99.9% metallurgy, something wrong with the heat treatment on those rods. Never sean AL rods fracture like hard candy. You are a stand-up individual God Bless you.
When you went to the Bible at 27:50 I understood how you are so patient and calm about this situation. Being a mechanic nearly all of my life I've seen many weird, strange things happen. But never anything at this level.
Rod material failure, absolutely. It would be money well spent to have a metallurgist look at the microstructure of the material to determine a root cause and fix it. Attaching a "Blame" name to stuff like this is useless and counterproductive. I'm with you on this one Steve.
Agree 100%. I was going to say something very similar but thought I would read through some posts first. It came to the ultimate maximum capabilities of the material and I think they all disintegrated at the same time since they were of the same batch under the same heat and pressure. They were definitely brittle.
Brittle for sure. Check the ductility or lack thereof against the base material. Aluminum could be affected by work hardening like aggressive machining. The consistency of the failure points to origin of material and/or machining.
@@sirslacks1065 I 99% agree with you. There is one thing that bothers me though. I am sure that engine saw 8500rpm+ on his dyno with likely more than 45lbs boost! All was good and into the car it went. Then, this was the sixth run (I believe he said) on the track, so 8500rpm and track loads were around on prior runs before it blew. Boost was 45lbs. What kind of 'new' evil would enter the engine and trigger 'that' carnage at 'that' exact point in 'that' run?? I believe there will be a lot of guessing and testing (weeping and gnashing of teeth!) before this crash will ever be explained!!..........
I love that you show us this stuff, Steve. I've been in the engine building industry my whole life but never on your level. You share secrets, build tips, failures, and everything in between. Such a learning experience for me. I guess two ways to look at this failure. #1...maybe a metallurgy issue with the rods. #2...they always teach you to build the motor to fail every cylinder at the same time, otherwise you are leaving power on the table. Cheers bro! Clearly a good tune up!
@@n.b.p.davenport7066 My whole working life and quite a few years prior working with my father at a young age. I'm surprised you were able to determine my level of experience based on my comment. Do you make it a habbit to troll others on the internet?
@@Sm0keyZeu5 anodising is a process that just treats the surface of the material. Doesn’t involve heating it up, much less heating and quenching that could cause it to become brittle. I could very well be wrong, I don’t know what, if any, treatments that where done to the rods. But seeing all the shattered bits in the oil pan while most all the pistons were still up in the bores, it seriously looks like the rods were made of a "hypereutectic” grade of aluminium. Shattered like ceramic aside from a few large pieces. Crazy.
This video is absolutely awesome and Steve is a fucking treasure. They're out here on the edge of what's possible with materials and engineering, and Steve recognizes that and is happy to find out problems and just keep pushing. Stuff like this wasn't possible 20 years ago, and that's due in no small part to Steve and people like him. Keep up the fantastic work Steve and crew!
When he says “If you can’t afford to fix something like this, don’t build it” I can appreciate that. That’s why I have cheap junk that’s around 1100hp and goes 8s. Built for next to nothing. If it breaks. It’s whatever. It’ll hurt. I won’t be happy about it. But I can throw another budget engine in it and go back to throwing 32psi at it 😂
I wish more people followed this philosophy in motor sports. People throw their whole budget on a build without factoring anything going wrong. I’ve seen so many people come out drag racing or drifting with a new build, something breaks, and they can’t afford to fix it so it sits in the garage and eventually gets sold off.
To kinda expand on that - if you can't build the whole car right, don't build it. Seen too many cases where people focus on the engine and when the transmission or rear end fails, they can't fix what they should have done right in the first place.
@@gordowg1wg145 Yeah, auto racing isn't really a place food-stampers should be hanging out at!! Maybe peddle bikes or skateboards might be a better choice?
Your attitude and outlook on this whole catastrophic failure has earned my like and follow! Not that I’m anyone, but from one man to another you helped redirect some of my negative thoughts when I’ve dealt with things in racing bikes and now as I start to build a drag truck. Kudos sir keep that positive vibe flowing!
I built and worked on engines for almost 35 years and I never saw a failure like this ever . my only question is when did they start making rods out of explodium it looks like one rod failed and took the rest of them out for a beer .
Well, if one goes, what’s the point in the other 7 hanging around staring at each other like a sausage fest ya know! When the hot looking girl walks out the front door of the bar by herself, you always see all the guys in the house chasing after her! Same story here man, lol That is a good term to use tho, Explodium!! Steve owes you a set of heads for that one, lol
Steve. I have a very, very high degree of respect for you sir! You are an amazing engine builder, father, friend and business man. I am 74 and have been building engines/racing since 1967. I can truly say that I have "never" met a person like yourself. I have had carnage in my days but never on that level. Please continue being the Steve Morris we all know and appreciate.
