I haven't been on the forum for a while since I blew my motor. Just too depressing to read about everyone's fun while my baby sits in the yard. But, I finally got the time to tear down the engine and guess what I found?

The crank is broken in half
all of the bearings spun
The crank destroyed the block

oh well, I guess winter is the time to fix last years bad luck.

 

Welcome back, and how in the world do you break a crank in half.

 

Yaoweee! A broken crank??? How'd ya manage that?

 

Where do ya live doug? Was it a small block or a big block?

 

Wow, talk about bad luck. At least now you can build it the way you want it. It can be as mean as you would like it. I wanted to be able to walk out to mine and it start and drive everytime I hit the key. So far I have acheived that.
Keep us posted on what you decide to do.

 

Welcome back

 

I'm not sure how I broke the crank

The motor was a crate motor from American Speed and it looks like the crank might have been bad from the begining.

I've always driven the car the way GM intended and never broke a crank before.

 

Any warranty?

 

man that truly sucks! don't look at it as bad though.. look at it as a reason to upgrade!

 

 

That's sad and depressing. I've been there. I once spent a lot of money building up an engine ..and then experienced the engine destroying itself because of a very small mistake I made. I did so many things correct, but it only took one small mistake. That still hurts today. At the time it was a great financial blow, but today it's just emotionally upsetting.

...But anyhow there's a new day. Part of the fun of owning a Corvette is working on your Corvette and just actually being involved getting it all renewed/restored, etc. I've really learned a lot of things working on my Corvette, and actually some of these things actually help me be better at my job. Also, when I drive my cars I know that there's a lot of it I've built myself. Here in Southern California there's a good number of people driving expensive technologically advanced cars...but they don't have a clue as to why these cars are technologically advanced and they're completely helpless if anything goes wrong.

OK you're car's broke. But you know how to get it going again. Enjoy planning to getting it back together. That can be as much fun as driving it (well almost). If you have to wait a little while to financially recover don't worry about that. Maybe in the mean-while you can occassionally buy and shelf up the parts you'll need.

 

Welcolme back but wish it would have been under better conditions. Keep us informed to your progress.

 

you sure the block is done ???

 

sorry to hear about your motor problems. There are a lot of people here with cars they can't drive, so don't feel bad.


This is a good place to come for inspiration to work on it and get it running.

 

Thanks for the support and concern.

Yeah, this one hurt the wallet. I had about $7,500 into the motor, but I can still use some of the parts. Carb, intake, distributor, flywheel, heads, water pump, etc.

As for a warranty, the builder insures through a third party. Unfortunately, to be covered the engine must be installed by a certified shop. I do most of my own work and that voids the warranty.

So out with the old and in with the new. I'm thinking about doing another 406 but with some extra goodies. FORGED CRANK for one. Obviously, I'll be using a different builder this time.

The old motor made 445HP and 513TQ and I'm not going backwards.

500 HP here we come.

 

Could you post pics? I've never seen a broken crank before.

 

I'll try to get some pics later this week.

It going to make a great paper weight.

 

Make a table out of the mangled remains. Weld four rods off the four corners, use pistons welded to them to place a glass tabletop on them.

Have seen this done with aluminum blocks. Great conversation piece.

 

Like this!!! Looks Awsome.

 

Idunno, man, I got this general attitude about maybe what?? 10-15% over the cu inches for HP rating and for a street driven machine to go any miles, that's about it, and so far, I have seen damn few if any machines go any distance and beat that figger.....any distance means say 50k miles in a 'spirited' manner...NOT drag raced to 7 grand everyday, but street driven and enjoyed for say 5 years....

but, hey man, your bux, your build, and best of luck....
above all, have FUN....

GENE