I broke my toy in Detroit!!! Updated Jan 2020

[410bruce]

Wow! I've never seen a crank in anything let go right there. Sorry for your misfortune.

I think I'd have a difficult time buying food from a place called Uranus.  It is quite humorous, though. 

[BattlestarGalactic]

Ugh.  Sorry to see this.  I feel your pain though. 

This was Memorial Weekend 2000.  Only had 50 passes on fresh rebuild.  Crank had been magged and was given a clean bill of health.  .010 under 428 crank.  Crank came out in FIVE pieces.  Granted it came apart at 6000 rpm.

I've heard of them letting go at idle.  Friend lost his in the water box a few years back.  Luckily it just started sounding funny and he shut it off.  Nothing horrible hurt.  Just luck of the draw I suppose.

[Falcon67]

Guess I've been lucky here and have yet to lose a stock crank.  A 351C 4V I had (see the window cylinder picture) dropped a valve head at 3300 RPM on the freeway.  Blew out the cylinder, bent two rods, beat up one forged piston really bad, etc.  Washed the crank off, put it on a surface plate and it checked .0005 TIR.  It's in the 351C in the Falcon with about 3000 more rounds on it.  That one is a keeper. 

[410bruce]

Double wow!! Man, that's heart breaking BattlestarGalactic.  Completely destroyed 427 block.

Any idea why the crank came apart?

These instances are making me nervous about using my 410 crank. 

[BattlestarGalactic]

It was actually a 406 HP block.  It was .050 over, 3/4 filled, I put 427 caps on it.  Running a 1U crank.

Still no real thought on what came apart first and why.  I give full credit to the scat rods.  They hung on for dear life.  In the picture you can see that only one actually lost the head of the bolt, but never let go of the crank.  The mangled one really held on tight.

If you look at the block picture closely, #3-7 are hanging down a bit more then the rest.  That journal is also broke loose and just hanging there.  It broke at the thrust, the #3-4 journal, #4 main, #4-8 journal and the rear main.

After that, I would put about 4 yrs on a stock crank and replace it.  Then I bought a Scat cast 3.98 and ran it for about 4 yrs and then I bought a forged 4.25 and currently on 6th season.  No guarantees on anything, but I try to at least sway the odds in my favor.

Those main caps are currently on the 428 service block I run today.

I did my own machine work to install the caps.   The advantage at working at a machine shop with big equipment.

[67428GT500]

His claim was bank identification.  He's Schultz when it comes to the FE. I am tired of excuses and I'm right on it. Too many poor excuses for machinist.  Even good ones make mistakes. I was doing the prep on my new block post machine work. The front cam bearing oil slot is at the bottom of the cam bore and facing to the rear of the block.  I know the slot goes forward and should be at the 4 o'clock position. .

[Bolted to Floor]

Thanks for the condolences guys. 

Well, that is an eye opener, and sorry for your troubles.  Personally, I would start fresh with a different block, double/triple check those rods, and find a new crankshaft and new pistons and rings, etc.  You will always have doubts if you do try to re-use that block.  Joe-JDC

Joe, do you have doubts over the block since it looks like the rods and or crank may have hit the bottom of the cylinders and the damage that could have been caused that is not readily apparent?? I’m not opposed to replacing it, just trying to understand.

This is a .060 over block, I’m not real interested in buying 8 new pistons for it. 2 maybe, but it doesn’t seem like a good investment. I do have another block in the garage that’s .030 over, I think. 

Keith, I'm not looking forward to pulling the motor back out either, it took a long time to get that paint. The cast pistons stayed due to a budgeting decision in 2016. The motor started out as a rebuilt 390 long block in 2006 with truck pistons and no run time by an outfit that is no longer in business. When I finally learned that the 410 used the same piston, I opted to install the 3.98 crank. At that time, I upgraded to Eagle rods because the bushing on one of the factory rods was loose enough to slide it out by hand!! I guess all the work on that long block wasn’t up to spec.  And I kept the cast pistons. The assembly was balanced by Houston Engine and Balance here in town, he does great work and knows his way around FE's. I wish you a lot better luck with your build than you've had in the past.

A good shop can do it all and has the sense to ask and find out when needed. Boring cylinders and balancing crankshafts does not require an FE guru. Just a guy that knows his stuff, has the right equipment, and is interested in doing quality work.
 