Steve Morris you are a awesome guy!! Your character speaks volumes about the type and kind of man you are… thanks for sharing!!! Keep being you brother!!
im just in awe of how 8 rods can say later , and the crank still spins . parts failure is common but this is just one of those that is just hard to understand . thank you for sharing
John,, you're very obviously correct when you say inertia,, the crank shaft had the inertia to literally RIP the rods off the pistons. Yep,, inertia was among the players leading to that carnage fo sho.
@@justingeturgun yup, cause he had to clearance the rod at the piston dowel to clear the crankshaft. I doubt that had anything to with the failure of the rods, but obviously they weren't up to the task of having 2500+ horse torques, or the injectors hung open and hydroed the cylinders.
Much Respect for your cool outlook on this expensive disaster. I raced in the 60's and 70's on the street and fact is when you are pushing your equipment to the max sh** happens. Glad you didn't wreck nor get injured.
I totally enjoyed watching this video. What a great attitude you have Steve! Confucius says turn the rev limiter down 3.4 rpm and you will never have this problem again. More importantly, it is so nice to see that you are looking at the things to be thankful for in this disappointing situation.
Steve... You are one HELL of a standup guy! I say that because you're an elite engine builder, where your bread and butter is living the American Dream, doing what you're talented at, and capitalizing on it as a small business. You didn't have to share this video with anyone. Yes your car broke while at the track, and mention of it may have made it's way around, but you didn't have to share this and elude to any carnage this mule motor suffered, but you did.. And I hope everyone watching understands that you're not putting this out there to say that theirs anything flawed with what you've built for others... You're putting it out there to educate, but more so to show the community that you're a hardcore veteran (and that puts it lightly), who's able to know just how far his work can hold up before any potential issues because you're committed to R & D.
Steve being as real and as salt of the earth as it gets. You're a good man for sticking up for your supplier. No rant, no crapping on anyone. It's racing and stuff happens. 100% agree with your assessment, it's the raw material. I'm buying a sticker to go with my tee that didn't have a piston in the package.....
It's great listening to the total disbelief as you continue discovering more and more. That thing is SO blowed up, I think it suffered deep EMOTIONAL DAMAGE TOO! Whelp - yup. There it is! I'm grateful to see you taking it in stride, and appriciating the fact that, you don't HAVE to spend a lot of hard-earned money to vet this thing back to the track, ypu GET to spend a bunch of hard earned money to get it baxk to the track. Good on ya, Steve! Gratitude is it's own reward - and being able to show that to others is priceless. Rock on, Steve! 💪👍🏁
With all 8 rods disintegrating, makes me think that something in the process when they were made wasn't correct. A dry sump has a major safety benefit in a situation like this! So glad that you and the wagon are ok! Thanks Steve for all you do, I've learned alot from you and your videos. God bless brother!
Man your a humble person. I almost think I can hear the frustration attempting to come out when your discussing everything near the end of the video, but I also hear you keeping calm and not allowing it too make things worse then they are. .
Damn Steve after watching the whole video I just figured out I really like you! I don’t know you but I think you are a decent stand up guy with a great outlook on life. We can all learn a few things from you and not just about engines. 👍🏻
Exactly what I just said after seeing how Steve reacted to this whole scenario. He could've easily trashed the company that supplied the rods but he chose to take the high road. That's great, good to see there's still some decent people out there. 👍
Steve you sir are a class act! In adversity you are seeing that it’s still a sport and you are a good sport when it all hit the fan! My hats off to you! I hope the rod mfg. Can stop this from happening to another racer! Keep going fast! God bless!
I have had similar failures on aircraft parts in 7075-T73. After the analysis it was determined the anodizing caused the failure to micro corrosion. Have the certs pulled from the anodizer. I really appreciate the way you are handling this!! You would be a great customer!
@@wiedehopf9068 at the stress levels these are under it doesn’t need to be all the way through the material. Imperfections at the surface can start a micro fracture which makes an easy start point for bigger fractures. It all escalates pretty fast from there. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was a treatment issue rather than a straight up material issue. The analysis is expensive but would be worth it.
