After seeing the photo of that nuked Hemi, it naturally made us think of crap that we have blown up or been directly involved with the destruction of. Back in college when running the VW road racing car, we fragged half a junkyard worth of little VW 1.6L engines. Rods through blocks, cams in pieces, total destruction. My dad and I popped the first couple of small blocks we put together for the Nova in the early seasons of running it. Hell, I actually blew up the motor in a demo derby car engine while pulling the car onto the trailer to go to the freaking demo derby!
So what have you done to cause the premature or spectacular failure of an automotive or other type engine. Did it die from neglect of maintenance? Kill it at high rpm? Feed it a fire hose of nitrous? Crank the timing and detonate a motor already slated to die in a junkyard car anyway?
Tell us your horror stories! How have you killed an engine or better yet…engines?
a most bizarre thing I have done, is torque a block back to straight. It ran its first 24 years with no torque plate on initial install. Now making more noise than a cat diesel in a maine cold start..it is stronger than ever.
Brian, remind me not to let you near my engines.
I put a used balancer on a rebuilt 350. Worked the front main cap bolts right out. Main cap fell into pan only to have crank smack it around until it tossed it through the pan. Really neato sounds to hear while on the freeway.
In 1969 I broke a crank in the327 in my 63 Impala and in 1974 I grenaded the entire 350 in my 70 Nova SS. 2 rods hanging out of the side of the block.
That picture of the Magic Muffler puking the bottom end at Lions is my favorite car photo of all time. There is a lot going on in that picture.
Broke a 327 crank in the traps at 7000 rpm in my old 65 Chevelle. Still have a rod and piston on a journal that was hanging out the block. Banged the pan on a wheel stand in my 66 Nova and knocked the drain plug loose. Lost oil pressure and had no warning light. Spun most of the bearings.
My son just blew up his Mother’s (my ex-wife) Windstar POS minivan…drove it with no oil for about 10 miles (yes, it made it). It sounded like 3 monkeys with ballpeen hammers locked in a dumpster. Now he drives a bicycle.
Please fogive me. I was working at a car dealership during the “Cash for Clunkers” fiasco. I am responsible for killing the engines of many cars. We were instructed to drain the oil and pour in a gallon of a substance known as “liquid glass”. Start them and run them until they croaked. We killed some nice cars and trucks but most were crap and those were the ones we had fun doing it to. We would floor the accelerators and time them to see which would last the longest. A Ford F-150 with a 300 ci straight six took top honors at 7 full minutes. Blowing smoke and flames and the radiator like Mount St. Helens. It made a terrible moaning sound as it finally wound down and gasp it’s last. Poor truck.
“… 3 monkeys with ballpeen hammers locked in a dumpster.”
Single best description of metal rending itself I’ve ever heard.
A screw fell out of the bottom of a Q-jet on a modified intake at 5500 rpm on my race Pontiac. It took out four cylinders before the engine stopped. Three on one side, then spit it across and took out one more on the other. Block, four pistons, two rods, and a bunch of valves, all from a 1 1/2″ long screw!