D@#n old parts

Went to visit my son last month in my Galaxie, thought I had all the bugs worked out. Was taking a little cruise before the wings 'n beer, going up a ramp to the highway. First gear (C6) about 4300rpm shifted into second and heard a weird noise. Started losing power and the engine started shaking. Had to drive it about 5 miles to get it off the road. Called the tow truck and had wings 'n beer while waiting for him.
Long story short, #1 connecting rod broke... at the crankshaft , ruined the piston, cracked the block, crank can probably by polished?!! I had spent a good bit of time sanding and polishing these rods before getting the rotating assembly balanced, removed about 25 grams from each rod. I've read a lot of examples where the stock rods will take about 6000 rpm safely. I thought I was in good shape since I did all this work to reduced the 'fracture critical' spots. Thought these rods were good for 6000 rpm. I ran a few 1/8 mile passes a couple of years ago, shifted at 6000. Everything seemed fine...until the rod broke.
Oh well, gives me an excuse for a new rotating assembly from Adney and a new custom cam from Professor Malik. That should fix the problem .

Damn that sucks, good luck on the new build. My first 460 build utilized reconditioned stock rods and I never had a failure but there weren't as many aftermarket choices available that we have today.

bigblok2000ranger wrote:Damn that sucks, good luck on the new build. My first 460 build utilized reconditioned stock rods and I never had a failure but there weren't as many aftermarket choices available that we have today.

True, a set of good aftermarket rods even in a mild street engine is good insurance. Randy and Adney are good choices to fix you up Terry.

Perfect time for a nice stroker.

bigblok2000ranger wrote:Perfect time for a nice stroker.

501 cu. in. sounds pretty good, after all it is a Galaxie 500, haha. The extra inches will help to get that big boat away from the 'dock' . I've heard in this day and age that anything smaller than 500 cubic inches is considered a small block. Sooo I guess I'll have a
'baby big block' ?!!