You’ve reached a certain plane of BangShifter zen when you own a hot rod that a) requires billet aluminum rods and b) can break them in awful ways. Such is the case with our pal Dana Hard and his right hand man Jon Wall. Hard is the owner/operator of Custom Automotive Machine in Weymouth, Massachuetts and he fields a 1934 Ford bodied funny car with an alky burning, blown, Ford engine in it. The car is capable of bottom six-second laps with Wall at the wheel. With that level of performance comes some risk.
During the IHRA Nitro Jam event at New England Dragway, the guys totally fragged a motor. They didn’t tear it down at the track, but when it went south, Wall reported that it sounded like a cement mixer and later testing revealed that the motor couldn’t even be turned manually.
When they pulled it apart, they found lots of trashed stuff, including this connecting rod that broke in ways we don’t think we’ve ever seen before.
This is what happens when the aluminum gods get hungry and demand a sacrifice! YIKES!
.JPG "Broken billet aluminum connecting rod")
