07/13/2026
Had the damper not walk off the crank snout on its last bottom 10 sec outing, there would’ve been a 9.9x sec slip no doubt. We tuned Mike’s 2.3L whippled Lightning a couple years back and unfortunately his last track visit ended with a damaged crank snout. We were not the builder, but from the looks of it the balancer was not seated/torqued properly. He brought us the motor to inspect and repair with the help of Owens Racing Engines. A new crank, oil pump, some fresh bearings, coated piston skirts, and an ATI balancer with a FFRE crank stud to hold it together. We degreed in the old cams, changed a few items and as requested, a heater delete cooling mod. We also provided Mike a new Circle D 265mm converter to help obtain that elusive 9 sec slip soon!