Boss 429 flywheel explosion -- on the dyno!

I guess a lot of people don't realize the energy being generated in the flywheel at WOT! I, for one didn't appreciate it until I saw a tragedy occur at the old Westhampton drag strip on Long Island. A guy running an injected nail head Buick dragster exploded the flywheel (Scheiffer aluminum) on his burn out! Somehow the driver wasn't hit with any of the shrapnel, but a kid in the top row of the bleachers caught a chunk of flywheel in the forehead, took him right out of his seat, killing him instantly - over 150 feet away!

Wayne (SAWDOFF) Pearce

How does one avoid this ever happening?

My bellhousing is SFI...the flywheel will be as well...but other than that?

That's some scary crap!

Maybe some of you old timers (such as myself) remember a somewhat famous photo from back in the sixties of the inside of a 55 Chevy with it's dash board pushed up into a peak in the middle, along with the floor blown out, shattered windshield, and the roof peppered full of holes?? That was the work of a blown / injected stroker small block when the flywheel grenaded at about 9 grand! That flywheel went through an Ansen scattershield bell housing AND a 1/4" steel scattershield! If I remember correctly, the driver lost a couple of "tootsie" from his right foot (lucky that was all he lost)! The amazing thing about that explosion was that the flywheel sawed the mechanical fuel injector pump off (driven from below the magneto) and there was no fire! I guess there's really no way to prevent these things from happening, all we can do is use quality parts as an insurance policy - but no guarantee's!

Wayne (SAWDOFF) Pearce

My chassis guy had this happen a few years back.. it's amazing how much energy is violently released.

His Maverick was gorgeous - full tube chassis, 466 w/Blue Thunder Chevy port heads & tunnel ram. He got a Doug Nash setup in trade for some other parts. He decided to try it out for the hell of it, but didn't pick up a good wheel. The deal went 9.32 @ 149, and I think the car was around 2700lbs.

On a back road pass, the car unloaded the tires as he clicked into third, and it went. It blew the Lakewood scattershield clean off, and the bell dragged down the road 'till he got it stopped. Similar block damage to this guy's, but I was amazed - the bolts were still in the crank!

damn, this is gonna scare me right out of a build




ok..............maybe not

DFI429 wrote:My chassis guy had this happen a few years back.. it's amazing how much energy is violently released.

His Maverick was gorgeous - full tube chassis, 466 w/Blue Thunder Chevy port heads & tunnel ram. He got a Doug Nash setup in trade for some other parts. He decided to try it out for the hell of it, but didn't pick up a good wheel. The deal went 9.32 @ 149, and I think the car was around 2700lbs.

On a back road pass, the car unloaded the tires as he clicked into third, and it went. It blew the Lakewood scattershield clean off, and the bell dragged down the road 'till he got it stopped. Similar block damage to this guy's, but I was amazed - the bolts were still in the crank!

That will make a believer out of you... Wow

Nevs wrote:That will make a believer out of you... Wow

Yeah, for sure... Previous to the flywheel explosion, one day at the track testing the 5-speed, the pinion blew itself out of the case (9-inch), and walked its' way around and slammed into the pavement. I think Mike called it an "old war case".. He had ran it for years behind his C6, but the stick had alterior motives

The car was sold after the flywheel explosion, as he decided going faster wasn't in the works. Sure wish I had the cash back then