[steve]

i just realized tonight i have never purposely tried to kill an engine or car. money has always been a factor (even if it is simply towing it away). never been in the position to just have fun beating one up. maybe i have too much respect for cars or maybe i am a sissy.

who has stories about an old beater car they wanted to trash and tried to kill it by abuse (not running into a tree or setting it on fire) or hammering it to see what it could take.

there has to be some good stories out there.

part of me would love to take and old ricer and just neutral drop or power brake the thing till it bleeds !!

[stu72]

I have seen a mid eightys ford 300 straight six run for about twenty min. with no oil befor it blew the lower end to the dirt.

[Schurkey]

Originally Posted by stu72

I have seen a mid eightys ford 300 straight six run for about twenty min. with no oil befor it blew the lower end to the dirt.

During the end-of-year (graduation) party at my trade school, one of the "activities" was to drop the oil on a 225 Slant Six; and they were taking bets on how long before it grenaded.

The thing idled til it ran out of gas; they had to refill the tank. Even then it wouldn't quit; folks were getting bored--it ran for hours--and they finally had to put a brick on the gas pedal.

Maybe you can get in on the engine destruction going on at every new-car dealership in the country--some perfectly good engines being deliberately destroyed because some dumbass politicians thought it was a good way to "help the earth" (meaning "help big business".) There may be a few left to destroy...

[screamingchief]

I was gonna tell ya'll how boring something like this usually is,,,but Schurkey beat me to it...

Yeah,we did it,on purpose,and we did it by accident,and I gotta tell you,doing it on purpose is often boring,though when it happens by accident it is almost always funnier,and thus a better story.

But to be honest,I was usually two sheets to the wind when we did this sorta stuff,so it's all kinda fuzzy these days,I could try to tell the stories,but they would probably end up sounding stupid as hell.

So I plead the 5th.

[rod cole]

If you play with Pontiacs anytime at all you have blown enough up. To not want try to blow one up. Only thing worse is them 455 buicks. Ended up pinning the mains so I wouldnt have to replace the block every other time I drove my Buick.

[steve]

well i suppose just letting it run with no oil wouldnt be all that fun. i was thinking more like actively abusing it (NOT A PONTIAC) to see what it will take. oh well. maybe it was the beers last night when i posted that made it sound fun !

[71 T/A]

I ran my 73 Formula 400 once to 7500 rpms and it just bent a few pushrods. Not easy to blow up a Pontiac.

[Rob B]

Enter a demo derby and you'll more than likely succeed at both! Did it once when I was 20 and it was a blast!!! There's the guys that just drive around in circles saving the car for the feature and then there's the guys whole go for total destruction, me and a friend of mine who was in the same heat went for kill! THAT my friends is a blast. I destroyed my 70 Dodge coronet 4dr that I got in a trade for 2 used tires. Sad thing is it was a good car I trashed for a week or two before I demo'd it. Rear spring shackle came thru the trunk from a rotted a frame rail so it was off to the derby!!!

[Overkillphil]

Originally Posted by 71 T/A

I ran my 73 Formula 400 once to 7500 rpms and it just bent a few pushrods. Not easy to blow up a Pontiac.

Tried to kill my original Pontiac 350 and it wouldn't die. It had been smoking like a freight train which is what prompted the "test". I finally gave up yanked it out of the car.

Pulled it apart and found a clogged oil screen, broken rings on 6 pistons, a handful of lifters seized in their bores and a blown head gasket! Damned thing still had alot of power right to the end!

[Steve Barcak]

Sure, I've killed lots of 'em. I ran at the demo derby once. Also bought several cars just to run into each other and have fun.
It's a blast.

Steve

[69goatboy]

A good friend had an old 200SX (not sure if it was a Nissan or a Datsun) that had about 250K miles on it. He was tired of it and wasn't going to get squat on a trade in. So he just stopped putting oil in it (which he normally had to add about a quart every two weeks), and continued to drive it. It finally gave up it's ghost on the highway, so he coasted to a stop, got out, pulled the tags, and walked away.

[2002Z4CSS]

I blew up the engine in my son's 1950 Chevy truck on my way home from work 2 weeks ago. I was not trying. I blew up some when I worked in the GM dealer that had a slight knock that was hard to pin point. Everything is fun and games until a rod goes through the oil pan and takes out a chunk of cememt floor that hits you in the face.

