No such thing as a bullet proof block!

[rygen]

The MIR track rental was a huge success, but unfortunately it did not go perfectly. On my 8th run, between the 1/8 and 1/4 mile marker, it hit like a jack hammer...

• That familiar blown motor smell
• Then white smoke all over my windshield
• Then the familiar shaking of the block

I hurt her bad, and I'm consistent....I did it in the same time frame, every October I break her. Sucks big time. Jenna ran behind me, and she gave me a lift back to the lanes and then one of the other racers there with a pro drag car got his golf cart and wheeled her back to the lanes.

I am now in the Lance club, I punched a hole through the block. Shit! Talking with Jenna, she is leaning towards a wrist pin. Mike said a piston and/or rod most likely went. The car does start up and run oddly enough. We really need to find out what the issue is though, so others can learn from it. It could be the juice, might be too much of a hit on the motor at once. Though Mike is stumped cause I was running 114 octane gas Monday as an extra precaution.

I want to thank everyone at the track that was supportive. Every single person was supportive, and luckily for me, my wife didn't divorce and supported me fixing her.

My old shop, Excessive was there. And I have to thank Torey for trailing my car back to their shop. From there I will figure out getting her to Mike.

"The Plan"

Well, I know this may come as a shock to some of you, but I can't afford a motor swap every season, and I need to run 10s reliably and eventually 9's. So, after calls with Dale, Tony, Ron, Chris, Lance, Mike, Steve and several others, we have rough plan.

Spoke to Mike three times now, and here is what I'm doing...

• New take out 5.4 3V w/custom Powerhouse intake for CAI or Turbo
• 4r70 w/electronic valve body
• Probably a 70mm turbo, single

Phase two will include rods and pistons. A lot of this depends on timing, and other projects Powerhouse is working on. So its possible that I will be running motor and 100 shot only at norwalk depending on how quickly the R&D takes for the turbo. It will probably be an 11 second car till I do the bottom end sometime mid to late next year, then we can go from there.

The 5.4 3V is a nice sweet spot, not as strong as the 4V, but its way more affordable and you can use S197 GT parts with it (wiring harness, ecu, tb, ecu, etc). It really makes for a nice swap.

So, with a heavy heart, I'm going to be parting out Stella in the next couple of months. Mike will inspect the heads and cams, and if they are 100%, they will hit the market (and someone already jumped on this so I am honoring that one first). Other parts will include the TQ converter, drive shaft, turbo and misc. v6-4.0 specific parts.

Even with this happening I had an amazing time. And wanted to thank those that let me run their cars....Tony, Lance and Ron, and to everyone else who pretty much offered up thier cars.

Cheers.

[navbtcret]

Yes Todd I had that sick feeling in my stomach when we saw the hole in the block. I am sure that, like Lance, you will be back stronger than ever next year with more reliable power than the 4.0, for the power levels you guys are trying to achieve. I am glad that you are doing all this to Stella because she does look good and not just going with another car.

[rygen]

Thanks Ron. I could never get rid of her after all of this. Besides, I don't feel like doing the appearance mod thing all over again.

[Fake_Snake]

as a fellow race motor head such as you.. and it being few that theres built blocks running on the boards it broke my heart seeing the hole in the block when we jacked it up... I think i was more upset the you were and its YOUR car.. LOL..... guess in life SHIT happens..

wounder if your heads are saved from this and you can potentially make some money back on this.

Everyone's running to the 5.4 hrmm is there something we should know LOL..

5.4 3v ok.. so this is the same style flap's using or is this the gt500 motor lance is using.

could you just buy a built 5.4 from the floor ?

I know if this motor goes i decided it would revert back to stock as much as possible to get some $$$ money back and buy a stock motor.

[Fake_Snake]

hey todd if you talk to mike over the few days or so kinda drop him a bug that Ill be calling soon to discuss my future plans for late fall-early spring of next year...

[rygen]

Ok. As for the 5.4, this is the same one Chris is doing. The 4V is the GT500, which Lance is going with. The reason the 5.4 3V is attractive is its relatively inexpensive, and you can use GT parts to get it into the car.

[Fake_Snake]

ok .. i think chris said his project is relatively moderatly budgeted. now not cheap just moderate ..

twins? LOL..

[rygen]

Don't need twins to run 9's.

[Fake_Snake]

is there no other options.. I sat here this morning trying to find out this inline 6 falcon motor you were talking about.. xr6 turbo i guess you mean...

Then i get this news LOL..... sighhhhhh

What about doing that 427 motor.. like the one you see on you tube. I saw a 427w/ a procharger dumping about 800ish to the wheels

[Buckman]

Todd,
You've been a trooper through this and we all felt the pain.
I think that we have def. found the limit of the block, that's for sure. For 99% of the people out there that own a 4.0, the power will be plenty and still in my opinion you can dial in at mid-high 11's consistently.

You've been the "King" of the Collective and really the 4.0 for quite some time, so there is no dishonor in going another direction. Most of us on these boards owe you a beer for all the information and knowledge shared as well as paving the way for performance out of the 4.0 car. So for that, major props. You are a helluva racer, fellow competitor and even more importantly a good guy. Your wife is a trooper too, she is a keeper, and very supportive of you which is so important in life.

I think you are going in a great direction for the power you seek. I analyzed many options when I was going through this a couple months ago and came to the conclusion that the biggest bang for the buck (performance for dollar spent) was by going with the 5.4 3V.
This will give you the power levels which you seek and can land you in the 9's and then some when you are ready for them.

As you know, I am a major fan of the gradual buildup anyhow. It forces you to learn the car and how to run it at certain levels, thus when the car is complete you have the learning curve figured out and can jump right in and race. So the way you are doing the build is actually a good way to build it up in my opinion.

Cheers and thanks for being on the leading edge for performance!