So - I received the news from the shop on Thursday (they tuned on Wednesday, I was out with the fam for break) not good.
Been wallowing in pain and indecision as to how to handle this and what the next steps will be. Deja Vu - Engine failed, again. Same exact situation, same exact failure - same valve. Block is completely toast this time with two huge holes. The first failure was determined to be a valve, the second was determined to be incorrect lifter buckets (double Vs. single) but it appears to be the same issue. After disassembly this weekend Charles now believes that there may be an internal incompatibility with the valves and either the springs or the cams. JWT is flying the head assembly and the corresponding cams/springs down to thoroughly check them over and find out exactly what is going on. This is an opportunity to clear up all issues surrounding this build and better market the parts to make this a dependable configuration. The amount of PM's and inquiries I have received over the last seven months would show this to be a worthwhile VK45 cross platform sales opportunity for JWT. But what still needs to be provided to potential buyers are complete install instructions, a reasonable dependability timeline (miles or hours) and dyno numbers.
Wish I had better news, wish I was posting dyno numbers right now and out driving my FX. The interest level and understanding of this affair amongst my friends in Seattle is pretty much zero, it is very nice to have iS to vent my frustrations regarding this process. I still wonder where I would be right now had I just stuck to all breather/intake mods CAI/TB/Intake/heads/4-2-1's headers and the HFC's......The wholes point on the cams was to increase the pull through the system which still makes complete sense as it will maximize all the new components/porting work.
With Charles 100's of hours (he has been amazing BTW) and my cash outlay for a seemingly simple install this has become extremely expensive for both of us. Plus simply not having my DD for seven months has been a huge PITA.
Hoping for resolve soon, stay tuned.