Thanks for the positive outlook, I have a sneaking suspicion as to the cause of the failure which is that I had re-use my old Duraspark II distributor, I initially tapped it down into place, realized I had to jump it over a few teeth and pulled it out only to discover that crud had fallen out from inside it and landed all over the first few lobes! I thought I got it all off but maybe it appears I was mistaken. I am always weary of break in and cranked to 2500 for exactly 30 minutes, took about 15 or 20 before I noticed a rattle
. The cam broke in 93.7% perfect anyways
. I shudder to think of the cost of even new head gaskets, but when I think of what I paid for my rotating assembly the cost of new rings, bearings, gaskets and a hot tank doesn’t look so bad. Then again I'm only 20 and this is a Mustang coupe not a Cobra. This is a very difficult (and painful) decision for me. Thanks very much for the first post, the center springs will not be present next time during break regardless, I never thought of that. hmmmm its 4:30 AM in New Hampshire, I believe I’m loosing sleep over this.