How I Blew My 383 Ford Stroker At The Dyno

...and then after gritting his teeth, the 4 letter words began to spew from his lips.

Please note that "I" blew up my engines. This story was written before I solved how my engines were failing. It was operator error as I had reversed the oil lines, thereby eventually starving the two engines of oil. This is revealed later on in this blog. Thanks for your time.

When last we met, the Samurai and the Butcher were having a terrific time at the Westech chassis dyno. Ryo had warned John that I was know as the Butcher for various reasons. I also told the Westech lads not to be surprised if something were to blow.

John had seen in the graph that there was a power less that somehow recovered. We speculated that perhaps it could be airflow through the K&N top or perhaps even the modification I made in an attempt to prevent stalling on threshold deceleration. We had no spare vent tubes to make a switch, so we decided to do a run with the air filter off.

The run started like previous runs, but this time there was no power. The chart was 40% off what it should of been. John got to 5500 and decided to back it off. I saw 4 puffs of smoke from the carb and valve cover areas and knew my worst fears were realized. As the car coasted down, we could hear the painful noise of metal, like loose change, bonking around, deep inside the engine. The engine was turned off.

No one was sure what happened so we first went over to the computer screen. Power was well off previous runs. We went back to the engine and it stunk. There was an odd burnt smell everywhere. John decided to get another expert from the engine dyno side over to help with the diagnosis. He came over and started smelling. "Burnt Bearings", he said.

We took off the valve cover and smoke billowed out. The rocker arms looked fine. We thought that we might get lucky and find a loose rocker making the metal jangling. The oil was black and smelly. There was a large amount of metal flake content in the oil. The 383 TNT was done for the day. The Butcher called his wife and was driven home with his head hung low. He did make the wife stop at Dairy Queen for a large chocolate dip cone to help drown his sorrows. Later that day, The Butcher was very luck to enlist the aid of "SignBoy Scott", who brought his enclosed trailer down to Westech, and retrieved the wounded beast. You may be thinking that things couldn't get much worse. When we loaded the cobra on the trailer, all the transmission fluid poured onto the ground and into the trailer. The main seal on the driveshaft side had blown out for unknown reasons. The Butcher has the "For Sale" sign in his hand, ready to go.

That night, The Butcher retreated to his sauna to drink ale, sweat and reflect. "When does the fun start", he asked. A couple days passed and Richard the Engineer and Corvette Ansel converged on the Butcher's cave, as the attempted to unravel some of the mysteries involved in the engine failure.

The first order of the day was to remove the oil pan. I had never done this and thought it would not be difficult. It was difficult. When I got HOC to install this engine, they thought they were doing me a favor by adding a flywheel protection plate. It was a kind thought, but made for gut busting fun when removing the pan. I suggest you think twice before installing these plates...they do provide protection to the flywheel, but they make it so you need to remove your transmission to drop the pan. Personally I prefer not to use these plates since I like to see the flywheel so I can tell if my hydraulic clutch is leaking. With a big hammer, Richard and I were able to dent the plate enough to pry the pan down.

Black gold, Texas Tea. Here was the goopy tar oil. That metal stick in the middle is a magnet....I am oil fishing. Woa! I think I caught a big on. Here is a magnetic ball of crud. It was clear that there was a solid amount of metal and sludge on the bottom of the pan.

Richard and I crawled under the car to see deep inside the patient with the bright halogen light. Here is what my engine looks like from below. You can see that it has a stud girdle, and there is my oil pump pickup.

There is was...rod bearing #2 spun. We unbolted the cap, pushed the piston up, and began removing bearing fragments. Here is what we obtained...the bearing had literally fused itself together. We were now concerned about the crank. I believe I was very fortunate. The engine was turned off early and the crank looks in extremelygood shape. Here is another angle...it is dirty but slippery smooth. The investigation continued. Rod #5 was brown and looked burnt. It surely would of spun next. Here it is again.

I had one more concern. I decided to pull the distributor and look at the gear with 100 miles on it. Ah ha! That damn gear was being shaved to a point in 100 damn miles. You may recall that I just changed that gear out since the other was had become razor sharp for unknown reasons....I thought there was a chance I had the wrong metal...now I am sure the first gear was the correct metal as well. On a side note, what's the best looking bolt in the world? It would have to be an ARP rod bolt. These are a work of art. All bolts should be this well made.

I am still uncertain what occurred with the transmission, but Scott and I found a good chunk of aluminum sitting in the nose area. Here is the blown seal from a couple of angles. I won't have any theories on this until I drop the unit and pull some of the cover off to see if everything is fine or if there are internal problems.

Let me give you some additional info. I would enjoy hearing your engine theories on what went wrong.

SPUN BEARING - WHY?
I think the two most common reasons for this to occur are: oil contamination, and improper clearances.

