[sand_man]

Thanks for the responses. Sorry I wasn't clear in this thread, I have posted questions regarding my problem(s) in other forums.

The engine only has 42,000 on it, but recently my original rubber centered clutch disc completely disintegrated as I was accelerating hard under full boost. The engine went to redline as the disc let go...I backed off quick, but maybe not quick enough.

I pulled the engine to completely redo the clutch. As the engine was out, I went ahead and did the valve adjustment (I've literally adjusted thousands of valves over the years, so I'm no stranger to it). The engine fired on the first try after it was installed (and after the oil pump was cycled a few times). Seems to sound fine at idle, but as soon as a load is put on the engine, it quickly sounds like an old Beetle or Harley. I can find no obvious cracks in my B&B headers. The headers look snug on the exhaust ports, too. I have checked my valve adjustment twice. I have checked my spark plug connections and firing order one billion times. I have pulled each plug wire one by one as the car idles to determine if one of them is not firing. I have also replaced my spark plugs and checked to be sure they were seated and torqued properly. All is good.

Nope, I'm afraid I have a broken head stud...or some other probelm with the top end - broken ring, burned valve, etc!!! I was just hoping that maybe I picked the wrong "Z1" mark and that perhaps that was causing the horrible and dreaded "ppfftt", "ppfftt" sound! Sort of like the car has a REALLY nasty exhaust leak!

I have posted a question in the "engine rebuilding forum" about how involved to get with my top end rebuild. I haven't decided if I'm gonna split the case and freshen the entire shootin' match up. I'm really looking to keep this as a practical rebuild. I have a B&B intercooler, B&B Headers, K27-7200 turbo, and a stock waste gate spring.