Well, my weekend sucked.

I had all kind of plans for this weekend, but that didn't happen. The engine on my sons car picked Friday to blow the hell up.

We had just done the head gasket, timing belt, and water pump. She was running like a charm, at least until the #4 rod snapped. Broke it while sitting at a red light.

So rather than spending the weekend messing with the turbine engine, I was doing this.

What a PITA pulling this thing was. It's out and all the good stuff swapped over to the new engine. Now we just have to put it back in.

You're an excellent dad

It rained all day here. As a result, what was slated to be my first attempt at autocross was cancelled.

Any indications why a rod let go in that, though?

^^ditto. The 2-day rallycross (test and tune + competition) was rained out here. Been waiting patiently for 5 weeks for it, and I guess I'll be waiting one more!

And I had to do a bunch of wiring on the GT6. And British wiring work = not a fun weekend.

That's the cylinder that was getting steamed from the bad head gasket. No indication before it let go either. No knocking no nothing. We haven't pulled the pan yet, that will happen after we get the engine swap done.

Oh, and it's been raining here off and on for two days. Made pulling an engine just that much more fun.

We had a pretty bad weekend too.

Couldn't see a single man-made light at night other than a few airplanes.

The timing of that broken rod is just too much to ignore. Let us know what you find, assuming you can find anything in the wreckage.

Kind of odd for it to break then. The only thing I can figure is when the head gasket was leaking something got pounded. I would have thought it would have started knocking before it broke. The motor did have in excess of 200K on it. It might have just been time for it to go.

Camping looked like fun. I hope you had enough fun for both of us.

Sure the rod is broken? I ask only because, well, #4 and all.

The #1 is piston is down, #2 and 3 up, #4 is up and should be down. Something somewhere is broken for sure. Not exactly sure where, but the piston sure isn't attached to the crank anymore.

Red solo cup I fill you up(with bolts instead of beer),lets have a party.

Damn, sorry to hear that. Your oldest is really hard on machinery, ya know?

I got to do construction work with the flu. Gotta love working on a ladder when all you want to do is lie down and go to sleep. At least we now have something that resembles a powder room and I'm a few steps closer to a completed wiring project.

fifty wrote: You're an excellent dad

Keith , way to pile on. No kids? I'll loan ya one. Drivin age and all

Probably hydraulic locked the cylinder and bent the rod sometime, or its a big fat coincidence,

I have seen that before on that model escort. My boss had a green wagon that did that (he is really hard on machinery though)

As are my children

That is no fun. I had to listen to coaches whine about me not giving kids penalties in hockey.

"Coach, they're five years old. There are currently 6 kids out of 10 on the ice that are actually standing. There will be no penalty for most trippings that occur today".

It's a big step in junior hockey when they learn how to skate without relying on the stick as one leg of the tripod.

My weekend was cold but amazing, spent it driving the "Don't Mess with Lexas" LS400 at the Gingerman Lemons race. First time in a Class A car, had one hell of a good time. Yowza.

Sorry to hear about the Escort. I could tell you some of the other team's sob stories to make you feel better. One team repaired and replaced their motor outside in the 37 degree weather. And still only got like 5 laps.

I almost got the miata's top replaced. I started getting a headache and took a nap in the sun with the cat instead of finishing. Yesterday I took the gf to the Midwest Horse fair thinger in Madison. The miata still doesn't have a top on it; clear skies til Wednesday.

2 day PDX with Turn 1 at CMP ( solo run group ) Sat = great ... Sun ... wet / cold / and wet again ... but really good practice in the wet ... dried out after the 3rd session but I'd had as much as I needed ( you gets LOTS of seat time with Turn 1) and instead of swapping to the slicks and running again I loaded up and did the 4+ hrs home ... all in all a good weekend

sorry to hear about your troubles ... but I'm somewhat envious in your wrenching skills compared to mine

Update on what happened to the Escort engine.

It dropped a intake valve seat.

Much carnage ensued.

I was wrong about the broken rod though. It broke the top off the piston instead.

Kind of ugly.

damn.. what was he doing to that poor escort?

Sorry to take some pleasure from your misfortune, but DAMN I love seeing some internal engine carnage.

Glad its not mine.

Is the bore still okay?