So on Friday Charlie and I loaded up everything and proceeded to head to the town of Evansburg, 94km west of Edmonton, for the Lone Wolves River Run. The River Run is an all weekend camping / hot rod bush party. A great event that I attend every year. We left the city around 6:30 in the evening and put the hammer down out on the highway to get there before all the Beer and Bratwurst was eaten up by the folks who get there early. Things were going great, the sky was blue, the sun was hot. My roadster was running perfect. 30psi oil pressure, temperature was nice and cool, cruising along around 70mph day dreaming about future hot rod projects, boobs, and how delicious those bratwursts were gonna taste. All of a sudden out of nowhere there was a BANG, followed by a cloud of white smoke and oil everywhere. I instantly pulled my feet back thinking the clutch exploded, but once I realized the floor was still intact I pushed the clutch in, hit the kill switch and coasted to the side of the road. Charlie pulled in behind me with oil all over his windshield also. I hopped out and around the car to find this.... Once all the oil drained out all over the ground, the coolant started coming out.... This was behind the car, going back quite a ways After we made sure I wasn't dead, we hooked on to the car and flat towed it to the nearest approach as there was a lot of fast moving traffic wizzing past us. Once we were in a safe spot, we called my Dad to come out with the truck and trailer and pick up my busted ass car. We were 40km from Evansburg so we knew it would be atleast an hour before my Dad got there, so Charlie and I decided to take the oil pan off and check it all out. Due to our lack of tools we could get all the bolts out except one between the pan and the flywheel. It was enough that I could squeeze my hand in between the block and the pan to feel around inside. It felt like sticking my hand in a bucket of bolts. This is everything I managed to slide out. About then my Dad pulled up so we loaded the car up. Greenpeace is gonna hate me.... My dad towed the car back in to the city, and Charlie and I proceeded to head to Evansburg where I won the hard luck award. On Sunday afternoon I came back to the shop and did some more teardown. I can't say I can complain, I have been driving the piss out of this engine for years now. The roadster is actually the 3rd car I've had this engine in! Give me a week or so and the roadster will be back on the road, with a new used engine!
wow, thats some major carnage.. i say you got your moneys worth out of that Flathead. iv been told they are not reliable etc.. but i think what iv seen read on here.. if you take care of the fluids they will keep on going.. and when they go they go. lol.. man, glad you are ok.. maybe get a trans blanket? whats a Flathead cost in Canada anyhow? and hey did you get any brawts after all that hard luck? love brawts.. yumm.
A flathead here cost about the same as anywhere else. With machining and parts your looking at around $4000 and up for a complete rebuild. I've got another Flathead almost ready to go back in. This is the status as of late last night. We did manage to get the last two bratwursts and a couple beers haha
Wow, and CHris thought he had some carnage!!! A bad week for flattys for sure but the good thing is that you're on the up and up and will be back in the seat by next week hopefully. Get going, it's going to start snowing soon up there isn't it?
Ouch. You've got the right attitude about it at least, good photos too. Could you figure out what caused it?
It ain't leaking oil, It's just marking it's spot!!!!! On the plus side, think of all that rust proofing you got underneath it. Ouch....But as you said, you've got your moneys worth out of it over the years.. HellRaiser
Sorry to hear about your bad luck! Hope you get that second engine swapped in and back on the road soon. You just need to print off that first picture that you posted, and hang in in the garage for inspiration.
Sucky!! Im doing a 59AB right now. I work at a parts store and my Dad owns a machine shop...so I can do a flathead for quite a bit less then normal...and it STILL cost an ass load!!!
What no pictures of the Boobs? Sorry about the carnage, that's a really bad feeling. Glad you are almost back on the road. Tim
No, no, no. You misunderstand him! It cost what his donkey was capable of carrying! ... you know, an ass load!
Great story... but horrible news. I guess right now it's about getting the car back on the road as soon as possible.
Cool car, sorry about your motor glad to see you have another for it though. Great pics , as mentioned, nice wall art Dan
Hard luck on the engine. A friend of mine always said - " they always run great just before they blow" - Looks like he was right! The photo of you holding the rod is a classic. Glad you've got another running motor to go back in. Good attitude! Mart.
I have '53 Merc Flathead I am saving for a future project. I hope to get as much out of it as you did yours but sure it can't be easy to loose a "close friend" like a flattie. Sorry about the bad luck. Good to see you're on your way to being back up and running...
Sucks but at least you got some good miles out of the old flathead. This is a bad week for the flathead...especially with the SBC vs Flathead thread going around
WOW,thats what I call catastrophic engine failure. Main thing is you are ok and hope your back on the road soon.
Wow! Cam, lifters, pistons, rods.... That ain't all supposed to be in the oil pan! I love that oil pan also, looks like there was a mini transformers fight inside, with them throwing each other back and forth. Glad you had a spare flatty!
Did the cam shaft snap first and start the meltdown? theres pieces and parts to everything in there, adjustable lifters...wow!
I admire your attitude on the whole thing. I'm sorry for what happened though. I'd sure like to know the root cause of the failure. Curious to what the autopsy will say.
Thats about the best HAMB adventure I've read! Your photos are great and the car is cool. Sorry about the disaster but glad you're safe. I built a tow bar for just such an emergency and carry it in my daily driver pick up. It fits between the front frame rails on our roadster and pulls it just like a trailer. I've used it a few times around town. Keep us posted with pics - and good luck!
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