Splitting an engine in half in 6 seconds. Small block Ford fail, major explosion
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- Опубликовано: 17 июн 2020
- You ever have a fail so big it becomes infamous? This is our infamous fail. We've always nickel and dimed our race program, figuring out how to go fast for very little cash, and when we did decide to invest some money in an engine program, disaster struck. Here is that story! Be sure to like, subscribe and hit the notification bell, and find us on social media!
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And the SBF cried out in its final moments, " To Valhalla, shiny and chrome! Witness me blood-bag! *WITNESS ME* !!!"
Haha I love this! Mad Max is a favorite of mine
Be wary of developing an addiction to oil pressure.....for you will resent it in it's absence!!!
🤣🤣🤣🤣, a warriors death!
/witnessed
But Nux drove a Chevy!
I've blown several 351 Windsor engines over the years, and I heard the stock blocks had a weak point, but never seen one bust in half. I'm impressed.
Kelly Sweetman mainly 302 blocks that do that
Yep. The late 5.0 blocks had this issue. You could get one that would hold 550h.p. all day long for years, or you could get one that would split in a week at the same power level. They were a roll of the dice.. 🤷🏻
@@davelowets There aren't 1% of 1% of 1% of "late" 302 blocks "holding" 350 hp much less 550 hp for any clock-measurable part of a day, lol.
Ford Mustangs didn't "consume" a "statistically-significant" portion of "late" 302 production and there is no such thing as a "dice roll" on casting quality and "strength" if "half" fail and "half" don't PERIOD much less at some bullshit made up "power level" a "race engine" won't spend multiple SECONDS at. If "half" fail they're ALL junk and the only thing left to "chance" is the bullshit "power numbers" the assclowns building 302s for "drag cars" on "boost" and/or "noss" are claiming their "race engines" were/are "putting out" prior to "splitting in half".
Well, that’s what happens when two four cylinders get married. Never works out. Looks like one got the crank, the other the cam and they split the lifters and pushrods down the middle.
best comment ever! lmao
Same thing happen to me, but the other 4 cylinders got the block, crank, rods, pistons, full top end with the blower, and every other part. 😜🙋♂️ I got the camshaft though, its in my profile pic. 🤪
Rosco Run enough nitro and you could send the 6-71 into orbit....
Haha nice!
My mother has a 4cyl in her Honda Civic. Are you saying that the engine in her car likely went through a nasty divorce before my mom met it? Oh no, I hope it didn't carry any baggage from its married days, like bent valves......
In the scrap pile.?...They should be a trophy...Never seen one split so clean down the middle and yet missed the cam... and only 12lb....Crazy.
Boost is just a number and 12psi from a large roots blower is a whole different animal then say 12lbs from a centri. On top of the pressure it forces on the rotating assembly from boost, it takes a tremendous amount to just turn the blower. If he was making in the 700s, it was taking every bit of 900 @ the flywheel.
Common 302 thing
More like common ford thing
@@tjgaming5091 common sbf thing. New ford blocks are compacted graphite iron in durability applications and aluminum in performance apps and are worlds ahead of some of their competition.
I just don't understand why anyone would put all that time & money into the blower & everything else but use not only a stock block & internals, but a junk yard engine ! Like come on already! A Dart block & rotating assembly doesn't cost that much in the 1st place, especially considering everything else, & especially when your engine explodes & destroys everything else.
This does happen to both SBC & SBF, definitely more likely with SBF tho. Those blocks can & do handle 700hp plus at times & in special circumstances. But in reality their limits are technically rated at 500hp, while many can handle 600hp .
Even though this is a misnomer, because even tho many rate engines like this, rating in horsepower is incorrect, & really more so rating the upper limit of the RPM range, which if correctly balanced, & built correctly can easily hit 7k plus RPM. Like rear ends, transmissions, etc etc etc, engine blocks are truly rated in torque ft lbs! I don't care what you heard & by whom you heard it from.
Because I've seen videos, teachings from so called professionals, from big brands, top notch places give terrible information. Whether from Summit Racing or Jegs, from Edelbrock to Com Cams, & on & on, & I can't believe how they were even allowed too or these companies let these final cuts of incorrect information go out to the public.
