So there I am in my 1942 Ford pickup on the way to Paso, just cruising along minding my own business when I started thinking. I couldn't believe how strong the 327 was running all day long. Then about 50 miles from Paso it happened. <font color="red"> BOOM </font> It sounded like I ran over a bomb with the left front tire of my truck. That sound was followed by metal (lots of it) hitting the ground. Then the sounds of my rear tires running over the metal, then silence. My buddy Jake from Michigan had flown out and was following me in my 60 F-100 and pulled off the road behind me. I opened the hood and he ran back to where the incident happened and came walking up with one of my pushrods. It had come out through the one of the holes in my oil pan. Popped the valve covers off and there were 4 pushrods missing and a bunch of connecting rod-shaped holes in my oil pan. Needless to say we rolled 3-wide in the cab of the 60 and followed the flatbed the rest of the way to Paso. I'll post pictures in the morning. I have to go unload my 42 off the trailer.
No Bueno my friend....hope you had a good time in Paso... Your number came up, and lost... Fix it and you should be good for a long time...Lightning doesnt strike twice....usually...
Ouch! Have a beer and start planning the rebuild. Luckly no one was hurt & life will go on. Good luck!
Post - Mortem Examination pix, please! I'm a sick fuck, I like looking at chewed-up bits o'dead engine...
Good luck OGNC-I feel for ya....last time that happened to me it ruined the crank AND block-cam was a reground"flame hardened" MELLINGS-remember those?-I do -they break into 4 peices and kill you motor!
[ QUOTE ] Needless to say we rolled 3-wide in the cab of the 60 and followed the flatbed the rest of the way to Paso [/ QUOTE ] I really hope someone took a picture of that!
Okay, here are the first of the pictures. These were shot on the side of the 101 on the way to Paso. [image]http://[/image]
My buddy Jake went back and recovered this. He was nice enough to keep it in his back pocket all weekend to taunt me with whenever the subject of engines came up. Thanks!
Your buddy Jake lives in Michigan and he doesn't hang out with those "Gay Michigan" dudes? Sounds like he has a great since of humor and would be fun to have around. If he's back from Paso by this weekend invite him to come out to the house on Saturday nite or, of course, Billetproof on Sunday. Hope your back on the road and cruzn soon
I bought an Impala once that the owner thought had thrown a rod. I pulled the valve cover in prep for removing the heads to make it easier to muscle the engine out and found one of the rockers was crooked. Turned out the pushrod was getting banged up against the valve cover making the noise that sounded like it had thrown a rod. Pushrod wasn't hurt that I could tell. I stuck it back in, adjusted the rocker and it ran fine. Ran into the former owner later that day when I drove the car to a local hangout and he was convinced I had already swapped out the engine. I never had the heart to tell him I fixed it for free! So, how the hell did the pushrods come out of the pan? They drop down thru the lifter bores and get smacked by the crank? The impala I was talking about still had the lifter in the bore. Guess the high mileage ridge held it in.
Well, as close as I can figure, when the connecting rod let go it must have broken up by the piston end and started beating the hell out of everything inside the motor. It must have broken the cam amd let everything fall through the block into the pan. Still haven't pulled the pan off, but I'll bet when I do it is a mess in there.
I think a Bill Mitchell 427 sbc motor swap for the mag is in order...... or a cool caddy powerplant.. Sorry to hear.. I tried looking or you (saw the red/white truck) but you must have been in the bar forgetting your problems...
what Alfster said..... I still have the ball end off one of my pushrods on my keyring as a good luck charm (its working so far), mine was a clattering about 3 hours from home, turn down the radio and its still there....... pulled over, pulled a rocker cover pulled the broken on and the bent one next door and drove to my buddies place about 40 miles on 7...... Would have had it fixed and kept on running on the tour we were on but the local airlines overnight service don't apply at weekends !!! oh and don't ever try to find a 324 Olds push rod in N.Z. luckly I had a spare set at home and a buddy happy to go get em.
Sorry to hear that! Hope you get it fixed soon! FWIW, we did that same thing except on the passenger side on a 327/2speed powerglide, which we put into a Chevy Luv back in Highschool. That was the first vehicle I ever rode in that could pull the front wheels off the ground running almost stock looking tires front and back. Talk about a sleeper! We weighed close to the same as that truck w/o the enigne and tranny! And neither of us were very big at all.
[ QUOTE ] Your buddy Jake lives in Michigan and he doesn't hang out with those "Gay Michigan" dudes? Sounds like he has a great since of humor and would be fun to have around. If he's back from Paso by this weekend invite him to come out to the house on Saturday nite or, of course, Billetproof on Sunday. Hope your back on the road and cruzn soon [/ QUOTE ] Yeah, Jake even knows how to puke on command.
[ QUOTE ] new car club name? The Rod Launchers [/ QUOTE ] How about "The Runover Pushrods?" Just funning ya OGNC. It really sucks to have a motor blow. Hey maybe we can do a rebuild for the OC Thrash.