Catastrophic failure stories

[Nate S]

Thought I’d start up a thread where we can spill our misfortunes with these old cars. I can think of 3.

Good friend doing his burnout at New England Dragway in a ‘69 sixpak super bee in the early 90’s. We didn’t know that the harmonic balancers with the groove have a cast outer ring but the flat outer ring ones are forged. Well, we had the cast one and it exploded. Took out the radiator and barfed antifreeze all over the starting line.

Another time I was driving a ‘68 satellite to work on the highway. Had a 318. Going about 70 heard a rod knock and within 100 yards it had blown the rod-but kept on running. With nothing to lose I kept on driving. About 5 miles later it did it again, blew a second rod and kept running, so I kept driving. A mile or two later I had to take my exit. When I let my foot off the gas and the engine slowed down it was so wildly out of balance the car shook like a carnival ride. Then it stopped. I opened the hood and oil was dripping from everything.

Another time I picked up a ‘67 charger with a 318 that had a knock. Still ran and you could drive it. Had apparently had this knock for years. I took apart the bottom end (from under the car) and found the crank was snapped in half in the middle of the second main bearing. Fit together well enough so it didn’t slip. I put in another crank and drove it for a couple years.

 

[Big Bad Dad]

Buddy of mine told me about his 67 GTX drag car accident back in the 70's. He was at a 1/4 mile top end and blew a freeze plug. He said it was like flushing a toilet right under the slicks.... He ended up on his top with a destroyed car.

 

[oldbee]

Same time frame as bigbad and also at the topend, #3 rod let loose and came out side of block. Oil all over the slicks, but stayed right side up.

 

[1967coronet]

1976 , wild night in my 71 GTX, did not remember most of it the next day.
Car would not turn over , start ect.
I had drove it home early that morning. I came to around noon.
Anyway thought the battery was toast so 4 spd car so we try to pull start it.
Back wheels just skid,oh crap.

Scored bad most holes and pistons , rods and mains toast. lots of glitter in the pan.

 

[493 Mike]

I was at the local drags about 1970 when a Fairlane hit second gear and broke the front u-joint. Well, the drive shaft came around, broke the differential casting, and laid there on the strip with the pinion gear still attached to the drive shaft! On the same day I saw a Pontiac blow up it's clutch-no one was hurt in either show! An entertaining day at the drags.
Mike

 

[#41]

I demo raced a 318 73 Fury 4-Door on a 1/4 mile oval. I ran it in first gear the entire time. The valves started to float before the turn but it made the car fast so I could not bear to run in 2nd. On night 2, there was a sudden SPLAT sound at the end of the front straight and loss of power. I coasted to my pit stall and popped the hood where I found both sides of the block bulged out about 2-3 inches and the entire engine bay 100% covered in oil. Amazingly, the oil pan was totally intact. I never bothered to open it up and see how bad it was.

 

[qkcuda]

I had a 340 in my 66 cuda race car. I installed a reverse manual valve body during the week still using a modified stock shifter. I made several time trials and everything was fine. On the last time trial I shifted forward instead of back and went from first to neutral at about 6000 rpm. I coasted back to the pits and everything seemed fine. On the next run it dropped a valve and hydrauliced the engine.

I used to flat tow to the track with the 66 and remove the driveshaft every time. One day the rear universal let loose at the top of third gear. It sounds like a bomb went off. The front loop did its job but the floor above the pinion snubber was opened like a can opener. Cracked the tailshaft on the trans as well. Learned a lesson about those retainer clips on the ujoint cups.

 

[chargervert]

Thought I’d start up a thread where we can spill our misfortunes with these old cars. I can think of 3.

Good friend doing his burnout at New England Dragway in a ‘69 sixpak super bee in the early 90’s. We didn’t know that the harmonic balancers with the groove have a cast outer ring but the flat outer ring ones are forged. Well, we had the cast one and it exploded. Took out the radiator and barfed antifreeze all over the starting line.