I guess they figure most watching don't have a clue, & don't count on people like myself who do know, & even tho I already know alot, I'm not so arrogant to realize I can always learn new things or tricks , or just plain out would rather see &/or listen to stuff I'm interested in, rather than some reality TV keeping up with the Whore-dashians crap! Not to mention not taking countless selfies while making duck lips posing by someone else's Lamborghini perpetrating like it's mine to get fake likes from fake friends! Oh & this last part is directed at both male & females.
Iv only ever heard of the 302 block splitting never the 351!! Wow!!
That would be on display if it were mine ! Crazy
I'm making a plan to do something with it, maybe a bench in front of my office or a table
@@NitroUnion in the front yard flowers , mailbox post
Same. I’d make a wine rack trophy 🏆 from it. Led lights and all!!!!
Thank you Tommy for this video ! I've seen a lot of blown-up engines in my 71 years and have never seen a block split in half before, that's crazy !!!!!!!
As a old school racer I love it when one finally discoveres the breaking limit point of there block. Great job.👍
Sucks. It get pretty friggin expensive when that shit happens. 💸 💸 💸
I had a big block Olds that the main bearing saddles ripped off of the block. I think I ended up with only a pair of valve covers, and a carburetor left after that fiasco. Half of the broken cam went out the back of the block and trashed my converter also. Both heads got smacked by pistons and were shot, something came up and broke the bottom of the intake, the crank was bent beyond repair, the bottom of the shaft of my billet distributor was wacked off, the ATI balancer was junk, most of the roller rocker arms were beat, the oil pan was shredded, oil pump was broken, there was just nothing left. It came apart at 7000 RPMs. After that shit show, I went to an aftermarket block and never looked back. No issues since.
Just to think how easy it is to change the cam bearings now LOL! That's crazy man
There's a drunken doctor who teaches at the University of Louisville. He had a "race shop" where he hung out with some other drunks, and he raced now and then. He had a turbo Grand National Buick, and he had split the block just like yours. It was in a back part of his play shop and I couldn't believe my eyes. He said too much boost. I believe it was too much booze.
Wow! Not many can tell a story like this that didn't get set ablaze!
You can’t spell fear without FE❤️🔧🏁
YOUR BEST YET !!!!!! Keep that commin' ,& I'LL personally guarantee you guys will be another of the great ones people can"t get enough of...
Thank you so much for the support!
That Was Kind of Crazy Tommy 😳😲😮 Love Your Dad He Seems Like a Pretty Cool Guy 😎😀 Gasser Nation 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
My roots has destroyed everything I have put behind it: 3 transmissions, 2 driveshafts, and 4 rear ends!
They always seem to find the week point of anything under or behind them
@@NitroUnion RUD Rapid Unplanned Disassembly
mans got two 4 cylinders now
I would had made a wine rack or something out of it. Led lights for its glory!!!
I've been running SBF's for decades way over 800 hp and never had an issue. I honestly think it's down to luck f the draw. Porosity in the cast, which does differ wildly from different production years. Harmonics and detonation could play a major role in creating the perfect frequency which causes it to split. Like taking a wine glass and tapping it at just the right frequency where it breaks.
Has lots to do with detonation for sure. Ben Alameda has some videos on here explaining different theories!
This block was casted on a Monday or a Friday. Early 9.5 Windsor blocks can take a lot of hp. Love the Gasser racing and good luck on your next build.
8:05 9:50 12 lbs boost with the volume of a 6-71 is a lot more pressure than a mini turbo with 32 lbs boost. its not rpm or hp that broke this block, its torque and pressure at mid spike with moderate rpm and hp and pressure imbalance at high rpm.
Affirmative. I have my boost setup to climb gradually and regularly pump 785 Horsepower at the wheels out of it rarely turning faster than 4,200 RPMs, probably a lot more if I were to give it the goose. Keep the climb steady, don’t dump a ton of boost at once, don’t spike the power and torque curves suddenly, don’t float your valves and a blown Windsor 302 with alcohol or NoS (I used to use both but now I’ve swapped NoS for Propane) can push far past the fabled 500 Horse limit.
I bought my truck from you a few months back and forgot to ever check your channel out. This popped up in my recommended today 😂😂
Did you check the oil?
Extremely rare split. Pretty cool. Thanks for sharing.....nice ride btw.
