just about had enough!!!!

[petrolhead01]

well as all the old skool ford drag members know , i have had some issues regarding my nitrous eating number4 spark plug on every use!!

i found out at the rollers yesterday that Weber decided to deactivate this function in there ecu and never changed any of there instruction manuals so none of this damage ever needed to happen!!!! great!!!!another £2500

wasted!!!

anyway after the last round i decided to see what was what and i also had a brand new set of accralite pistons with a higher compression ratio to fit to replace the ones i had done on the initial build because i asked for 10.6-1 which i since feel is too low,

away on strip down i discovered that the spark plug failure had led to a piece of the electrode scoring the bore in two places on cylinder 4, so being a perfectionist i decided to have another block that i had as a spare , line bored,re-bored for the pistons,and decked and the whole lot assembled again by connaught race engines and a fantastic job they done too,

whilst apart i also swapped my 45 throttle bodies for 48'S and port matched the manifold to suit, made my own trumpets as none are available for Weber alpha 48's anymore,

finished off my long awaited mustang axle with a plated positraction LSD and fitted it as my( STRANGE ENGINERRING) drag race half shafts arrived from the states!!!! these are rated and guaranteed for 650 bhp so i shouldnt have any more axle issues, and in my usual way every thing looked lovely!!

so all i needed to do was get the car tuned on the rollers and off to the drag racing this weekend!!!!

i previously booked my session at NORTHHAMPTON MOTORSPORT and as always they did not let me down and found a very healthy 231 bhp out of my new set up!!!!

well chuffed to say the least then on the final run at 7800 rpm and 134 mph to set the top end fueling disaster struck!!!!!!!! bang

well pictures say a thousand words so have a look at these!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

my now light weighted t5 box

 

 

 

 

 

engine sandwich plate with fooked starter and bell-housing remains

 

hole in exhaust header

 

damage to lever hole in floor

 

detached clutch slave cylinder

 

bell-housing remains!!!

 

bell-housing removed from box

 

better shot of what was left attached to the block!!!

 

one knackered clutch pressure plate!!

 

and again!!

 

exhaust damage!!in foreground with floor damage behind!!

 

 

as you can see from the photos it is totally hooked !!!

 

after a bit of investigation it looks like my clutch pressure plate (a 75% uprated techni-clutch pressure plate) exploded and proceed to smash the bell housing completely in half just leaving a 30mm section bolted to the back of the engine with the smashed starter hanging in it,

them flew out cutting a 5 inch and 1 inch wide hole in the exhaust header,ripping the concentric clutch slave cylinder of the front of the gear box,

twisting and snapping the input shaft clean off the front of the t5 gearbox,

smashing both sides of the tunnel in one place about 2 inches deep,(thank god i used proper steel when i made the tunnel or troy from Northampton m/s might be in hospital right now!!!

ripping the gearbox mounts off the floor and bending the gear lever hole open as the box fell to the floor and force from the propshaft spinning had to go some where and thankfully just pushed the tailshaft of the box up towards the floor!!

 

we striped all the parts off which did not take long as i only had to remove the gear lever and 4 propshaft bolts and everything was free , then packed up payed my bill and i towed the poor girl home feeling as sick as a dog!!!!

so now needing a miracle ,or wining the lottery , or the fairies coming in one night with a t5 and lots of parts !!!!!!!

this is one car that wont be out for some time!!!! the last year has just about taken all the fun out of it for me!!!!

time for a new hobby me thinks!!!!!

[Vista]

Really sorry to hear that mate, looks pretty nasty too.

 

I'd be tempted to try and look at the bright side and thank your lucky stars that it didn't take your legs / feet with it

[surfingturnip]

'kin ell mate, sorry to hear that keep the faith though.

[ZetecVan 2.0]

 

Bloody hell Tony, that is bad news. I've had my fair share of breakdowns and problems with the van (nothing like that though). Stick with it. That's a fantastic car you've got there.

 

Edit: my mate has a gearbox repair company so I'll put the feelers out for a new box if you like.

[Mr Sam]

fooker mate

 

[Deano1351]

Sweet mother of mary and the orphans iv never seen anything like that before, that really did go with a bang didnt it, gutted for ya mate, that car is soooooo nice as well, really hope you get it sorted sooner rather than later

[Wessie]

tony m8, you must be gutted, anyway chin up, you've still got IMHO the nicest 100e out there

[james p]

gutted for you mate

 

 

hope things turn round for you soon

[over_head_cam]

M8 What can I say?

[oliwally]

How old is that clutch,surely you've got some come back on the company if it does that

[petrolhead01]

How old is that clutch,surely you've got some come back on the company if it does that

the clutch cover is about 6 months old but i would need to prove without a shadow of a doubt that this is what caused it to get anything sorted!! i know it was that but if the shoe was on the other foot i to would do all i can to not pay up!!!! lets face it there is probably £2500 of damage!!!!

[Posse]

Tony a clever old chap that you are u will get it sorted m8 Gutted you couldn't make it today it seemed strange not hearing you

[oliwally]

cost dont matter,if I fit a cambelt and the thing destroys an engine at 1 mile or 79,999 miles then ford have to repair,regardless of cost.

what you need to do is get an independant engineer,my last firm had one they always used,was very good,delt with honda when 2 of their civics blew up.

dont know how much he cost but we never lost a case with him.

thing i saw a bill for £50 as a first meeting/inspection.

Not what you want to think about at this stage but might be money well spent

[Guest cortinamad-gonetoo]

tony m8 i dont know what to say

 

gutted for you and like you say lucky you had a well fitted and made tunnel or it could have been a different matter

 

ive never seen anything like that before

 

its a scary thought

 

good luck with getting it back together

 

and dont give up m8 its a great car you have there

[mk2 stu]

Mate i'm really gutted for ya, reading that is very hard, all the work and effort we put into these things and in a second theres another £2500 to shell out!

Re-build it, get back in it and remember why we do it! Chin up!

[slimrs]

bloody hell mate, never seen anything quite like that before, ive just put an uprated techni-clutch in mine with a t5 box, looks like i might be pulling it out now.

dont give up though the car is spot on mate

[stu]

time is a good healer, stick with it mate & i totaly understand bout money coz i struggle , be back with avengance next year. hope it goes your way from now on

[petrolhead01]

bloody hell mate, never seen anything quite like that before, ive just put an uprated techni-clutch in mine with a t5 box, looks like i might be pulling it out now.

dont give up though the car is spot on mate

it was only a techni clutch pressure plate and it was being revved to 9000 but you never now!!! might just have been a faulty one!! but it is a scary thought <

[jay]

ouch mate, thats rubbish........

 

 

 

but at least it happened there, not going up the strip, or chasing

porsches............

 

if you need a hand with anything, give us a shout...

[lee_capri]

sorry to hear mate,good luck with it as it's one fast car and the back look's sweet mate

[kevmk2]

Thats really bad news mate,really gutted for you

[fezza]

Gutted for you mate

[johnny_h]

You don't deserve luck like that Tony, really sorry for you man.

[Guest MK1gaz]

gutted for you mate , that is a very nasty mess

[bortaf]

Blimey

feel for ya mate