January 13, 2013

We REALLY Blew It!

Woody Uncategorized 1979 Ford Fairmont, 1979 Ford Fairmont Futura, 1979 Ford Futura, 24 Hours of Lemons, Billy Beer, Blown, cars, racecar, racing, Wrecked 1 Comment

Yesterday was the day to take apart the blown 200 straight six motor from our Billy Beer 1979 Ford Fairmont Futura 24 Hours of Lemons racecar.

My first indication that we hadn’t blown the motor in a normal way was the condition of the spark plug on the right.

There was also this extra lump in the oil pan, as well as the actual hole blown in the engine block.

So yesterday was the day I broke the motor down to try to salvage what I could of it. First I took the head off and found something missing.

I had expected to find a destroyed connecting rod or a failed rod bolt (a known weakness of Ford 200 sixes) but removing the head revealed the number 2 piston was entirely gone!

The exhaust valve in number 2 was also gone and (though I don’t have a picture of it) piece of piston, valve and cylinder wall blew out the intake valves and into all the other cylinders too. We may not be able to save this head.

These weren’t 30 year old Ford pistons either. These were brand new Sealed Power hypereutectic pistons I had just installed 1 race ago.

But even lighter modern pistons can’t make up for revving a motor 2000rpm past red line by accidentally leaving it in 2nd when it should have been in 3rd gear.

Yummy! Chunky piston milkshake!