???

 

 

lift the ring lands?

 

PICS?

 

 

 

no, no lifted or pinched lands, tune was perfect. all the rings were sealing perfect (total seal AP, top gapless)

no, couldn`t bring myself to document that kind of destruction, at least close up. I do have video`s of it`s last pass though. We were at Ubly in the thumb of MI and it was during time trials on it`s third pass of the day when it happened. I have to say we were curious as to what was going on and had been looking into why but the car had lost 3 tenths on motor the weekend prior and was down at ubly also. Timing was checked, valve lash ran again, jetted it up w/ no change and jetted down only losing ET. We did a leak down which showed all the holes had a 6-8% leak which I felt was not bad for nearly 200 passes on the short block. Upon tearing it down, I found the cam dowel had bent to the right probably retarding the cam timing a bit and I found the rotor screws had worked loose.
In the end the #7 hole was completely destroyed, split, I mean almost window`d the cylinder wall ( 2 inch wide chunk top to bottom ) lost both valves, the chamber was beat to hell from the exhaust valve rattling around, the intake tulip was shoved up the intake port, the intake and exhaust seats blew into a hundred parts and peppered the rest of the cylinders and pistons,chambers. Actually the slug still had most of the crown left and both skirts, the rod has a slight tweak in it, rest of the lower end is fine and all the valvetrain as well.

On the pass... I have to admit I should have shut it down WAY quicker but never having a motor go this big it all happened in the blink of an eye...by the time my finger went for the kill, it hydraulic`d

I know it`s like the "one that got away" story but the damn car went a 1.26 60` and was on a run to the 8.80`s had a 32N and 24F in the nozzles. Looks like big $ to fix this thing now

 

damn scott, that's awful...

 

. yea, it happened last weekend and I`m only now able to speak about it I got the heads with a really good local porter who is going to fix them up and do some tune up on them and the block is at the machine shop getting a half fill and a sleeve...I got my eye on a set of Probe slugs since the lunati`s I have have been discontinued and only 6 are avaliable for the low,low price of 124.50 each ...

ahh...here`s the vid`s anyhow..EDIT.no sound on them..let me sort this out

 

man that sucks bad, how'd that 1.26 60ft feel tho? have you ever been that fast to the 60?

 

It`s been 1.28 before but on new tires, these things have 50+ runs on them and to be honest have only been cutting 1.33-1.38`s. I was shocked it did that, but we had been playing with the air and shock settings for the previous runs to get it to bite.

Here`s those magical moments never mind that farm truck in the first one..The guy had a problem with his car and decided to still run !!

 

I've had my share of catastrophic engine failures over the years. What's going in next, 540, 572, 632?

This is from my last engine failure a few years ago. I had to put 2 sleeves in the block.

 

Sorry, to hear about that. There are alot of good deals right now on engines. If you have the means, you can get an engine that runs pretty close to the 8's without nitrous. I looked at building new one and it wasn't worth it. I found an engine that was built by someone I knew of and fresh with all good parts for a third less than building plus it came complete from carb,pan, water pump and fogger. The bright side is the thrill of the hunt for the new parts. I think I enjoy that sometimes more than racing.

 

Wow..thats ugly!! I`d LOVE to put a 4.5 bore in this car but the only way I could afford to do that is with a used up bowtie block or an O.E 502 block...this year has been so bad on money there`s no way to invest in a 2000$ block at this time. I`m going to have to put this back together and I`ll be scrapping to do that even. I have a couple of slugs here I could get a pic of, really NASTY though. I`m going to sleeve the block and half fill it and go .070 over. While it`s down though a few changes will be made, the heads are getting fixed but they are also going to be giving a proper valve job, exhaust ports tuned up and 1.90 valves added, a intake port match and a slight cc decrease, should yield a good 25-30 hp hopefully. I`m really amazed on how rough the valve job from AFR was, compared to a new set of dart 320`s that is. Dropping in some new intake valves for peace of mind and a new set of springs.
Camshaft needs to be adressed also, I`d like to make the same power or better without zinging it to the moon, need to spread the centerlines too for the bottle.

 

The Dart Big M block is incredibly strong. The bare block is 260 pounds and you can see how much metal is around the bottom of the cylinders even on the outside of the block. Even though I had 2 cylinders sleeved, the sharp edges of the damage at the bottom of the cylinders could have been smoothed and the block reused with little else done to it.

I have 2 factory castings sitting in my garage that have been bored out .070" (469 with 4" stroke). One has had too many line hones for my liking. The other is still rebuildable and some day I may finish putting it together just to have as a mild spare. I have a third 454 block that threw a rod. It needs a sleeve before it can be rebuilt. I got a good deal on it just to get the 781 heads.

 

Icky, hate to read about that kinda stuff, and i feel your pain about not having excess funds laying around. Good luck with the new one...they always seem to be, or always end up being, "a bit better than the one it's replacing" LOL!!!

Glad nothing windowed and the shiney side stayed up....bad situation, but coulda been worse.

 

Oh yea, your so right..I`ve always been on the other side of the fence (never blowing and engine big) but everyone gets their turn sooner or later, I know I`ve read quite a few of your posts over the years as well as many others. Now is a good time to "expand" while it`s down for repairs but I think it`s just going to be given a new set of slugs / rings / bearings, the work to the heads and possibly a new camshaft, it should run the same #`s if not better when it gets completed.

 

Sucks to hear man. Guessing it was all caused by a dropped valve? Sucks, but it's just an unforetunate side to this stuff. I've posted the pics of my last catastrophy enough I'm sure everyone has seen them by now.


I just junked a 4-bolt 454 block because it needed line honed and a sleeve. If you do that and have it true decked, you'd be money well ahead to get a dart block. - That said, I've pushed a GM 2-bolt block beyond 1k hp and haven't had any issues with it. It does have the mains strapped though, we did that when we went from 10% OD on the blower to 36%. I also run a shorter stroke than most any one, thus less stress on the mains. - The new blower motor will be a GM tall deck +.100 for 477ci, should make around 2k hp.

 

that is one fine ride.
they always run so perfect before they blow.
cant wait to see your new motor.
those were some great video's.
that was a fast time.
best of luck with the new one.
tony

 

Dude that sucks man! your car is awesome and I have followed your progress on here for some time now. Sorry to hear about that but like everyone has said there is a good side to this with a new hopefully more powerful fresh motor ahead. I cant believe on the in car video you werent swearing lol I would have lost my ****. I guess it gets you no where by flipping out but you got some good self control lol. Good luck on the new build and keep us posted!

 

Thanks Tony, It will be a while but it`ll go back together, even though $ is tight I really liked the combo, especially the mid nines on motor

Haha LOL!... You know If I knew what had happened at that point, BELIEVE ME , I would have been well past swearing Honestly your right though, getting mad does nothing. When the car is So loud inside and you have a full face correctly fitting nomex lined helmet on, it`s well lets say "peaceful" To be perfectly honest, I thought I nipped a plug somehow at first, then seeing the smoke trail I knew something more severe had happened but until I pulled some plugs and the grey goop started rolling out like the playdough factory I had no idea.

 

missed this thread

Sorry to hear the destruction man. That car was nasty with that setup