[Rack776]

I imagine anyone who has run delivery for an autoparts store with a company car
has tried it a few times,

We had an old 1980s ford tarus wagon, it would take hell from the 3 or 4
19-22 year old guys working there who were using it to run parts.

Brake hoses Popped, belts thrown, CV shafts broken, Trans Slipping,
ENTIRE interior covered in cigarette burns.....
They would not replace the car they just kept fixing it until
The Oil pan finnaly came apart over a set of rough train tracks on one guy
he calmly called the store and said "the car broke pick me up" what a friggin mess,

Strip mall Parking lots with fresh snow were a blast

Man I miss that Job!

[Mr-Bratt]

I had a 74 grandville I bought to demo derby, I took the 455 out and installed the 326 from my 67 LeMans in it.after a rough nite swap guess what the converter and the flywheel didn't line up...Oh No, out comes the welder and just weld that sucker the derby is in 2 days. the rest of the car was ready.. so when I made it to the end and was running around the track I just held it to the floor that 326 would not blow,after all was said and done some guy made me an offer on the car and I sold it he thought it had the 455 in it I think....I will have to scan and upload some pics, jim

[Region Warrior]

During junior/senior high my best bud had a Verdero 68 Catalina 400/400.
Car was in good shape. Paid $200. Lasted 2 yrs.
We drank alot back then. 4-6 of us every school night.
Weekends, parties at his house...well you can emagine...

No way was i gon'a drive my 68 FB after a few beers(also Verdero bty), so we took his.
We would bury the needle(120 speedo) from a dead stop down back roads during the summer months.
Took it on some 4WD paths a few times. Nearly rolled it once.
Went thru a few wheels and tires, so we bought up all the used ones we could find.
Throw fireworks out the window while drive'n the back roads.
Sometimes one or more would go off in the car.
Once was a silver tube. Fun at 60 mph plus.
It went off before the tires smoked to a stop and we could bail.
We kept say'n; "what?" "what?" to each other all the way home

Winter was a blast.
Being a small town back then, not many cops where out late.
Especially dur'n big snow storms. We longed for those nights.
Shopping carts in parking lots where fair game. At the right speed, they would clear windshield and roof.
See how high and thick snow drifts we could go though.
Many times other guys out do'n the same thing would stop and help us get it unstuck. Overwise, the shovel came out of the trunk.
Find an ice patch and bury the speedo till the tires where gone(we kept spares in the trunk).

More good stories tonight!

[pggto]

Back in the early eighties my buddy had a 72 Plymouth Valiant, slant 6, 4 dr, we tried to kill that motor but she took a beating. We put a brick on the accelorator pedal, it ran wide open for about 15 minutes, the Y pipe was glowing, and started the carpet on fire through the rusted floor boards, put out the fire. Then we took the hose and wired it right above the carb, and put the brick back on the gas pedal, when she was running wide open, we turned on the hose (from a distance), KA-BOOOOM, there was more holes in that block than you could count. AH the good old days of $100 winter beaters, we had a good time with some of those cars.

[Overkillphil]

Originally Posted by Mr-Bratt

...the converter and the flywheel didn't line up...Oh No, out comes the welder and just weld that sucker the derby is in 2 days...jim

WOW Jim, you welded aluminum to steel?!!

[cosgrove]

Originally Posted by Overkillphil

WOW Jim, you welded aluminum to steel?!!

Flex plate steel, convertor steel. What aluminium?

[nonnova]

Mid 80's my brother had an old Datsun pick-up for a winter driver and in the spring we put it up against the guardrail at the shell station we worked at, drained the oil/antifreeze and proceeded to burn the tires off (did you know temporary spares smoke green when ya fire them up?).
After a few minutes of this we rigged the throttle full open and even dropped pennys and rocks down the carb.....took longer than I thought it would to die.

[The Boss]

Blew the motor in my 77 Formula the day after I bought it racing a 911 down I-91 here in CT - it did have 76,000 miles on the 350 at the time.

Had the heads replaced on my 87 IROC under warranty for worn valve guides and a week later realized the motor was making foamy oil for me. Told the dealer, they looked at it, changed the oil, charged me for it, and told me it was ok. The next morning @ around 5:30 AM I took it out on the Mass Pike and wound it up until I could feel a vibration in the gas pedal. Spun the bearing, new short block.