Bird 55:

In answer to your question of what broke in the Hurricane, I have this to offer.  The last couple of days I have been working on it.  I found #5 rod broken off both sides where the heads of the rod bolts seat.  Arp bolts didn't break.  #5 piston is destroyed, and the cylinder wall cracked.  #1 rod and piston are damaged.  There is about a 3 square inch hole in the side of the block.  It broke out between two of the pan bolts, the pan flange and side are not damaged.  The scraper is demolished, the screen damaged.  The oil pickup tube is OK.  The cam was not touched.  The crank passed magnaflux, will need grinding to remove the nicks and burrs.  The other six rods passed magnaflux.  The six remaining pistons show no signs of cracks in the oil ring groove where the TRW pistons tend to crack.  So other than a little scuffing up of the parts, the engine is not bad.  Bearings and cylinder walls look good.  It's built Ford Tough!

John 

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

John.  Thanks for the detail on the teardown.  And Amen on the Ford tough.  It hurt when I had heard that you had broke the engine but glad it’s not a loss.  Sounds like you’re going to be back up and running without as much work as you had originally figured.  Just give a shout if there’s something I may have on my end that you’ll need to get that ride back up and running

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

g'day john

sorry to hear about the hurricane but after reading your post its good to see she will live to fight another day they sure are one tough engine only ford could build them.

moz. geelong victoria australia.

graduate 1980, bus, truck, car, hot rod, boat, submarine, hovercraft, hydrafoil, firetruck, mobile home, jet, helicopter, cruise ship, motorcycle, bicycle, santa's sleigh, clock, alloy bullbar, alloy fuel tank, lens, dr who's tardis, matter - anti matter warp drive buffer & y-block lover

John,

How will you repair the hole down low in the block?  Will you have to sleave the cracked cylinder or just a clean it up? or rebore all of the cylinders?  Would it be easier and more economical to start with a new bare block?  Did oil splash out of the hole when you drove it onto your hauler?  Where did it let go, like at the start, middle or near the end of your run.  I guess you have plenty of time to get it repaired.  It sounds like most of your engine components survived and will live to race again.

Paul J. - '57 E Code

Guys:

Thanks for the words of support.  I have not decided which way I'll go yet.  Cheap way would be to replace two pistons and rods, and start with another block.  I have several, blocks are not a problem.  Paul, if I were to repair that block, I would get a piece of side from another block, fit and weld it in.  Then sleeve #5, leave the rest of the bores as is.  But as I said, I have more blocks.  I even have a 312 block that a friend gave me, standard bore.  Would be easier to use, wouldn't have to align bore the mains.  Why oh why didn't I listen to everyone else and grind the crank to 292 main bearing sizes???  Then it would bolt into another 292 block.  Ted, I have thought about aftermarket rods, but the ones readily available are made for the 4.6 and are shorter than Y rods.  Does anyone have them in 292 length.  I personally like longer rods.  I should probably go to light pistons, I have TRW anchors now.  I figure the rod let go at the top of the exaust stroke when it has to jerk the piston down when it wants to keep going up.  Paul, it broke at about the 1/8 mile mark, just after I had wound to 6200 and shifted to 3rd.  A little oil splashed out when I loaded it.  I'm surprised I didn't fog the last 1/8 mile of the track, but I'm glad I didn't.  There was no rod on the front throw, so the oil hole was spraying oil at an uncontrolled rate.  Lost a little more when I ran it from the truck to the garage, about 300 yards.

John

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

John.  Looking through the Eagle literature, I see a 6.657” long H-Beam rod for the 5.4L V8 and 6.8L V-10 engines.  Definitely long enough and maybe too long depending on what your plan of attack is going to be.  Going back to the 2.100” journal selections, a 6.300” long rod is available which is about as close to the 292 length as it gets but would require rebushing the pin end to the .912 size if you’re sticking with the Ford pins.  If you go the custom piston route, then rod selection doesn’t get as picky and you get the lighter pistons.  As an FYI, the rods in my roadster engine are 6.550" long.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

John, I'm using Eagle rods in my stroker 312 and they are the 3D H-beam (6.250 "  Chester said they were A LOT better than the original rods or the HD Truck rods I had planned on using. Jerry Christenson put me on to these several years ago. The only thing I didn"t like about them was the price. There ph: 901-345-5886 and there in Memphis Tn. if you're interested. Sorry about the bad luck on such a great engine. But knowing you the next engine will be even better.

-Gary Burnette-

Ted and Gary:

Thanks for the leads.  I like the looks of the 6.300 x 2.100 rod, regardless of which piston I ultimately choose.  John M has said the TRW heavyweights I have are NLA now.  The 6.25 rods are too short to use with my existing pistons at this point, the piston tops have been shaved.  I assume the pin size is sbc size, which is only .015 bigger than the Y.  Would be no problem to hone the pistons to fit the sbc pin size.  How about bottom end widths of these rods?  I need to assess my options, and decide if I need to build a super engine at this stage in my life.  I'm looking at my 67th birthday approaching, wonder how much longer I'll be physically able to keep racing.  And my widow will not know nor care what is inside the engine when she sells off the cars.  Not being morbid, just being realistic.

John

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

When youre gone I'll care! maybe I'll want something great! Build it so it will last me untill I'm 67 (only 38 now)

One tip of advice, remember that preventative maintenance is important as you know for an engine but dont forget about yourself. Dont use the old idea that if its not broke dont fix it. My dad died of prostate cancer at the young age of 71. He had not been to the doctor since 1954 when he was discharged from the army. This goes for all the old timers! I dont want to be the only one in columbus!

Kevin Bigwin

     

Kevin S in Akron, Ohio

Kevin:

Thanks for the advice.  I have to say I see my doctor at least 4 times a year for checkups and blood work.  He tries to keep me coming back, I figure he has a boat or airplane payment due every 3 months.

John

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"