Another time I was driving a ‘68 satellite to work on the highway. Had a 318. Going about 70 heard a rod knock and within 100 yards it had blown the rod-but kept on running. With nothing to lose I kept on driving. About 5 miles later it did it again, blew a second rod and kept running, so I kept driving. A mile or two later I had to take my exit. When I let my foot off the gas and the engine slowed down it was so wildly out of balance the car shook like a carnival ride. Then it stopped. I opened the hood and oil was dripping from everything.

Another time I picked up a ‘67 charger with a 318 that had a knock. Still ran and you could drive it. Had apparently had this knock for years. I took apart the bottom end (from under the car) and found the crank was snapped in half in the middle of the second main bearing. Fit together well enough so it didn’t slip. I put in another crank and drove it for a couple years.

I think you mean this Superbee.

 

[BeatersRus]

the 77 shorty
so i spot this 4x4 shorty dodge pickup sitting at a trailer house,really sharp truck.
stop,ask about it,its for sale but has a weak motor,and it wont start.
we go out there look at it,first thing i notice is the cab has been lifted and recently too.
so i hop in,grab the shifter on the column and run it thru,hmm,i think......
slide underneath look at the shifter linkage yep.
slide back out ask how much,700 bucks,i dont even talk him down.
pay the guy tell him i coming right back to get it,
he says no problem im having a picnic cmon back.
go get a battery and gas,come back with tools.
pour in gas,throw the battery in,hes over there laughing at me and watching.
gesturing at me and saying stuff to his family.

i slide under the cab pop the linkage apart put the truck in Park,slide out,
start truck right up,jump back out,my ride is watching from the road.
i slide back under throw it in drive and hop in the truck as the guy And his entire family begin screaming and cursing and chasing me around as i drive out of this guys backyard.
literally,i had to make a huge circle around the whole lot of them because they were pissed.
flee out the driveway and blow the horn a few times as i leave.

part 2
so ive been driving this truck its nice but the motor has a knock,
and i know its not gonna be long so one day i go over to dwight williams yard and buy a motor and pull it and drop it in the back.
on my way home...at about 55,suddenly,the knock turns into banging and then...
Blammo throws a rod right out the side of the block.
but...its still running..and im only a few miles from home sooooo...
onwards!...meanwhile...behind me,thru the clouds of smoke streaming,
i see this car coming....this woman drives right up behind me,on my bumper.
clearly not concerned with the truck on fire in front of her.....

immediately i see her switch on her wipers,lol!
Blammo! another rod ejects and shes still right on my ***...
but...its Still running!
smoking like a train i make it to the turn and my place,
pull in and watch her drive away.....wipers still on,swerving a little.
rev whats left of the 318 a few times,
my wife comes out to see whats up.
shut it off,and then just for shits n giggles,try to start it...it starts!
for the next 3 days before i swapped it,
my friends would come over and id fire that 318- 6 cylinder right up,
with a fist sized set of holes in the sides.
now That,was a dodge.

 

[Nate S]

I think you mean this Superbee. View attachment 944630 View attachment 944631View attachment 944632

Remarkably similar. One I’m thinking of was lime green without a vinyl top.

 

[chargervert]

Remarkably similar. One I’m thinking of was lime green without a vinyl top.

Its the same A12 Superbee,I bought it from Jack. It had a nice dent in the frame rail from that incident. The car was sublime green,I added the black top after the bodywork on the quarter panel to roof seams cracked. Are you building any Mopars these days, Nate,I know that Jack had a modern Shelby Mustang the last time that I talked to him.

 

[threewood]

I had a modified 1987 GLHS with stage II head, turbo, ic, etc. Driving back to school one evening and it just died. No big explosion, no noise nothing. Pulled a spark plug and it was destroyed...uh oh.

When I pulled the head #3 piston was holed and every other one was beat to crap. Head was trashed as well. Dropped valve on #3 was the cause. At least 2 cracked bores. Boat anchor.

