As ya'll may know, I detonated an engine in the Spitfire @ driver's
school two weeks ago. Said engine had pieces depart at high velocity
through the oilpan in a particularly fastive manner, depositing 5 qts
of Kendall in front of a Spec racer trying to pass me at the time.
Last night I finally did the post-mortem. It was a spun bearing brought
on by bad decision to believe some vendor's advice on an oil pump
replacement. Upon breaking hard at the end of the straight, the
modified baffles (to allow the use of a later oil pump) allowed all the
oil to flow to the front of the oilpan, leaving the pickup dry. Con
rod bearing #3 was the one to spin. The journal heated up, siezed, and
one con rod bolt failed. The rod end opened up, allowing the crank to
rotate out of the rod, eliminating the spun bearing problem. Until the
crank spun another 2/3 of a revolution and hit the rod again....At that
time, several things happened. 1) the rod took a good hunk of the
cylinder wall skirt out, ventalating the oil pan with it, and
2)breaking the rod out of the piston, bending the rod in the process,
and shattering the piston from the oil ring downward. 3) the now loose
rod, propelled by the crank smashed into the pickup for the oil pump,
removing the bottom half of the oil pump. At that point, all the pieces
collected in the oil pan for future review...The block is trash, two
rods are trash, but the head and cam (the expensive bits) are still
intact, as are 3 like-new 0.040 over pistons...
So last night I started reassembly on the new block. Got the crank in,
pistons and rods in, and a few other ancillary details. Expect to
finish up early next week and get started on the tranny. I did tell you
about the tranny didn't I?
I found pieces in the oil when I changed it just before school...And I
have a race monday week...
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