Last Friday I had occasion to visit my friends Dana and Jon at Custom Automotive Machine in Weymouth, Massachusetts for a story on the nostalgia nitro funny car they have run successfully out of the machine shop. They run another car out of the place as well, which is a 1934 Ford bodied funny car. That machine runs a solid block BBF combo, blown on alcohol. The Ford competes in a regional series which is basically a 6.20 index quarter mile deal. The car is bad fast and has been around long before they started running the Hard Guys Mustang that’s been profiled here on BangShift a time or two. We’re going to recap the Hard Guys season later this week, but first we’re going to show you the literally shattered remains of the Ford engine from the alcohol car.
Shop and car owner Dana Hard has always been a Ford guy, hence the reason that this car has always been Ford powered. The guys thought that they were buying a long term piece with the C&C solid cast aluminum block that they stuck in the car last season, but a high RPM failure caused the absolute mechanical disaster you see here. With a big 14-71 huffer working at 52% overdrive on top of the 526ci engine, this is a combo capable of pushing the funny car into the five second zone. The guys actually dial the thing back to run in the Pro Comp series with its 6.20 elapsed time limit. According to Jon Wall, the driver of the car, the motor had seen some unnatural RPMs at the previous race but the car functioned fine for the rest of that weekend and the guys figured that they could get the last race out of the season from the aluminum rods that inhabited the engine at that point. Those rods had another idea and as you’ll see, one broke and in the 10,000 RPM melee of busted parts, smashed pieces, and metal pulverizing itself, the entire engine was literally destroyed. The right hand (looking at the engine from the front) corner of the engine block was completely broken off. You’ll see photos of the destruction below.
The only saving grace is that this mess happened at the last event of the season so the boys have time to make repairs and get themselves prepared for the Spring. The downside of course is that a nearly $6,000 block is junk as are all of the internals inside the engine. A friend asked me yesterday how many runs the aluminum rods had on them. My response? “One too many.” We’re not sure we have ever seen a solid block killed this bad.
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE ALL OF THE PHOTOS BELOW, THIS IS ONE DEAD SON OF A….
Bit of chemiweld in the radiator should fix that hole!
I think they should be using more silicone on the pan. That would have kept it from coming unglued.
That was a long ride home from the track.
THE END
Loose rod bolt from being stretched too many times at rebuild. crankshaft journal damage, and cap with 2 bolts in it tell the story… expensive
Nothing that a little JB Weld can’t fix.
It was fine when it left….
I looked good just minutes before! we have spares
EXPENSIVE….Big Boom painful fire ball.. hate it when it happens too our car…
Can you put up an address , there might be some side walk racers would pay big bucks for big pieces ..
Bet there are 20 aluminum scavengers hanging out front asking what they are going to do with those pieces. 😛
Porosity In Aluminum Rods. Use A-390, With. More Silicon Dispersion & Depletion. Just An Opinion. Great Chunks !!!
Should get some money for scrap.
Chevy can finally say they won a race against a Ford…..
Ouch needs a bit of help ehh
Uhh… there’s easier ways to get positive crankcase ventilation guys.
“ran when parked…”
it will buff out looks like it hydrauliced
“I can fix it! My old mans a TV repairman, he’s got this AWESOME set of tools!”
SHAM WOW
couldn’t rev a ford in the 70’s & still cant, leave em in the truck there only good for hauler..
Another donation to the Aluminum Gods……