Tom's engine pictures

[lstude]

If you have not read the previous thread about Tom Covington's bad luck at the drags last Friday, then click on this thread.

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=20538

I went over to Tom's house today to help him dismantle the engine in his Avanti. It is a sad sight, but here are the pictures.

You can see the damage to the oil pan in this picture.



You can see the broken rod in these pictures. The rod bearings seemed fine.





There were broken cam and lifter pieces in the oil pan.



Tom calibrated the lobe on the cam.



One of the pushrods was bent.



There was a broken lifter in the valley.






Leonard Shepherd

http://leonardshepherd.com/

[Bredehoft]

I assume the block is toast (yes, I see the broken pan seat)?

--george

1963 Lark Daytona HT - 63V J8 175

[jlmccuan]

Gotta love carnage. Sorry it happened to you, but thanks for sharing. Still remember the sound of my Charger gulping down a valve and spitting shrapnel all through itself.

Jim

_________1966 Avanti II RQA 0088______________Rabid Snail Racing

[Dwain G.]

Many years ago I bought a car with a blown up 259 that looked like that. I made hard luck trophys for several of our chapter meets out of the pieces of camshaft.


Dwain G.

[BobPalma]

[8] UGH[V][xx(] BP

[Roscomacaw]

Would love to be able to see what that rod looked like after the last run the car made.[:I]

Miscreant Studebaker nut in California's central valley.

1957 Transtar 1/2ton
1960 Larkvertible V8
1958 Provincial wagon
1953 Commander coupe
1957 President two door

[blackhawk61]

Makes me remember why I quit drag racing ![B)]

1961 Hawk 4BC,4-SPEED,TT

Ken Byrd
Lewisville,NC

[63larkcustom]

Thats what the 289 in my old 62 Cruiser looked like..It made that same sound too.

[blackhawk61]

And that "sound" is a lot worse from the drivers seat !

1961 Hawk 4BC,4-SPEED,TT

Ken Byrd
Lewisville,NC

[63larkcustom]

Thats true. I was in my early 20s cruising on the I-74 between Cincinnati and Indy. A couple puffs of white smoke, snap crack, pop. thats all she wrote.

[StudeMichael]

What happened first? The cam destruction or the rod breaking? Could this be a case of a wiped out cam?

1957 Packard Clipper
1958 Golden Hawk
1963 Daytona Convertible
1963 R2 Daytona
1963 R2 GT Hawk
1963 R1 Wagonaire
1963 R4 Avanti
1964 Champ
1966 Cruiser

[Dan Timberlake]

"What happened first? "

I'm sorry about Tom's engine failure.
I think the rod broke partway up the I-beam from fatigue, and the lower portion of the rod on the crank flailed around and punched angry chunks out of the cam and block until the energy of the spinning crank and flywheel and car velocity got used up. I kind of expect the top portion of the rod is still attached to the piston like this. http://myfiles.stonybrook.edu/~nmach...s/IMG_0168.JPG

If the broken face of the upper portion of the rod did not get beaten up, some portion of the broken surface will show a region of smooth fatigue "beach marks" and the remainder will have a grainy texture of a sudden complete failure. like this http://kestek.com/images/shaft%20fracture%20surface.gif

The bolt head and nut seats on the other rods appear to be have their original as-machined surfaces.

http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q8/LHSJR/Tomsenginedismantle71408rod2.jpg

Magnafluxing using the fluorescent wet method (MagnaGlo) is real good at detecting even small surface flaws in steel and iron parts like cranks and rods.
If new or used rods pass magnaflux, then Shot peening to MIL specs with cast steel shot is a substantial upgrade for improved fatigue resistance. I suspect that poor broken rod had not been magnafluxed recently.

[lstude]

Tom posted this on the racing forum...

Ok, got most of the engine broke down this afternoon. Heads are off and they appear ok. Don't see any issues with the valves or chambers. Remaining lifters look fine and the remaining pushrods (14) are fine. Oil pump is ok. Cam gear looks fine, no teeth missing. Clean break right behind the front cam journal. Here are some photos.



Snap break is about 1 inch down which left 5 and 5/8 rod rampage to take out the block and cam. Looks like some of the big end got chewed away from the swings.







Piston has imprint of the quench pad chamber areas. Can't find a scratch on the chamber itself



All the chambers looked fine. Head gasket sealing also looked fine. The cylinder wall did not crack or bust out. But a piece of the cam got jammed into the very bottom of the # 2 piston base and punched the water jacket. That is where the water spill came from. Most of the oil was still in the rear pan. So it was primarily a water spill and far lesser an oil spill.





Leonard Shepherd

http://leonardshepherd.com/

[bob40]

Wonder if the head is still flat.A piston hitting it with that much force could warp it.

[11SecAvanti]

Interesting photo Dan of the break area on your rod. Almost identical failure point as my piston. Was your engine rod failure from a lot of rpm racing or standard daily driver? An earlier failure rod (#8 back around '95 snapped ruffly at the mid section, not as high up to the piston as this recent failure.

tc



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