That would make an awesome FLEX SEAL Commercial !!! 😉
A man of my own heart - big smokey burnout
I salute you my man from down under👊👍
I've seen 302 blocks blow apart like that never a 351
⁉️Are we absolutely sure we are talking about Ford engines suffering catastrophic damage here, and not CHEVY engines? That would certainly make more sense...... 🥴
Amused. I’ve seen a 351 split cleaner than that at 400 Horses and a 350 Chevy block blow up and almost kill my buddy at close to 600 Horses. I’m running 12.5 PSI boost through my 302 and get 785 Horsepower from it and that thing has ran fine blown and propane-injected for about 4 years now.
Production or dart block?
You did that long burnout at my home track....Greer Dragway 😁👍
I can listen to this man all day!!
Great story, I love hearing that you too feel street outlaws is all hype.
Dang, that’s brutal! Great story. New subscriber👍Tony B
Cracked block like I never even imagined!
Totally awesome, and for a stock 351 Windsor block that is so cool!
Cool history and first video ...👍
Hey cool now you can run in the 4 cylinder class! Seriously, your Dad won big. That thing should have gone up in smoke! Thanks for sharing. We had a scary experience way back when. We had a 400 SBC in my brother's c30 truck. We were hauling down a mountain and that 400 came apart. When it was done it had 4 holes in the block and holes in 2 cylinder bores. Near as we could figure out was one of the pistons came apart then a connecting rod dug in then snapped and completely ruined the engine. That is just one of the wild things that happened in that old truck.
My dads old '77 wagon had one of these engines in it. the original engine was still in it at 24 yrs. with the original head gasket still in place. I kept secretly hoping the thing would blow up but it just wouldn't die. I finally drove it to a salvage yard and watched it become a 4x4 cube!
Glad i stumbled upon Nitro Union vids.
Liked & scribed.
Interesting content.
Thank you and welcome aboard!
To cool! That right there is 💪
Bad Ass' father son story. Would definitely have that block posted up somewhere, it's as cool as any trophy I've seen.
Thank you! I've got it back in the shop now, going to make something out of it to display for sure
Arnie Beswick used to do this often in the mid 60's running Pontiac's on Nitro.
I know arnie personally
Great guy to talk to
I’ve seen a couple nitrous SBF’s crack but never split completely
I've seen this same thing happen to factory Pontiac blocks.
Ive had two later 5.0 blocks split, actually put it on the engine stand and made a support strap to tie the front together at the water pump holes to save the rotating assembly out of them to put into the 3rd block. Crazy high rpm is what got mine along with 15psi and 150 shot lol, was a blast though, still didnt get my 5.99 et but did go 121mph
Wow! I’ve heard of that happening on the 302 blocks. I’ve never seen one split though. Time for a man o war block!
Build a frame for it and use it as a coffeetable with a glass top in your man cave
Been 5.10 on one kit with a 71 block has been this way for 5 yrs. A good machinist and girdle go a long way.
I’ve heard of it with SBF but never seen it in real life... wow!
1st time Watching.... looks like a Good Show you’re putting on.
Thank you! That's our goal, we enjoy doing it!
So what's a guy to do to prevent that from happening. You think a Dart Block might work. It's to bad that had to happen.
What a story to share for generations
Gene Davis' nitro top fuel car did that once. It was unbelievable. He hinged the motor at the 60 feet timer and it was like a case of dynamite going off. Gravy everywhere, it took the safety safari almost an hour to clean up the mess. When we tore down the motor as soon as the crank was lifted that Keith Black aluminum engine fell apart in six equal size pieces. It was like somebody cut it up on a band saw.
Too cool. Great job and video 👍👍🇨🇱
Thanks 👍
Yep, have seen that before. Stock SBF blocks are famous for splitting right down the lifter valley just like yours did. Bummer.
Happy to run across this video. Remember watching this car run at Greer Dragway at the Hot Rod Revival, and wanted to know more about it. Any chance it will be coming back to SC?
I'm truly amazed a 2 bolt main held up to that kind of abuse
I know right!?
Oh look, a V8 made two baby 4 cylinders. :-) Thanks for sharing.
That definitely makes disassembly a bunch easier
You answered my question in the last thing you said on the video...you were using a flat tappet block. The roller blocks are KNOWN to be stronger and have been in cars pushing over 1k to the wheels. Roller 351w is on the same unicorn level that the Mexico 302 blocks are on....they are just better.
