Boom #7, blew up torque converter, broke spider gear in posi

Intro  Boom #1  Boom #2  Boom #3  Boom #4  Boom #?  Boom #6  Boom #7  Boom #8  Boom #9  Boom #10

Well, my TH400-based drivetrain turned out not to be bulletproof.  I got about 20 total passes out of it, about 5 of which were aborted for one reason or another.  This was going to be my day to run a 9.x.  The first pass on a cold track was 10.097, so it seemed within reach.  The second pass didn't go so well.  Long story short, the 10" Coan torque converter broke, as did one of the spider gears in the posi.  The pic on the left shows converter dust in the tranny pan, the pic in the middle shows the broken tooth laying in the rear cover, and the last pic shows the toothless spider gear.

The TH400 survived just fine, needing only a thorough internal bath courtesy of recommended shop Golden Gate Transmissions in Pleasanton (CA).  They also performed the surgical attachment of a new UltraBell, which gets me one step closer to NHRA legalness.  The Coan salesguy refused to compensate me anything for the blown up 10" converter >:-(, but I bought a new 9", 4500 rpm stall from them anyway, as well as the UltraBell.  The pic below shows the patient after surgery showing off the driveshaft loop from local f-buddy and welder Alan Blaine.

The 12-bolt is getting a BOE rebuild and a set of heat treated gears from Tom's Differentials.com.  Maybe I can get more than 20 passes on this setup before the next thing breaks.

Since the car was on jack stands (again!) waiting for the new drivetrain bits, it seemed like a good time for new header gaskets.  The first 'uh-oh' was the sooty #7 plug.  Then there was the coloring in driver side header shown below.  The reason for the carbon became obvious when I inspected the plug boots.  It's kind of amazing that the car went 10.097 on wires like this.  Then there was the melted poly engine mount - not something I ever expected to see.  Be sure to click on the thumbnail for a better look.