Motor gave up, but I didn't.

[WCRookie99]

Please let us know, what events you plan to attend or series. Yep living at 8,000rpm will take it's toll.

Remember Ford telling me to strengthen my stock Boss R before it explodes. I said Really! So Valve springs, connecting rods, oil pump, etc...

You're on it and great post, attitude, and commitment.

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[5.2 liters of democracy]

Please let us know, what events you plan to attend or series. Yep living at 8,000rpm will take it's toll.

Remember Ford telling me to strengthen my stock Boss R before it explodes. I said Really! So Valve springs, connecting rods, oil pump, etc...

You're on it and great post, attitude, and commitment.

I'll be at every NASA SoCal event on both days in 2023 at minimum. The car won't be ready in January but I will be there instructing. I'm also have some friends wanting to do something in the Ozarks just before or at the beginning of summer. If that goes through I want to bring the car out and hit up Ozarks International Raceway. To me, that is currently the most interesting track in North America.

 

[sublime1996525]

Great work on that block! Well done lol

 

[Muligan]

I'll be back at it faster.

This is the essence of cool.

The Rented Mule bows in your presence...........

 

[5.2 liters of democracy]

This is the essence of cool.

The Rented Mule bows in your presence...........

Ha! I love that mule. It was the exact car I had at the Track Attack. I hope to see it again one day!

 

[Muligan]

Ha! I love that mule. It was the exact car I had at the Track Attack. I hope to see it again one day!

Hoping to make the long haul out to SoCal someday, so we just may be able to make it possible for you to get another run in the Mule.

 

[Cobra Jet]

I think a few tubes of JB Weld and the famous Flex Seal will get that engine back up and running!


The damage looks similar to my prior 1994 Bronco I had years ago…. #4 and #8 exited the block in similar fashion at 70mph on the NJ Parkway…. I was Spy Hunter - nothing like instant smoke screen and oil slick….

The rods tore through the cylinder walls in the block just as yours did. The block was also ventilated on both sides, and 2 holes were punched through the oil pan as well.

I also did my own engine extraction and rebuild - did a complete “GT40” build up for the next engine.

—

Your first time pulling a block - it’s a good to know though because now you know the engine and vehicle for doing such repairs - and you’re not afraid to dig in.

Best of luck with the rebuild, don’t rush through and check everything at least 3x when reassembling.

 

[Hack]

Thanks for sharing. The engine carnage pictures made me say, "oof!" I hope the heads are salvageable, but my advice is definitely replace at least the springs. I'm glad you are going back with another Voodoo.

 

[honeybadger]

Exhaust cams are also locked out. It should be a monster coming out of the corners.

I LOVED the lockouts. Engine was soo smooth and the lower amount of mid range torque was a dream coming out of corners because I could just mash it to the floor so early. Really, really smooth and forgiving. Gotta' keep the RPMs up, though

Excited to see you get it back up and running!

IDK man! Didn't your stocker take your beatings for like 4 years?

About 2.5 years - tons more hours/miles than the race motors, but I was also substantially easier on that engine. It spent most of its time on street tires just getting me track time. Each engine saw an increasingly harder and harder life. I have no doubt that a dead stock street engine putting down 466-470 to the wheels with stock tuning and all stock parts would last longer than the race engines, but I don't think I'd see anywhere near the mileage/hours if I drove it like I did the race engines. I'd be pretty surprised to get 80-100 track hours from one.

Are people removing dampers for weight savings and to make mods easier during the "track prep" or "track car" conversion? I'd think they're there for a reason. What's up with that?

Bit of a combination of things - weight savings, power, aftermarket part compatibility, etc. I can confidently say if you want maximum longevity from your engine - leave it and the chassis stock, change fluids frequently, and give it some care at high RPM.

 

[72&18]

I'll be at every NASA SoCal event on both days in 2023 at minimum. The car won't be ready in January but I will be there instructing. I'm also have some friends wanting to do something in the Ozarks just before or at the beginning of summer. If that goes through I want to bring the car out and hit up Ozarks International Raceway. To me, that is currently the most interesting track in North America.