 

[Kern Dog]

In 2004, A buddy was rebuilding a truck 360 and needed to use my garage since he lived in an apartment. He was short on cash so he used as many truck parts as he could. He needed a car 360 oil pan so I called a guy. He had a few so I got in my '70 Charger and headed over. I'd rebuilt the 440 in it a few months before. 4.10 gears and a little bit of freeway travel...
Heading back, I was running at about 3800 rpms on the freeway when BAM, vibration and smoke. I pulled off of the freeway and was ready to call a tow truck. Oil pressure was normal but it was shaking really bad. The neighborhood was NOT good. I drove about 4 miles to a safer place and called the Wife to come get me. The next day I returned with my truck and a tow dolly. I assumed that the engine was junk so after getting the car home, I started looking around for another engine. When I pulled this 440 out, I found that #4 piston was at TDC and had rotated 90 degrees in the bore. The rod had broken between the piston and the crank so the big end was still attached.
I drove it up onto and off of the dolly this way. Tough engines these are!

 

[Roger63]

I had a 78 D100 4 wheel drive with a 360 in it. I had just got fired of a job sight after getting into it with the supers kid. About a150 mile drive back home from the job sight. With 50 to go a rod bearing started a knockin, I drove it the rest of the way home. Broke jobless and now without transportation. It let go just as I was backing under the car port.

 

[Phantom440]

I'm not sure how much of a catastrophic failure this would be considered, but in my 318 '71 Coronet, maybe 20 years ago, it died maybe a half mile from my house. Wouldn't restart. No idea what was wrong, so I walked home, my Dad and I grabbed a gas can and came back. Off with the air cleaner, poured a little gas in the carb, and it started up- kinda. Drove it back home, with it bucking and coughing... I went through plugs, distributor... it had gas, had spark, had air... what the hell? Took the valve covers off, and the valves look... crooked. The timing chain had broken. Valves were hanging out in the combustion chamber, and when we poured gas in and fired it up, pistons came up and slapped the valves sideways.
Pulled the 318 out, and decided to work on the body while I saved up for a big block. Job 1 was pulling off the vinyl top, and saw all the metal was rotten around the back window. Stripped what was good and had it junked. In retrospect, that timing chain ended up saving me a bunch of cash I would've sunk into it before realizing the roof was gone.

 

[33 IMP]

Self explanatory

 

[Budnicks]

not me but this is a perfect example

 

[33 IMP]

not me but this is a perfect example

View attachment 944702

My favorite racing picture of all time!!! Oooops!

 

[Budnicks]

I've told this here before...

But;

I had an oil fill plug, in the top on an alky mech. FI
(no oil fill in the valve covers, just puke tubes to a rear puke tank)
oil fill cap/plug come off or I didn't tighten it down properly
(found the plug crammed under/in-between the manifold)
on an altered I had
like 8-10 qts of yellowish oil/alky mix, looks like baby ****
came back literally syphoned/vacuumed out
back right into my face, right over my wind deflector
at about 140mph+ at about the 800ft area
scared the crap out of me, happened instantly, with no warnings
I thought I was going to run off the track
or I'd hit a guardrail
& ended up pulling the handbrake/fuel shut off & then chute lever, rather quickly
& stopping only like 100-150 ft past the finish line
(never stopped that quick before )
I was covered from head to mid torso in 70wt nitro/Torco oil
I thought it blew up & fire was next...

it didn't have anything wrong...
stupid mistake in a hurry in the pits...
I didn't make that mistake ever again...

 

[Thrashingcows]

Years ago, circa 1995?, a friend had bought a 69 Roadrunner, 999 orange paint code, 383/auto. We had done a bunch of work to it at my place since Dad had a shop. well he was out for a blast one day and the front U-joint let go, and took out the tranny at the same time, the drive shaft dropped and hit the ground but bounced up and got wedge between the driver side exhaust pipe and the floor board. I think the tranny came out in about 11 pieces.

I had a 78 Malibu with a 305/4bbl and the oil pressure gauge dropped to zero on the drive home from work one day. Was only a few miles from home so decided to risk it and see if I could make it home. When I got in the drive way it was clattering something fierce, sounded like a bunch of nuts and bolts in a big tin can, I raced into the shop to grab a jug of used oil, popped the hood and quickly dumped in some oil....it quieted down after a few minutes and never had any more issues with the motor in the years I drove it.