SPUN BEARING - OIL CONTAMINATION?
Was my oil contaminated? It might of been from the shaved distributor gear, but Dean at HOC and Richard Hudgins both say that the shavings are so tiny and thin that they do not hurt the engine. I am not exaggerating when I say that I literally changed the oil 4 times in 500 miles on this new engine. This engine has had no less than 4 filters in 500 miles: a Fram Racing from HOC, a K&N from racesearch, and two additional filters. These are all the filters that I chopped open in the new oil filter cutter open tool story. My oil was dark, mainly from assembly lube on the first change and third change from installing a new distributor gear. Near the 3rd oil change, at about 350 miles, I began to see copper looking microscopic flecks in the oil. I know believe this was bearing material. My point is....if there was oil contamination, I don't believe I caused it. The engine began to eat into its own bearings.

SPUN BEARING - CLEARANCES?
Rod bearing #2 went and #5 was about to go. This does not look like an oiling issue since it would be one rod or the other and not both. I use an 8 quart pan and John at Westech and I both saw great oil pressure. The engine has always had excellent oil pressure. It seems to me that the signs seem to be pointing to clearances.

TWO DISTRIBUTOR GEARS EATEN IN 500 MILES?
Why on earth is this engine eating distributor gears?! This are the EXACT proper gear. This is a crane cam and I called crane and said "I need the exact right gear for this cam" and they sent the exact correct steel gear for the steel cam. The first gear was also a steel gear since I can now tell do to the finish on the sides of the gear. Could there be an oiling issue with 351w and cam gears? This is possible, but in 3 years of reading cobra boards, I have never seen mention of it. Again, this leads me to believe there is something wrong with clearances. Please let me know what you think?

SIMILARITIES TO THE FIRST ENGINE FAILURE
This failure sounds very similar to my first failure. The only difference is that when the first engine failed, I was on the track and did not know to stop. I drove the engine around the track and caused additional damage which clouded the investigation. I bet that a bearing spun on the first engine, the same as it did hear. CHP claimed oil contamination. Let's for a minute say that it was oil contamination. Whose fault is it for the contamination? On this second engine, as I have stated, I have changed the oil more in the last 6 month, than I do on my other cars in 6 years. I am going 100 miles per change in an attempt to get the oil clear. If the engine is eating itself, then certainly the oil would be contaminated. I didn't build the damn engine! Therefore, if it was improper component clearances, or if it was oil contamination, the signs seem to lead to engine construction. Please correct me if I am wrong?

Once again, I know most people reading this would tear a strip off the hide of the engine builder and demand a new engine. I'm basically an investor by profession, and the one rule I live by is "cut your losses". I do not want a third engine from this engine builder. I do not wish to plead my case to them a second time. I do not wish to worry if a third engine from them is going to blow. I will insure the repairs are done correctly by doing them myself. This may cost a little more, but I will sleep better, and I will also enjoy learning how to put a shortblock together.

I don't wish to badmouth my former engine supplier. I believe they generally build good engines for a fair price. I tend to think my bad engines are an anomaly. The engine builder has been written about in all the Mustang and Ford magazines. They are written about in Ford Small Block building books. They have a good reputation. Even the lads at Westech said they have tested many of the builder's engines, and they were all strong engines with no problems.

Over the next few months, I will repair the engine and build it to my specifications. The clearances and tolerances with be double and triple checked. John at Westech recommended a local shop to help with the repairs. I called 'Jim' at Dougan's, and talked 15 minutes. I immediately liked them and they gave me no BS and knew exactly what they were talking about. They build regular and race engines and do all their own machining with the exception of crank turning. I will have Dougan's do all my block, rod and bearing work. Jim said that I most likely will need new pistons since the skirts embed with metal. I estimate the machine work from $700-$1500 and the total engine repair costs from $1000 - $3000, depending on how much damage was done. The block may be fine or may have to go 040. I most likely will need 2 rods. When you start adding in bolts and gaskets, the costs can add up fast. I plan to take three or four months and poke away at it.

Was this engine failure bad luck or good? It's all in the eye of the beholder. It was good luck that the engine blew at the dyno and not on Highway 10, or in turn 9 at Willow. It was good luck that I now get to have extra fun and build an engine, which gives me more stuff to write about =) And its good luck that I met a new engine shop that I trust and hope to work with in the future. I am disappointed that two engines in a row failed with less than 500 miles on each, but what can you do when you live in a shoe. Save up your loot and move to a boot.

If you have any additional ideas of theories on what caused the bearing to spin, please share them. If you know what can causes a distributor gear to sheer, please tell me so I can correct this on the rebuild. I heard that some people drill into an oil passage near the gear...has anyone does this and what is the procedure?