hydrualic lock is do to the fact that water cant be compressed as air can when your piston comes up.if for some reason your cylinder should become filled with water? the result would be bent or broken rods and pistons, cracked cylinders and a big mess!
I have been reading these posts concerning the problems of water in or around the engine. i have driven many a car with NO breather, and in some cases no hood or no sides on the engine compartment. A 28 dodge.never have I had problems with water in the engine or on the ignition system. if the water went into the engine via a carb, then it was burned off. Always replaced ign wires regularly wether needed or not.Have driven thru rain storms for hours to get home and had no problems. JMO
The cars I was refering to that hydro-locked were LSx powered Camaro/Firebirds with an aftermarket intake that was equivilent to a 4" diameter straw. One end of the straw is sealed to the engine, the other end sucks 'ram air' from right over the road surface. Some unfortunate souls have installed these aftermarket ram air systems, and then hydro-locked their engines by driving through puddles. My point was that unless you get extreme like this setup, you are unlikely to have a problem. Edit: This is one of the systems I was refering to. If you have a scoop down in the rain puddles like this one, then worry. Otherwise you'll probably be okay.
I think the other guys covered it. Our own staff even got burned. One of our apprentices had a Prelude with a cold air intake. The filter was down low and he hit a flooded area under a bridge. The engine sucked up the water like a shop vac and hydraulic'd the engine. Water doesnt compress on the compression stroke. Broke a rod and grenaded the motor. Cost the insurance company 9500 bucks. He took the cold air intake off the new motor. Seen a few Neons do it too and just today one of our guys is pulling the motor out of a 2007 Magnum. The factory air intake is below the bumper. Had a ton of rain up here couple of weeks back. MAgnums dont make good boats. Good friend of mine did it to his Chevy deisel. Those Isuzu v8 diesel parts are expensive. oops. These are all from people trying to drive through flooded areas. Not a good idea.
This thread is getting interesting... and *NOW* 25 years after blowing the engine in my GS one day at high school - turned the key and it went click - THUD - click - THUD - click - VROOM and all this white smoke billowed and cleansed my glasspacks of the cursed carbon buildup (HUGE black splotches on the concrete floor) came out - my shop teacher said it was a cracked block, now I know it was also HYDRAULIC LOCK.... Attached is the neato Cadillac/Olds repop air assembly I'm lookin at... alleviates the problem of debris and water hitting the air filter directly. $130.00 US. And my extra two bits worth... many friends are horrified when I take to washing their cars or mine and they see me pop the hood and turn a hose on the engine to clean it first. I figure that if there's a loose wire, crack, corrosion, etc it will become obvious when you wash the engine then try to restart the car. The Buick GS's distributor is underneath the hood scoops... if you have loose plug wires or micro cracks in the cap it will become apparent when the car misfires or won't start.
whisky, I ain't skeered. I always hose off my engines. I rarely have issues, be it old or new car. Usually I will have to dry out the distributor on a 302... but that's about it.
I "hosed off" the engine in my truck just this morning. unfortunately it was the heater hose to the top of the block while doing 70. fortunately there was no real damage.
i race mine in rain all the time with an obnoxious scoop on it and never have a problem...that b*tch must ctch a gallon an hour, lol... in fact, if you're really interested in how well water/fuel mix, heh heh, we can talk about the water injection I (and many others) run. 50/50 methanol/water injected directly into the intake... instantly becomes steam and destroys carbon on contact in cylinders, *tricks* motor into thinking it is higher compression than it is (steam displaces air in the compression pocket) thus allowing for more boost with no knock Its fantastic and an OLD idea... germans used in in fighter planes in the second world war.... along with nitrous oxide and turbo charging.
Ah, THAT's where your name comes from! The car is awesome. I think PAINTANK is gonna wet himself when he sees those pics.
Hey man, THANKS! That means a lot from someone with a car as clean as yours. My car isn't for everyone (or most anyone, lol) but I LOVE it. It'll be semi-flat black again soon which brings the look even closer... but my fav part is the exhaust dude. those 8 seperate pipes will exit on each side in front of the rear tires and sweep up just a bit and back a bit. Ohhhh..... spring can't come fast enough!! heh heh anyway, thanks again.
I am diggin' the exhaust. That, and the flat black paint will really complete the look! I don't know, it's hard to explain... By itself any one "mad max" aspect of your car wouldn't necessarily do it for me, but the weathered look with those wheels and tires, the perfect scoop sticking out of the hood with a blower... It's great. And I love how it has the drag race look to a point but without the skinny tires up front. It looks like it was made to do ridiculous things on the road, maybe even occasionally off it, but not just at the track. It's death and destruction and mayhem on wheels. All it needs is weapons.
Thanks! I actually have a larger set of slicks on it now... we mini tubbed it and narrowed the rear 9" axel, moved the springs inboard, etc etc. Took all year, lol. If you have enough interest, you can email me dude and I'll send you a bunch of pictures, etc. thanks again ...and spare fuel tanks with a bomb. I dunno man, that movie basically started me into a life long hobby that became my job. I watched it 20 years ago and haven't wanted my cars to look or behave differently since, lol. All my junk- even my jeep- looks like it was beat on in either mad max or the road warrior (we never, EVER, mention that tina turner...THING.) I never win jack sh*t at car shows but a lot of gear heads give me thumbs up, I assume because it reminds them of the movie. thats cool with me! (note in the pics below the rear of the car is partially disassembled...even I normally have a deck lid, glass bumper and tail lights ...though they are blacked out, lol)