I agree with this, but if a shop owner has a closed mind or ego that needs stroking, all bets are off. 

OK Larry, You win the award for most catastrophic failure in the thread!!!

I’ve start pricing new parts to get an idea of what it will take to put it back together and realize it won’t be real accurate till I get it out of the car and disassembled. Crank and rod prices were easy to find. What is the ball park price on a set of pistons in a nonstandard size? It will give me a place to start. I hate to bother folks with price checking when I won’t be ready for a month or two. This set back will delay my upgrade to the 2x4 intake by a year or so!!

[wayne]

Sorry for your bad luck i bought a boss 302 years ago it ran good oil pressure was ok but made a odd noise. When i tore it down the crank was broke at the number 2 main the cap was also broke. A friend of mine had a dodge box truck just driving at 50=55 it just started slowing down the crank broke at the rear main and they were both steel it just happens some times.

[thatdarncat]

428 IUB crank with a lot of drag strip passes. Engine was still running.

[RJP]

I will say Keith you have one thing right and that is to know what a shops abilities are. As for the rest I never bought into he is a chevy guy and can only work on chevy's. Every engine has its own oddities to know about, but some things don't change much. If  you cannot look at a sonic map and off set bore something correctly that is the fault of the guy doing it. You look at the map not offset #2 to the left. Is like the doctor cutting off the wrong leg.

I can say this I grow up around Fords, worked in a machine shop that bleed ford blue, built street to race and everything in between. They even put a set of Cleveland Hi port heads on a SBC block and raced it in a dirt modified. Don't ask why...

Built a lot of Chevy's, Some BOP, Mopars, Flat head fords, and farm tractor engines from 1920. A good shop can do it all and has the sense to ask and find out when needed. Boring cylinders and balancing crankshafts does not require an FE guru. Just a guy that knows his stuff, has the right equipment, and is interested in doing quality work.

Not the OP, but to answer about the balance question that Eagle rod is a good 40 or so grams heavier on the big end so that is adding 80+ grams to the bob weight. Short answer is that is way too much to not get the crank balanced.

Was that Al Liest's shop in San Mateo?

[RJP]

To add:. The only time I've seen a Ford cast crank break at the #1/5 journal such as yours is when someone beat the harmonic balancer on with a hammer or if the engine came out of a wreck with severe front end damage [everything stuffed into the front of the engine] For example; A friend of a friend had a 400 Cleveland type Ford and beat the H/B on with a heavy hammer, crank lasted 11K miles before it broke in the same fashion as the one pictured here.

[DuckRyder]

Wow, my condolences to all who suffered the carnage in this thread... OP in particular, very nice car on a nice road trip... you’re taking it better than most...

Might as well make it a 445... 

[Barry_R]

I have not seen many factory 428 cranks break.  But we have magnufluxed several that had surface cracks showing up in the rod journal radius.  Usually they recheck OK after turning them to clear the crack (or we discard) but I imagine that if they did not recheck or if they missed the crack you would eventually get this result.  With a little luck you might get by with a new cracnk, balance, and some light touch up work.

[falcongeorge]

Guess I've been lucky here and have yet to lose a stock crank.  A 351C 4V I had (see the window cylinder picture) dropped a valve head at 3300 RPM on the freeway.  Blew out the cylinder, bent two rods, beat up one forged piston really bad, etc.  Washed the crank off, put it on a surface plate and it checked .0005 TIR.  It's in the 351C in the Falcon with about 3000 more rounds on it.  That one is a keeper.

Years ago, a friends wife broke one in a 283 Chevy. Funny thing was, the motor had been beat hard for about two decades, been through the hands of four other hot rod guys, almost since it was new. It was a four speed car, must have been about 100,000 wot 7000 rpm shifts on it, one night his wife came out from work, gently eased the clutch out just above idle to drive away, and the engine stalled, wouldn't start again. Pulled it apart, the crank was broken in front of the 3rd main journal. After all those decades of abuse, and it went out with a wimper instead of a bang. Poor little thing had just had enough I guess.

[66FAIRLANE]

I have a 390 crank at home I will not use as the hollows for the rod journals are way off centre & there is not a lot of metal left in the corner between the radius and air.