Dropped intake seat, Made a mess. Options

[TrailerParkBoy]

Intake seat let go. Ended up resting at angle to valve (odd location, usually they sit flat if loose?) which ended up taking a chunk from top of piston and scuffing cam lobe from pressure created. Much work ahead of us this weekend :-(

[technicalninja]

Again, reminds me of the importance of AFR and CHT gauges in these cars.

Proper tuning will do.

I’m not against technology but setting timing properly and reading plugs goes a long way, doesn’t cost much, and doesn’t require exhaust mods and wiring.

If technology is wanted to prevent this, need to start looking at knock sensing. On almost every modern vehicle.

One of the problems with air cooled engines is all the noise they emit. Very easy for someone not familiar with knock / detonation to think it is a “normal” noise that air cooled engines make. Detonation kills engines fast.

What do the other pistons look like?

I disagree...
I can read plugs just fine and did high performance builds and tuning before simple O2s sensors were common. It was a PIA to really know just which air correction jets or emulsions tubes were needed until wide band O2 sensors came onto the scene.

Now days if you DON"T use a wide band you deserve whatever happens to your car
.
I'm a wizard at this and I'll install a wide band BEFORE I put our 75 back on the road.
Wide band is far, far more important than a knock sensor.
I will not install a knock sensor until I install a complete stand alone digital ECU.
At this time I may install more than one knock sensor.

Knock sensor saves you when you have a failure. Wide band allows you to actually see the mixture in real time.
I've never had a cylinder head temp sensor on anything but they look seriously important and I will add this well before the digital ECU.