Aftermath

[Nightmist66]

So I drove my car to the Meltdown Drags at Byron IL yesterday and raced it. I entered in the S/S class, so I could be with all the other FE Fairlanes and Galaxies. Had a great time and met a lot of nice guys, both on and off the forum. The car ran strong all day. I was fighting traction problems the whole day, otherwise car had great speed.

I was on my way home and not quite halfway when I heard a noise. It was a loud popping sound on accel. I thought at first that one of the header tubes where it bolts together, had come apart. I quickly pulled off to the nearest side road, which luckily was a few hundred feet and abandoned. I couldn't tell exactly what it was at first so I had dad sit in the car and start it while I listened. It was coming from the middle of the engine, at the carburetor. I pulled the air cleaner off and we restarted it. Sure enough, it was popping right out the carb. I thought maybe ignition, so I pulled the cap and the rotor and cap all looked fine. Next, I yanked the dist. and looked at the gear to see if the roll pin sheared. Nope. Then, I stabbed it back in and waited for a friend to give us a tow. It didn't seem like bottom end at all, so I figured probably valvetrain.

Today, I pulled the valvecovers off and saw the problem.

Snapped no.2 exh. rocker (These are and old set of Pioneers)



The piece of rocker with adjuster and lash cap were sitting snug as a bug between the valvsprings.


Here's one more.


Then, I saw some more disturbing news.

Hard to see, but the lifter had gotten tossed.


I tried to get a borescope down in to see, but not enough room with this intake ( Performer RPM) and a splash tray. Looks like I will be pullin the intake back off that I just installed a few weeks ago. If the lifter is beaten up at all, it will be a good excuse to throw in some solids to pick up a little more rpm.

But hey, if parts ain't flyin, you ain't tryin! 

[thatdarncat]

Those rockers look like they've been ground on? That worries me. Also check the #2 intake pushrod for straightness, often if the exhaust valve can't open to release the pressure the intake pushrod will bend trying to open against the built up exhaust. Congrats on making it to Meltdown though, I enjoyed watching some of the live streaming the last couple days.

[JamesonRacing]

That's sure a random failure, especially with a juice cam.  Flashback to the sea of adjustable rocker arms that we passed up yesterday?

[Nightmist66]

Kevin- Yes, the rockers were ground for extra pushrod clearance. I can't take credit for that, that is one of the things that I haven't changed since the motor was put together 25 yrs ago. I WILL be putting some FOMOCO factory adjustables back on. I will also check the other pushrod.


David- Yeah, that's what I thought too. The springs measured about 135-140lbs on the seat and about 360lbs open, so nothing too crazy. I have beat the thing severely for years and had it at the track last year and all the sudden it just breaks cruising down the road 55mph?   LOL, maybe I shoulda picked up some rockers yesterday and I might have driven it the rest of the way home.
P.S. thanks for those valvesprings I got from you, they are a perfect match for that cam.

[FElony]

Somewhat related sorta. I have wondered in the past if there is any possible benefit to grinding and polishing this type of rocker on the parting lines and such for stress relief, as you would on connecting rods. ?

[fekbmax]

Are the billet steel Graham rockers still available any where ? Always thought they looked like a nice piece.

[Posi67]

Firstly.. congrats on a having a good time racing and driving there and back (okay, part way). The damage certainly could have been a lot worse however, much like you I'm disappointed that you had a rocker failure after only 25 years of abuse.

What is interesting to note for everyone is how small the cross section area is where the break occurred. Really not a lot of strength there for any kind of performance valve spring. I've never seen those "billet" rockers before but they look stout and also wonder what the availability is. At any rate, I'd suggest it's time for something more robust than even the stock Ford adjustable. No point in tempting fate one more time. Car looked good in the video btw... 

[Nightmist66]

Firstly.. congrats on a having a good time racing and driving there and back (okay, part way). The damage certainly could have been a lot worse however, much like you I'm disappointed that you had a rocker failure after only 25 years of abuse.

At any rate, I'd suggest it's time for something more robust than even the stock Ford adjustable. No point in tempting fate one more time. Car looked good in the video btw...

Thank you very much. I feel the factory rockers should be sufficient for this mild cam. I will be adding some Erson's on my next build that will be a little more "robust". 

Just for the heck of it, here are the current cam specs:
Wolverine Blue Racer- hydraulic flat tappet
Lift .536int / .562exh
Duration @.050 224int / 234exh
LSA 110°

[ScotiaFE]

I seen your run on the vid.
Car looks good.  Good time also with lots of wheel spin.

Kind of a lucky break on the rocker. 

[cjshaker]

Ditto on the thumbs up for driving there, racing, then driving back. It looks like a fun event.
When I saw that first shot I thought "Holy Cow, the first factory rocker I've ever seen break", then I saw that it wasn't a factory rocker. I'm really surprised you didn't see an oil pressure drop with a hydraulic cam and tossed lifter. Hopefully it didn't damage the rest of lobes and lifters on that bank, or worse, starve the bottom end bearings and damage them.

To answer FElony's question, the parting line is down the middle, so I don't think that it would do much good to eliminate and smooth that area. It's the same on factory rockers.

[Nightmist66]

Thank you Howie and Doug for the compliments.

Doug, I can remember right up until I shut the motor down, I still had roughly 20psi oil pressure at hot idle. Even after starting it very briefly to diagnose the problem. I don't think anything was starved. I will look at all the lifters when I pull them out.

Here's a random clip where someone caught my license plate    https://youtu.be/mbV8x5H70VM

[afret]

Are the billet steel Graham rockers still available any where ? Always thought they looked like a nice piece.

Hey, that second photo looks familiar.  Yeah, those are good rockers that would be really tough to break.  Thor has been using the rockers in your second photo:

[Nightmist66]

Also check the #2 intake pushrod for straightness, often if the exhaust valve can't open to release the pressure the intake pushrod will bend trying to open against the built up exhaust.

Like this?

#2 exh. left, #2 int. right


Lifter that popped out


Looks good enough, so back in she goes...

Luckily there are a few spare pushrods on the shelf, so a few bucks saved. Pushrods are old TRWs

[Nightmist66]

Here is a shot of the twisted slip yoke I had to change before the race. It was worse than I thought.

[My427stang]

You should have just backed up real hard, would have fixed itself