I did OIR last summer and it was AWESOME. Very technical and takes a little bit to learn the track. Once you have though, man is it fun. I can't wait to go back in '23.

 

[stanglife]

I was Spy Hunter - nothing like instant smoke screen and oil slick….

Tell us you're old without saying you're old ;)

 

[Coosawjack]

Subing........BIG MESS.......GREAT ATTITUDE.......GOOD LUCK!!

 

[Tomster]

I don't think it makes much of a difference. Neither race engine made it longer than 40-50 hours in my heavy use. I think there's a pretty direct relationship between how hard the engine is run, how many stock vibration dampers are removed (balancer, flywheel, exhaust dampers, trans damper, etc.), and race/track hours.

Also, FWIW, my bearings were always good - it was other stuff like rings/crank/oil pickup. Just rattles everything apart in those conditions.

Funny you mention it, the FP350S manual recommends a refresh every 40 hours.

 

[NDALLAS40]

Disclaimer: This is meant to be a fun thread, not one to argue about the Voodoo motor. Please don't do that.

Story time!

I remember watching the Nürburgring videos of this car when it was still wearing pre-production camouflage and absolutely fell in love. The problem was I was still in college and couldn't make it work. Fast forward a couple years I was able to purchase one after seeing it for the first time in Monterey. I decided whatever it took I was going to have it and drive it hard.

Once I got the car I started with multiple HPDE events per month and moved up until I started running Time Trials. I wedged it into NASA's TT3 class and was actually quite successful, having some wins under my belt. Unfortunately at Chuckwalla the motor let go on the first session of day 2. It had 8,000 miles on it with roughly half being on track. There was no indication it was going to go. Exiting turn 15 and going into 14 (we were running CCW) the motor simply gurgled and oil pressure started dropping. I pulled off into the dirt and got the car off before the pressure dropped fully. There was tons of smoke from coolant getting into the exhaust, but no sign of oil. After a two-hour round trip to the nearest Auto Zone because Chuckwalla in the middle of nowhere, I removed the oil pan bolt to a still warm stream of coolant before all the oil came out. Before you ask about warranty, I am the warranty.

Here I am smoking alone on the corner like a cool French guy. One of my track buddies I knew purely form IG sent this my way:

After some great friends who were also there competing in time trial in their Mustangs helped me get the car loaded up, I made the trip home to check the head gaskets thinking one had critically failed. Deciding to check things out before taking the head off, I turned the motor over by hand and cylinder 2 didn't move. Lovely. At this point I decided to pull the engine and tear it down myself. I've never pulled an engine. You know what is great about pulling an engine? Having power tools. If you haven't purchased an electric ratchet and plan on doing anything remotely as stupid as I did, invest $300 in one. All thank you payments can be send to my PayPal address [email protected].

So what's the carnage? Feast your eyes upon this:

My working theory is the rod bearing in cylinder #2 gave up and created an emergency exit in the block as shown above. In doing so, it caused rod bearing #6 to spin and create the awesome heat-treated rod you see above.

So what's next? Well I replace the engine. The Mustang track community rules and I had posted about my engine giving up which led to five different guys reaching out to me about an RPG built motor that was for sale. I reached out to the gentleman as we had already been following each other's track content and told him I would take it. Here's a highly NSFW picture of an undressed built motor:

The goal now is to get the car down around 3,350 pounds, grab some new seats, get the wing installed, and get the new built Voodoo motor into this for TT2:

Summary: Things break. Don't cry, fix them and go back stronger.

Great Post! What body parts are you going to leave off to get down to 3350 is what I need to know! Or are you going to drive it from the pits?

 

[5.2 liters of democracy]

Great Post! What body parts are you going to leave off to get down to 3350 is what I need to know! Or are you going to drive it from the pits?

Everything I can think of right now:

Fully gutted interior, AC and associated parts, wiper reservoir, lightweight seats, steering wheel swap, infotainment delete, sound deadening, harness thinning.

I need to leave the door crash structure in for now until I get the cage done in 2023.

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