another one bites the dust

[speedy66]

well my 6 month old motor is dead.. .. I have a good size chunk removed from my piston. not to mention a pushrod in the shape of a C.. and a broken valve spring...and broken valve.

Looks as if the valve spring broke and MR. Piston and Mr. Valve had an introduction in the middle.. both lost.. So i parked the 66..
contemplating building a new motor off of this block since a piston is trashed..and there is some damage to the cylinder wall.

Parking it for a while till I have enough money to build it right

Im thinking of either two options
A.
347 stroker
eagle rods
scat crank
srp 9:1 forged pistons
Afr 205 heads
anderson B-41 cam
Edelbrock Performer Rpm Pro Flo EFI
and either a Vortech T trim Or a Turbo

B.
427 stroker

what do you guys think..

 

[Route666]

I'd go the 347!

 

[Penguin]

Wouldn't the 427 take more modification to the car to get it in?

Just pick the engine for what you like to do more... and is it a daily driver? The 347 might idle better (depending on mods).

go straight fast= 427
turn fast = 347

But you could do either with both engines... so.... I would pick the one that would take less modification to get you to the finish first.

 

[ZStanger]

Well, the 347 = 302 Block...

The 427 = 351W Block...

Both Small blocks, so if you have the cash, the 427.

 

[Penguin]

Oh... sorry, I didn't know it was a stroked 351.. disregard everything I said... get the stroked 427.

 

[Ronstang]

Don't do the 427 stroker. It is not a very streetable combo from what I have been told. There is a lot of rod angularity and the piston pin is very high and into the rings so the reliability/longevity is questionable for a street driven car.

 

[speedy66]

car is going to be a cruise on the weekends and some track time only car now.. thanks to inheriting a daily driver

 

[2bav8]

I had the exact same situation happen to me about 7 years ago while I was driving to work. Valve spring broke, valve fell and hit piston.... ended up with a valve in a 1,000 pieces, a piston with a large notch in it and a block with a large hole in the #4 cylinder wall.

Ended up building a 302 from the remains of the dead 289.
Eventually, a few years later I realized my error and built my 347

 

[jerry S]

so

what would cause a 6 month old motor to die like that? Defective part, improper installation, too much power and a weak component snapped?

 

[Max Power]

Probably not too much power. Could have been a weak retainer, many people shortcut those. Springs dont break very often, and dual springs even less so.

 

[Ronstang]

What causes Ford engines of this vintage to fail unexpectedly are the valves. If you are using stock heads with the original valves you are at risk. Ford used 2 piece valves back then.....a tuned shaft and a cast head that were friction welded together in a machine. The problem is that over time and heat cycles these valves become brittle at the weld and the head can break right off causing a catastrophic engine failure. If using original heads it is a good idea to put new one piece valves in then. I was told this information about 23 years ago when I lost my under 10K mile new engine to a valve drop and I assume it to be true. I even started looking closely at the valves in the heads I had and sure enough I could see that they were 2 piece.

Another thing to be careful of is heads that have been rebuilt. If your car has rail rockers then there needs to be a certain amount of vavle stem sticking above the retainer. Some shops cut the vavle stems too much during resurfacing and then the rails on the rockers can come in contact with the keeper. It usually makes a ticking sound but it won't be too long until you drop a valve from this type of problem either.

 

[speedy66]

what caused most of the problem was running a cam with .500 lift on stock type valve springs setup..

I learned from my mistake..