A BIG thing I can tell you is that usually the failure begins around the main caps on these. If you take the main caps off that engine you will see where the main cap started to walk on it (will look like it was hit with a ball hammer). After it beings this phase there is literally nothing that you can do other than watch and wait for the boom. If you get the block re-centered and mains closed you will see much less of this. I have gone deep into researching this over the years as the Ford 302 is my favorite little engine that could. Have personally seen many properly built 302 based strokers making well above the 500 mark and all of them had no issues after this treatment.
This reminds me of my dad when he raced with alcohol injected 400 small block Chevys. One time the front 2 cylinders broke off, and the 400 became a V6 real quick. I started to collect all the bent rods, broken cranks and busted blocks. Good memories.
C'mon man, that's a complete fictional story. 🙄
That has NEVER happened to a small block chebby in their entire history since they started building them in 1955.
Man good video I think that block met it's match that day crazy it sill was running that's a good story👍 you don't see that every day
Thank you! Yeahh dad is pretty good at breaking stuff so somewhere between us pushing it and his luck it stood no chance haha.
😳 Jesus Cripes! What that detonation or just too many RPMs?? That's nasty...
I've ripped the main bearing saddles out of a few Oldsmobile big blocks, but never busted a block in 2 before. Gives a new meaning to the phrase "Drive over your crank", you almost did.
Unbelievable. If you wouldn't have shown the pictures and told the story I wouldn't have believed you. Wow. I hope you still have that beautiful car.
It's definitely a crazy thing to happen haha. We're pretty good at breaking stuff it seems like! Oh yeah, the car is still here, after we broke this engine, we went to a big block Chevy that we has sitting in another car, mainly because it was free, but we do plan on going to a big block Ford when funds allow it
@@NitroUnion Good deal. I look forward to seeing you guys and the car. Good luck.
The car one of 565 in Twilight blue 1992 Mustang GT. Stock block split in half no nitrous or supercharger. My 302 looked just like your 351. Split right down the middle. It didn't hurt the upper or lower intake. Oil pan was trashed.
Great story.
I'm just recently retired but I've been running funny cars since the '70s and boy we could share some stories I'm still running funny cars but I'm thinking about building an old gasser one of the strongest blocks we used to use on 30% nitro was a big journal 327 stock on the junkyard but yes you detonate them in the oil pan and it would split the block in half LOL you guys are doing a good job! Mike Gibbs outlaw funny car maybe we'll see you soon
Thank you Mike! Where are you based out of? We tag along with the Funny Car Chaos series with the gassers from time to time in TX. Gassers are really coming back strong, there are a lot of cars out there running now!
Here is the weak link? The Supercharger pulling on the front snout of the crank. From there its all over. Stock bottom end 351 Windsor been well past 1000 horsepower, Stock block 351 Windsor? They are approaching 1500 now. That's at the wheels too. The guy I love talking to is Tom Molnar of Molnar Technologies. He will tell you things that's been tested that seem impossible but it's not.
Detonation kills engines. With todays tuning capabilities we can push engines a lot further. Years ago people couldn't push a stock block 302w much passed 500hp. Today 700hp is doable.
great video and story. first person to click like. that's never happened before. this video should go viral.
Thank you for tuning in! I appreciate your support!
now if someone were to take one of the better halves and machine it into a 4 cylinder?
Would the block handle more power if you get it sleeved and prevent it from splitting or causing any damage to it ?... for example: Nitrous + Turbo with a 408-410 displacement on a bit high compression ratio ?
Damn, I’m not a guy who shows much feeling, but that video almost makes me want to cry. 😞 I’m glad y’all were ok though, because that could have ended several other ways, and none of them would have been better than it did. 😳
You know what they say, they run their best right before they blow up.
Tommy, you need to tell about the Rodeck kicking a rod that day when 20+ of us broke at Atmore. The day of carnage! HA!
Haha we'll definitely do one on that too! I am going to start doing project introductions, so I am going to do a video on the full history of Miss Fitt start to finish to fill everyone in that doesn't know
That's insane!!! 😳
Is that how you get 4 cylinder 175 CI?
Just curious, what was the firing order of the cam?
Any idea what caused it? Improper balancing? Went lean?
How much boost?
Real deal right here....much love to all.....stay fast stay safe
Maybe a dumb question, but does that timing cover not have water passages?
