That sucks , sorry to hear this .

Sorry for your loss.

That said, it's MONEY, not health or children.
Now you have a chance to go in any direction you want - don't be limited to "fixing what broke".

Sorry to hear about this. So glad that you didn't crash the car as a result. The diaper apparently did it's job.
Good luck in whatever you decide to do.
Aluminum block repair?

Mark

I'm so sorry to hear this Randy. The main thing is you are alright and the car is in one piece. It's nothing that money can't ,fix. Dave

Do you know of a good machine shop that can fix that block? If not ask around, I've built many street Hemi iron blocks that had more than one block repair done to them and they ran fine I had a 440-3 motor home block that broke a rod and busted the right front corner off in front of #1 main up to the timing cover area below the fuel pump boss, I had it fixed by a peice from another unrepairable block and it ran good and didn't leak It is still going down the road today (as far as I know) in a older class A 40 ft motor home

No...And from what I saw, it does not look fixable....So as I work on pulling it, I have been kinda thinking about my next move, but I don't know.

Can you slide the 512 back in to finish the race season?

sorry to hear that, my 512 had a timing chain come apart around the 900ft mark and ate 10 valves in march, fortunately that was about it parts wise but im just now getting it back together.

I thought that broken motor home block was junk until one of the local machine shop owners told me about some new cast iron rod he could use with his tig welder, he did the welding and I did the cutting of the piece off of the junk block. I did leave him plenty material on the sides to fit and grind off of the replacemnt part Once it was done you had to look hard to find the repair, I did that repair for myself but a customer and freind down the road from me with the 40ft Calss A blew his motor up before I needed it and he beg me to sell it to him, which I did
If the main webbing isn't broken up real bad your block may be salvageable
Let us know what you find and decide to do, sorry for your loss
Is there any commercial heavy duty cast iron welding and repair facilty near you? If so contact them once you get the block apart and clean so they can look at it and let you know if they can help you or not

The Duster with the 512 is fine.....I am actually a little afraid to drive it after what happened this week. It was my pro street Cuda with the Hemi in it that let go.

Sorry to hear that dude; problems like this for guys with strict budgets often mean a lot of downtime and missed action.

Whatever you do - don't make any decisions about future direction until the pain wears off and you can clearly think through the options

I hope the damage is repairable and your back out there, the main thing is you are ok and the car is as well

Dang man,,,,sorry.

Followed your build for this engine. Made me sick in the stomach when I read your post. Hope you can get that block fixed

Cant imagine an aluminum block that wasn't repairable.

Dragula,
I have followed your 605 Hemi build from day one. I am just sickened to hear that it blew.
There is some similarity to the way yours blew and the way my hemi blew in 2010. I accidentally set my launch rev limiter to 9300. Matted the gas with the clutch in against a 9300 limit, then let her fly on the G70-14 tires. THe car was all over the track so I got out of it at about 500 feet. Figured out what I did wrong and reset the rev limiter. In this regard, our disaters are dissimilar.

But this is where they are similar:

The engine did not idle smooth, it was a little ruff. THe oil pressure was good and there was no ugly sound. SO I made another pass and at about half track, the rod that I didn't know had a spun bearing welded itself to the crank, then poked a big hole in the side of the block.
I got stopped without crashing. Heads were good, crank, rods and pistons not worth saving, block maybe.

I hope you find a way to get it fixed.

Joel

at least your alive to tell the story,more racers should use a diaper,i know I will

Sorry to hear this, Randy. Bummer

Very sorry to hear this Randy! I know firsthand what goes into building one of the big inch hemis. I've seen some pretty messed up aluminum blocks that were able to be repaired, so I wouldn't jump the gun and trash anything just yet.

If it didn't crack the main webs or trash the oil galley, it should be able to be fixed. Repairing a "window" in an alum block is pretty simple

I got it out today and its number 7 rod that let go. All the others are intact....Pulled the plugs and all are perfect. None are flattened. Not to mention I had the carb & timing almost perfect by the look of them. Been a while since I had such a good tune up on one of these, let alone with such a big carb.

I ran a 6.31 with a 1.35 60ft on the previous pass....Car was really running awesome. Until I starved it for oil somehow.

Radiator still had what looked like all the water still in it. So we will see what the block looks like later this week.

Still kicking myself for missing the warning signs. But I got all out of my routine. They rushed us bad at the track due to threat of rain, I could not find the guy I was supposed to line up against, and then an [censored] in a pickup ran me off the pit road on purpose when driving to the lanes looking for this guy.

When I parked the car after being run off the road, I was in gear, but didn't know it. Found the j-ass I was supposed to race, and he was first in line and never waited or looked for me. I am all the way in the back, and couldn't get it re-started as the line lock cord blocks your view of the gear. For the first time in 20 years I had added a neutral lock out and was working. The fan I put in the car last week quit, and I was fighting with that as well.

Finally I get it started, and I am already late to the line. I wish I had not run. But in true racer fashion, we try to over come, and I get what I got.

Sorry for the long drawn out story, but I feel a little better talking about it.