First the bad news. We put the engine back together in the maverick after a bout with some broken valve springs and one bent valve (due to broken spring). It was running on 7 cylinders for quite some time. Well, We took it out sat night and Old Guy and I lined up together. The Maverick was on a good run. Went 5.97/115 at the 1/8 but JUST before the 1/8 finish line it developed a NASTY vibration and before I could get it shut down, it was hammering pretty hard. Preliminary diagnosis shows 4 bent valves, broken head, engine won't turn over. All the valves are still in their guides, so its probably not a dropped valve. The way it sounded, it sounded like either the crank broke or the main webbing blew out of the 351 block (common). With 4 bent valves (2 on #4 cylinder and 2 on the #8 cylinder, something had to smack them, probably the piston loose in the hole...so its probably not going to be fixable, at least not cheaply. Good news is that I already have another block fully machined, another steel crank, another set of H beam rods (6.300") and another set of pistons...all it needs is assembled and balanced and it should be ready. The other good news is that I ended up taking top spot in NO/E (footbrake) yesterday in my Mustang. The car was predictable as usual except for the 3rd & 4th rounds where the track went away, but it came back in the 5th & 6th, though the temp was up and humidity was up....and with the alky carb, I knew it was going to be about .4 slow so I dialed up .5 and carried one. Good thing too because in the final round the car felt like it just tried to lock at the finish line (was still running, just lost a LOT of power for a split second), only ran 106 where it should have been 111...but the dial in was still pretty close because I was carrying one. The opponent had plenty of room but at 140 mph, not much time...so he broke out by a few ten thousandths and gave me the win. I believe this is my first win in the Mustang...which is a VERY fun car to drive. I've had several runner up finishes but never a win. Had fun. Was really tired after friday night at Memphis (couldn't sleep at all friday, had to work saturday, went to races sat night, blew the motor in the Maverick...didn't sleep worth crap Sat night either) and I didn't figure I'd make it 3 rounds before going home. Just a lot of luck, picking the right guys to run against and letting the "big boys" take each other out, and at the semi final, I drew the bye run into the final which was REALLY nice. Talk about luck! I don't know what's wrong with the Mustang. It started right back up after coasting to a stop by the ET shack. Oil pressure was fine, trans was fine, everything. The Maverick is down for the rest of the season though. If the head wasn't broken, I could have it back running this weekend. But It just ain't gonna happen unless I had the $$$ for a new set of heads.
Congrats on the win...that's great. Bummer about your Maverick motor, but at least you have a new motor in the works.
got it torn down most of the way. Enough to know what's salvageable. Good news is that the cam is ok. So are the head studs, main studs, 6 rods, 6 pistons, flexplate (I think), damper, intake and 12 valves. One head is broken--rocker stud pad is broken off of the head. There's also a few damaged rocker arms. The crankshaft broke at the rear rod journal. The rod journal is still attatched to the rear main journal, but not attatched to the rest of the crankshaft, so in effect it's a V6 now. In fact, the motor was running when I shut it off....it was vibrating BAD, making funny noises and wasn't going anywhere even though it was running at about 4000 RPM (self-sustaining because there was a nasty air leak at the 2 bent intake valves). The block is cracked at the rear main web, which I expected. Late model 351w blocks are weak in the main web areas. Old Guy will probably post some pics as soon as we can find a camera that works. BTW, this is a 4340 Eagle crankshaft. I doubt that it was the crank's fault, though. It had 2 things going against it...first off, it was running for god knows how long on 7 cylinders (which can cause cracks over a period of time with enough RPM, cylinder pressure and vibration) and the run that it broke, I rattled the tires pretty hard during the burnout which may have added insult to injury. Either way it's screwed.
Man, that's the second head you've broken. (same one or opposite side?) Sorry to hear the bad luck... as i mentioned in your dad's post... built a replica of the mustang motor, and run it forever.... course you'll have to slow way down!
Same head, same place. It was welded up before and machined back flat, but it broke again. Going to have to get new heads anyway. These have been milled down into the valve seats, welded up, machined, 5 different kinds of valves, some of the valves are just plain worn out, no seals, spring pockets are showing wear, and lots of play in the guides. I am thinking about a set of AFR225's IF I can figure out a way to make the headers fit because the ports are raised 1/4" more than teh Victor Jr's were (BFH). And at this point, I don't mind slowing down..it has it's advantages (like making the opponent break out). If I could run that Merkur in the No/E class...I'd do it in a heartbeat. Won't turn a tire from a dead stop and it's actually kind fun to drive even though it's butt ugly. It MIGHT run a 18 second 1/8 mile...LOL I couldn't imaging having to be the guy sitting at the startting line for over 10 seconds! Might as well have a glass of tea...or pour yourself a cold one, put the helmet on, and then if you're lucky, the tree will be coming down soon.
funny story.... a couple of years ago a friend of mine who runs super pro with all the electronics gizmos, broke before the first run of a big bucks bracket race. so he ran his 23 second mazda. everybody in the class laughed at him til he started going rounds, then they bitched. they found out that their delay boxes wouldn't take the difference they needed so it was like they were footbrakin.
Wow...I can relate to that...I was just lucky that it didn't take out my block. I'm glad you have everything to get it back together so qwik. 4 months now I've been puttin the motor back together, tomorrow we take it to the track for the first time.
