Engine Blowing Time   

Well, if you push your engine hard enough, don't have things perfectly matched, have bad luck, or any combination of these...you are bound to throw a rod or two.  In my case I threw two!

It was May of 2001 and I had my first track time at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colorado.  I did very well for my first time out, was competitive with all the cars on the track.  Toward the end of the day I was gaining confidence and began pushing it pretty hard.  At the end of the back straight, I was gaining ground very fast on three Vipers so I began breaking hard.  I was still catching them too fast going in to the 180 degree turn so I down shifted.  BOOM!  The Cobra shuddered then the rear wheels locked up and the rear end starting coming around to the right side.  I started breaking at about 120 MPH and by now I was probably doing about 80 MPH with the car heading sideways right for the Vipers!  The only place to go was into the grass so that's where I pointed it.

To make a long story short I didn't hit any thing but when I came to a stop in the grass I soon learned that I was done for the day!  I bumped the starter but it was dead.  When we got it towed back to the pits we jacked it up to see what was wrong.  I was hoping for a locked differential,  a bound transmission, or broken drive shaft.  No such luck.  The pictures below tell the story on a grenaded, NOS, formally beautiful, 427 Ford Side Oiler engine. 

Bumps tell the story This is how we were able to tell what happened while still at the race track. The bumps tell a story of destruction inside the engine. At this point I realized that loading the car on the trailer was the only thing left on that day.	Easy in...Easy out The engine came out later that week. Emotionally speaking, it is harder to take them out than to put them in.
Pull the pan To see what really happened and how bad it was we had to put the engine on the stand, flip it over, and pull the oil pan.	OMG It looks like a bomb went off. Metal chunks were every where.
Nothing but expensive chunks After spending 6 hours I got the engine apart. Several pieces had to be cut out with a torch. I would learn a week or so later that the rod cap on the number 7 rod let lose. It had a defect in the casting and broke in half. When it came loose it cratered it's mate in the number 3 cylinder. After letting lose one or both of these rod materials traveled up to break the camshaft in several peices which then started a free for all on the other cylinders' valves, pistions, etc... This was very expensive!