Broken

I took the Ranchero to Medicine Hat for the last night of their street car drags Friday.
Made my first pass at 7:30 with the temperature about 31C, about 90 degrees. Car ran flawless and laid down an 11:94 @ 114.6 mph.
Coming back into the pits the temp was about 190 degrees and my oil pressure was right where it should be.
Let it cool off for about an hour, went to start it for my second pass and it barely made a turn of the starter when there was a metalic thud and that was it... couldn't even turn the motor over by hand. 
I thought maybe the starter grenaded, but I took it off this morning and it's fine. Still can't roll the motor over.
I'll start by pulling the valve covers and checking my rockers...hopefully it's as simple as a broken roller lifter. The lifters were new from Comp when I built this motor.

That sucks ! Post up what you find went wrong

Hope it's not serious. I thought you sold the ranchero.?

No Dave I didn't sell it yet. None of you deep pocketed guys have stepped up yet:!:  
I pulled the valve covers tonight. Nothing felt or looked out of place.

pull the plugs, see if it will turn either direction by hand.

^^what he said.you may find water in a plug hole  that'd be my luck.

Pulled the plugs tonight. Cylinders were dry as I expected.
I rolled the motor backwards until it came to a stop. It rolled over as smooth as ever.
I marked the front pulley at about the 2 o'clock position and turned the motor forward until it stopped.
The line was at about the 12:30 position. The crank had turned about 330 degrees.
Unfortunately I couldn't watch every rocker for movement, but I'm still thinking it's a broken lifter.
Opinions gratefully accepted.

Can you get a magnet in the oil drain hole?

something on top of a piston, nut or bolt........bent valve etc

Never had the air cleaner off for it to be anything on top of a piston.
Don't know how a valve could of been bent. It's only a little roller cam... .663 lift on both valves.
I'll have to pull the intake and have a peak at the lifters. 

Broken rod

pull carb off and look it over for missing screws, if its a dommy with an internal linkage check that also.

richter69 wrote:something on top of a piston, nut or bolt........bent valve etc

X2...something's in there...

Yup, the baseplate screws can come loose and drop right in.

I pulled the carb and intake last night...nothing looked out of place, no screws missing from the carb.
Tonight I removed my Jomar stud girdles, rockers, and pushrods. Pulled and inspected my roller lifters as well, and they looked fine.
I put a straight edge across the valve lash caps, everything was true.
Still can't roll the crank 360 degrees, but what it does roll is smooth as glass.
When the crank stops either direction the highest piston is # 5... it's about 3/4" to 1" from TDC.
Thoughts?
Transmission flared going into high gear, I wonder if it's related.

busted flexplate? 

I'll pull the converter bolts tomorrow and check the flexplate and crank rotation.
The transmission is visiting the Merkl Race Shop this winter for a freshen up.

Almost sounds like a lose torque convertor bolt losse hitting on the back of the block, in that spot. If a roller lifter broke it would be noticable just turning the motor any amount. I think you eliminated that when you turned it with the rockers off and all.If you had a valve break and the head stuck in the piston like mine did strait up would do it, but you surey would have noticed the noise. I guess you coud probe #5 with some bent piano wire.

Air it up.that'll tell you if a valve is broke.

No problem seeing the tops of the valves through the P51 ports:!: 
Straight edge confirmed no valve issues.

After reading through this post, I have a thought... If race season is over, why not just pull the engine and tear it down? When I was running the Banana, I religiously pulled the engine the first day after the last race of the season, and started tearing it down for inspection... Seems it would be easier, and possibly faster, to find the problem if you just pulled it & tore it down... Then there's no second guessing what or where the problem is...

Just sayin'...

Yes Doug it will be coming out.

dfree383 wrote:A bend Or broke valve would probable be seen from the top side to with the valve cover off.

  Norminally yes, but when mine broke the stem stayed in an the sping held it up and the bent bottom stem kept the spring tight as it was snagging the bottom of the guide it looked norminal from the top and was also almost level with the others. It only hit around the seat area after the valve head stuck in the piston, and stuck up about 3/4 of an inch. I need to post a picture of the  of piston and head. I did not check it with a strait edge. The bottom of the guide split, and let the stem come up a little higher, where it grabbed the split guide at the bottom. I still think a backed out torque convertor bolt hitting around the top of the block could be possiable. 330 out of 360degrees and all pistons moving doent sound like a broken rod, maybe bent though and hitting the bottom of the cylnder wall, maybe. Sounds like something outside of the motor to me. Aircheck #5 would rule out a valve for sure, real quick. Any water in the oil? Yes I knows the plugs were dry. No problem or major noise before you shut it off the last time?    Get some one to rotate the motor back and forth while, you listen to where the noise, if it will mke any with a slight pull on the breaker bar, to the stop, is coming from, front back top bottom, would help.  That is why I don't think it is internal.       I want to know what happened too, this an odd one.

Finally got into my motor.
Found what appears to be a carb stud nut in cylinder 3.
Mine are all accounted for.
After my run I left the car in the pits with the hood up for about a 1/2 hour or so.
I never at any time had the air cleaner off.
I believe I was the victim of sabatoge...and that chokes me that something like that would happen!
Calling Lem Monday for some parts.