Second round we were up against the #1 qualifier...He'd been running consistent but Greg had gone slightly quicker...As the lights came down we knew this was gonna be a drag race...If the Tile Grout Special would just stay together..When the last bulb lit there was a bright red glow in the other lane!!! ;
...Round Three we had lane choice & the car ahead of us scattered his engine at about 50 feet out...We swapped lanes while the cleanup was underway ;Greg had a leisurely 7.80 pass to win against his opponent who was skating all over the right lane We're in the finals!! The car in the other lane I'm sure Ron knows it's an old yellow steel Topolino body with a 392 Hemi in it...Anyway It's getting pretty late & the sun has gone away Greg rolls out & does his burnout & the guy it the Topolino procedes to try doing a John Force style burnout...Well Austin Coil didn't screw his ol'392 together but who ever did had better take another look cuz somewhere around 8,000 rpms pieces of debris started raining all over the starting line... ;Sorry for him...But We'll take the Win!!

Great stories and props to Roseville , Minnesota's own R.D. Anderson.