My heart sunk reading your narrative. I assure you everyone in the Waco community will help in any way we can. Not just getting you back in the air but providing you information to help you get the most enjoyment out of your Waco.
I added a Great Lakes to my flying stable in 1987 and have been flying two wingers ever since. I waited 22 years, after I had this tailwheel thing all figured out, before I ground looped a 1929 Waco CSO in front of the crowd at the 50th NATIONAL WACO CLUB REUNION! If your going to screw up might as well do it in front of 50 of the finest pilots around. Over the next two days almost every one of them came up to me and shared their story of when they ended up in the weeds.
Fly your Bo up to the National Biplane Fly In, http://www.nationalbiplaneflyin.com, held a short hop North in Junction City KS on the first weekend in June. Plenty of biplane drivers and the hangar flying will be worth the trip. That way you can get the lay of the land before you bring your Waco up next year.
Don't hesitate to email me at biplaneflyin@gmail.com if I can help in any way or if you just want to talk Waco.

Well we got good news today exactly 4 months after the accident. The insurance company is going to pay for the repairs to our engine and Radial Engines is forecasting sometime in September to get the engine back to El Paso for a reinstallation.

Because of the prop striking the air cleaner retainer plate the decision was made to tear down the engine for inspection. It was sent to Radial Engines in Guthrie, Oklahoma for the teardown and inspection. It took about two months to get it torn down unfortunately. When it was, boy was I glad we decided to tear it apart.

The number 4 cylinder was cracked and number 5 damaged. The number 4 rod was bent and a 1.5 inch square piece of the #4 cylinder skirt had broken off and gone flying around the engine engraving things. As Steve Curry put it a "catastropic" engine failure was just a matter of time.

Well fortunately the repairs aren't all that expensive and even more fortunately the insurance company is going to cover them. Pehaps best of all we have avoided a potentially disastrous situation down the road.

Maybe we'll get to fly this beautiful airplane in the cool autumn air...

Wow, I guess it could have been worse.. Still it is a sad situation I can't imagine how ya felt.

At least everyone is OK.

I recently toured the Waco / great lakes factory in Battle Creek, really nice folks.

I want one...

Glad you're making progress with the repairs and were able to discover the hidden engine issues.

Geeeez, was this engine damage due to the prop hitting the air filter plate?????

Or, are you thinking the damage was there and you found it coincidentally to the ground loop examination?

Either way, good luck on getting her back in the air soon as possible.