And people don't believe me when I tell them the blower on my old drag car shorn clean off the top of the engine and took a lot of stuff with it. Granted that was a blueprint crate LS, but I wasn't even pushing it, just getting on the freeway and BOOM, RIP General.
Thanks for the story. It does raise a couple questions though about SBF/351W since I'm not a Ford guy. I have a 351W short block from an inboard boat. I'm told the blocks are stronger and the stock rods are bigger on the crank end. Can you or anyone else here comment about this to either validate or debunk what I was told? Next, were you using a high-speed lean out valve with your mechanical fuel injection? Years ago with our Enderle FI we learned the motor would load up at the top-end and couldn't get past 150 MPH. Enderle told us we needed the high-speed bypass when running methanol. Once we installed this the car picked up 15 MPH and 2 tenths! If you were not running this I wonder if the motor got too much fuel and hydraulic load split the block.
The factory 351W block in one of my old boats was no different than a car block. Rods were the typical ones you'd find in any old automotive application also. I.I.R.C., the boat was a mid 70s model. I can't positively tell you that ALL of the boat motors were this way, but mine wasn't anything special and it was the original motor to the boat.
During my racing days.....cracks on the Fords started at the top of the main bolt holes essentially where the tap stopped. Crack would then propagate around to the bottom of the cam bore. We caught more than one crack on 302s that were less than in inch and each tied into the main bolt. Curious if anyone else has had experience with this.
Most of the late 302s I've seen crack started up in the valley.
Did you run a stock or aftermarket harmonic balancer?
They have ways to stiffen the blocks steel plate on the mains and oil valley has to be welded up and reinforced with a plate
Was he running SplitFire spark plugs?
No water pump or cooling? So it can only be run for a minute at a time? Was the cam not salvageable?
The one time when a pair of 4's doesn't beat a lone 8.
What year was the block ??
1969 to 71 have stronger webbing where caps bolts you can even convert them to four bolt main caps Thank you
A windsor block converted into 2 pintos nice job sir.
thats awsome great video,thanks
Thanks for watching!
What type of distributor was that?
What year was the block?
Do you think it would have split if you didnt stroke it?
seen em blown up before but holy crap,,,,,,,,,,good job
What year was the block
Where did you get that long dowel pin for the camshaft? I know I'm going to need one to run a setup lick yours a mechanical fuel injection.
This is the first time i’ve seen a split windsor. Everyone says they split at 500 or so. But I don’t see a windsor going “shit, made 501hp, let’s split”
My home track!!! ATMORE, AL!!!
I have blown up to Boss 302, to Cleveland's into Windsor's! Both of Cleveland's in the Windsors were due to too much nitrous. I won't say any more on that point! The 302 the damn boss Motors you spend them too hard and they hand grenade and both of them literally scatter the blocks in multiple pieces! Love the video thank you oh by the way both of those 302 Boss Motors were in boats
How high were you spinning it? I’ve broken 3 302’s! But never seen a Windsor split. I think harmonics was the end result of the thin castings. One split perfectly down the middle only held together by the cam plate. That motor had a T trim at 21lbs and spun to 7400 with good crank and balancer. I don’t think the side load of the blower helped. Split another one NA on stock crank and balancer... last one was on a 400 shot. 😯. Have a buddy running 8’s with a big single turbo and he keeps the rpm in check. I’m amazed it’s lasted as long as it has.
Was it Glidden that said the EFI 351 blocks in the late 80s / 90s F trucks and E series vans will handle 900hp?
thats crazy!
The motor mounts kept it running! That’s crazy.
I would say the motor mounts would be the last thing producing any structural integrity, I would think more combination of the water pump, timing cover assembly,oil pan,motorplates (or transmission bellhousing) crank bearing end caps and intake manifold would be more than adequate to hold a block together that is split at the main journals and Cam bearings.
I did similar with a 302 street motor running a single turbo at 15-17 lbs of boost. Mine didn’t split all the way through but went about 3/4 of the way front to back.
Ahh yeah, I've heard the 302 blocks will not handle as much as the Windsor blocks, some say 500-600hp on those. Either way it's a crazy thing to happen haha.
Gasser Nation yeah the 302 is a shorter deck and the cam to crank spacing is tighter. I believe this makes it weaker.
What year was the block you had split ?
@@brianadams429 a late 80s