How to apply lava lock

[Greg Jones]

Hey, watch it! Holman Moody archaic?

True story, as a teenager in the early ‘70s I worked on a pit crew for a Ford dirt track car. We bought a used 427 CI motor from H-M that was from David Pearson’s #17 H-M car! The carb that came with it wasn’t what worked best for our racing needs, so for fun I put it on my ‘67 Pontiac GTO. Didn’t fit my needs either, but sure makes for an interesting (and true) story all these years later. I still have a H-M parts catalog here somewhere.

 

[Greg Jones]

A couple of the cars from the era, taken at the NASCAR museum at Darlington, SC.

 

[RattleR]

Hey, watch it! Holman Moody archaic? Heck, I remember Fred Lorenzen, David Pearson, Fireball Roberts, Bobby Allison and Junior Johnson—not to mention Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt—like it was yesterday.

It was yesterday wasn't it?

 

[Jim6820]

From my experience out here on the Left Coast, Ford-engined dirt-track cars were few and far between. We ran mostly Chevy 350’s out here, at least in the sprint cars.

Yeah, those were the days! Sprints were always my favorites as they had a better power-to-weight ratio and were wickedly fast. “Back in the day,” I could be found at the old Vallejo Speedway with the Hardtops and Calistoga Speedway with the sprints.

 

[Greg Jones]

From my experience out here on the Left Coast, Ford-engined dirt-track cars were few and far between. We ran mostly Chevy 350’s out here, at least in the sprint cars.

Same here, I don’t recall any other team racing a Ford. The Chevy stuff was so cheap and plentiful, and you didn’t need to spend $$$ for a H-M motor to be competitive.

 

[KamadoGuy]

Like I said, I've already been down this route. Once the grease fills that thin front gasket, please remember my advice and acknowledge my efforts to help you, rather than trying to discredit my guidance.

I didn't mean to sound like I was discrediting your suggestion. But I already spent eighteen bucks, and I had already installed it.

I cannot peel it off and install a thicker gasket.

I'll see how long this gasket lasts. And then if I do have to replace it, I can try something thicker like you suggested for the vision grill.

 

[Grilltreats]

I’ve had a very different experience than you; three years in and my LavaLock is still working well. Now, just because some of us have had a different experience than you, it doesn’t mean we are trying to “discredit” you. Instead, we’d like to learn why your experience was different.

Can you tell us which model Recteq you installed it on, and some of the specifics of your install like which brand of LL you used, whether installed on the lid or barrel side, etc. Having that info might help us all learn something useful.

Thinking back, I used a FireBlack brand gasket, which many others recommended at the time. It was thin and soaked up grease quickly. It became saturated in just a year at the bottom of the lid and no longer prevented grease drippings. I then replaced it with a thicker LavaLock replacement gasket for a Vision Grill. I believe this is the difference in the results, and with you and the OP selecting LavaLock being the key difference with the results. I admit I forgot about my experience with the FireBlack brand, sorry.