hey guys and girls you are the best. i took bbc advise and drained the oil and nothing out of the ordinary. but i decided to go ahead and take the pan off. and i couldnt belive it . i had a couple peices of timing gear in the pan . and as i was looking thru the pan i found that the cam pin had fallen out.so motor is out and headed to the shop. at least i found this bug that had had me stumped.alls good and maybe with any luck i will be out and running the car next weekend.thanks for all the replys. all you know that this is a tough sport and only we know what it takes to do it. and all the help we can get is more then welcome.and thanks to a great site like this it all can happen miles away.