[DeTomaso] Update - cause of death - blown engine

[wkooiman at earthlink.net]

Yes.

Am I embarrassed?  Yep.  One way or another, it was my fault.  As my brother said, "It wasn't the arrow.  It was the Indian."

The doubly embarrassing thing is the last time I put the engine together, I put the head gasket on wrong.

The triply embarrassing thing is I know better.  I've done this type of work _many_ times.  I rarely make mistakes like this.  If I keep this up, I'm going to retire.

I don't take responsibility for dropping the valve (2 years ago).  I don't believe it was debris in the non-filtered Webers, nor do I think it was anything I did wrong.  I've heard multiple cases of Ferrea 6000 series valves failing in the same manner.

I'm going to take this rebuild slower.  I'm going to check and recheck everything.  I'm also going to do a build-sheet.  I've worked in the I.T industry since the 1930's (not really, but it feels like it).  When a computer system fails, it is crucial to have a detailed set of instructions to recover.  You never know what condition you're going to be in when you have to perform a recovery.  You don't want to rely on your memory.  The best way to guarantee you won't make a stupid mistake is to have detailed instructions with check boxes - just like a pre-flight check on an airplane.  My build sheet is going to be like a pre-flight check.  Do I need it?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  I'm going to do it anyway.

I'll post pics when I get them.  I have a lot of personal stuff I'm dealing with at the moment.

-----Original Message-----
>From: jderyke at aol.com
>Sent: Jan 12, 2010 2:42 AM
>To: wkooiman at earthlink.net, detomaso at realbig.com
>Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Update - cause of death - blown engine
>
>Sorry to hear the final, Will. I've done the same and the post-mortems are 
>a real downer. It'll take several thorough washings before you're sure all 
>the cast iron and aluminum is out of a baffled pan so it can safely be 
>re-used. One thing I suggest: dig out a piece of damaged cylinder wall and you'll 
>be astounded at how thin it is when you measure it. Sort of a keepsake to 
>show your buddies who may not fully realize the importance of a sonic test 
>until they see it....
>Grenaded engines are painful to hear about but at least no one was hurt. 
>Better luck on the next go-around. Cranks are one of the toughest parts in the 
>engine and even badly damaged cranks can be welded and reground- usually 
>yours becomes a core and they hand you a different one immediately. Cheers- J 
>DeRyke
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