Wall of Shame

In "World's Fastest Indian" Burt referred to his many broken engine parts as "Sacrifices to the God Of Speed". I have such a "Wall Of Shame" and some pics of the latest addition are attached.

A few months back I dropped an exhaust valve--the tip came off the stem where it is notched for the keepers. When I pulled the head I found the valve jammed firmly in the seat at a 90 degree angle minus the stem which made its way out through the port and into the header.

See the attached photos and notice the indentaton on the underside of the piston just above the "JE" logo. I have epoxied the valve into the deep groove it made in the top of the piston for the sake of history.

I recently got through rebuilding the engine and the only thing that died was the valve and the piston. The rod checked straight and the crank and block passed a crack test, though I did have to sleeve the one bore.

Oh dear, Michael, there is likely to be <span style="text-decoration: underline">no end</span> to this thread. :laugh:

My Dad used to have a valve head that broke off inside a diesel-electric locomotive (he was a mechanic for Canadian National Railroad in the 50s). It was <span style="font-style: italic">way</span> bigger than a car piston. He gave it away when we came to the US.

*Somewhere* around here I have a picture of the shrapnel that came out of my differential when it seized at the end of the last race at PVGP/BeaveRun '08. There was at least 10 ring gear teeth sitting in the housing when it came apart.

Outside, behind my garden shed, I have the original 1500 block that came in my Spridget. Before I bought it, the previous owner drove in such a manner as to cause a con-rod to escape from inside the engine....resulting in a large hole in the block. Rather than use the block for a boat anchor, I use it for an anvil. Very handy. A few years ago, I re-arched the rear leaf springs in my car by cold hammering them over the bores in that block.

Anyway, here's something (below) I've had since 1967. The rod came from my 1951 ~Austin A40~ (1200cc "B" series engine). I ran this car in the local woods before I had a driver's license. I used to run it low on oil a lot (once, in a pinch, I even put oil-based paint in the sump to make it home......hey I was only 15!). Eventually the engine spit out this rod. It still ran but only at lawn-tractor speeds. Anyway, this rod sits on my desk next to me as I type this.



Here's the piston (below) from my 1500 race-Spridget a few years ago. I pushed the car a bit too much during a club race at BeaveRun. After this I bought a shift light.



The piston above hit the head due to a lack of rod bearing at the big end. Here (below) is what was left of the rod bearing.



Here (below) is why I'm glad they repaved Lime Rock (although I still dislike the place). The old, bumpy surface ripped my upper shock mount off on the second lap of practice.



Speaking of rods, I was flagging at a Time Trial at Pocono North a few years ago and an old Celica was out there thrashing around. As he went by my station I heard a loud bang and this (below) ejected from the car. It was too hot to pick up for at least 10 minutes. The darn Toyota made it another 1/2 mile before they forced him to stop. Oiled up the track good. Later on, I returned the rod to him ("Umm, I believe this is your's.")





~This~ happened at Watkins Glen a few years back. Spun on oil and hit the left wall just before the bridge.

Here's another trophy--this is the end of a hardened axle that broke off in the pumpkin. Luckily I could just get the third member out of the housing and was able to drive out the stub from the other side.

But my all-time favorite is this one:

I was doing some adjustments to distributor advance timing on my 100 and making some fast highway runs to see what effect they had on engine temps. I was keeping a close eye on the combined water temperature/oil pressure "safety guage" when suddenly the OP needle dropped from 60 psi to perhaps 20 psi.

I shut down immediately and got towed home. When I dropped the pan I found that the flare nipple on the copper pipe running between the oil pump and the block had broken off at the block connection allowing most of the pump's output to blow back into the pan. I replaced the pipe with a modern oil line with swivel fittings--no damage done but a close call.

A little bit of everything.

I think everybody who races a Spridget rear end has one of these...

Or a +2 Lotus owner with a heavy boot...

Not mine but speaking of Lotus - This was an Esprit at New Hampshire this year. Had it back on the track the next day.

Here's mine