First thing I thought as soon as I saw the first connecting rod was “hey, weren’t those from a new rod vendor?”. Sounds like he’s working well with you and I hope he can get his material sourcing sorted out. Thanks for taking us along for the ride
@@iknklst The fact that they all failed at once like that doesn't point at a QC problem so much as an application or design problem. Might be great rods, just not good for 4k HP and 8500RPM for any length of time.
What a stand up guy. Love the fact you didn't trash or blame anyone. Was on best pass of my life a cpl yrs ago and rearend exploded, ppl were trashin dude that built it for me except me and ended up being a parts failure just as yours was and they were awesome about helping solve the problem.
Not trying to arm chair quarterback, but I would look into sending the rod parts to a testing company. Find out if the material had an incorrect heat treat or some other material processes. It may have occurred before the rod company began machining… in the raw billet stage. I do NDE UT/PAUT/Eddy Current. Billet material should be accompanied by a lot number.
Could be a heat cycle issue that made the material brittle after a certain number of cycles. I’m sure he and the supplier will figure it out. It will make both of them better able to supply their customers with better parts.
Steve did mill the rods to fit the piston’s and crankshaft… at this point it’s going to be difficult to blame anyone unless it’s approved to take material out of the rods
@@93_LXcpe he did, and he modified them, this sucks by any means, but I already thought about the reliability when he had to modify the rods to fit the engine
Amen brother! Great to see a man being a man about this cuz ur right stuff happens!! Im a super gearhead inspired by your attitude and shop ,God has really blessed you ! im inspired to have a shop like yours soon! Im proud that theres a clean mouth believer out there burning rubber and engines lol 😂 God bless you sir!!
LOVE this content Steve! Honesty, Integrity, Humility, with a healthy side of Gobsmacked. If you aren't breaking stuff you aren't racing hard enough. You and your incredible parts suppliers will learn from this and apply that knowledge to make it better and faster. You can make a snow globe with the shrapnel.
As a fellow engine builder, and a former resident of Muskegon it's really nice to see how much your shop has grown over the years. Keep it up man. Love the content.
Connecting rods have left the chat!! Absolutely incredible destruction, kept looking to see if any of the rod journals of the crank had a rod on them before you got the pan off. Huge amounts of respect with how great of an attitude you are handling this with especially the last 5 minutes of the video. Hats off to you sir.
@Alex Good, Yes , the rod journals Do look decent and it appears that there was no bearing failure.... But the real issue was caused by repetitive use of those aluminum rods... They fatigue rather quickly... That pile of aluminum chips at the bottom of the pan was the smoking gun of what really happened..... Those rods, all of them, broke like a glass being dropped on the concrete.... That's metal fatigue... The dark grey color of the jagged chips of chrystalised aluminum indicates that these rods are strictly for temporary use, especially when they are being loaded at the levels they are, and at extreme rpm's .... Only forged steel rods should be used in applications like this... He should also have that $5k crankshaft magna-fluxed.... Just to be sure... An extremely expensive hobby this is... Wow...
Great attitude. The Rod‘s are the number one high stressed part of your engine. it would be interesting to do a metal analysis and see if there’s any issues there but this is racing. Great video
You're a good man Steve I love the attitude "stuff happens" hopefully after you get it all figured out you'll lets us know what happened and looking forward to the rebuild video.
I have heard of "grenading" an engine before and seen many failures. however this is the first and maybe only time I have seen or ever will see what can truly be described as "grenading" thank you Steve, you are a modern day legend! i am very grateful for your content!!!
My first time watching your clips Mr.steve. I truly have to say I addmire the way you handle this. You have a good heart an may God bless you many times over most other guys would of blamed my mother an every body's uncle. L.o.l good to see . from all us car guys. Refreshing. Addatud. Good luck
Wow. Great testament to the importance of having a drip/catch pan! I'm with you. It's more amazing and curious that they all broke at the same time than the fact your engine broke.
Yes to the importance of having a drip/catch pan but more so a dry sump system where minimal oil is in the pan at any given time. If it had a wet sump and this happened, it would've been really bad at the speed he was going when the rods let go
Once again the man is just brilliant pure genius. 4000hp and turned those rods to dust absolutely insane carnage. Sucks to see but I'm sure he will figure it all out and crush his personal best. Can't wait to see next engine build and the disecting of this engine. Stay safe Steve Morris.
You know what is really amazing though? the block, pan and tray contained everything therefore no oil under the tires and stayed off the wall. Testament to the strength and design of the engine and car. 8 rods eject in one go, stunning.
I've seen some blown engines. This was absolutely the most beautiful extreme failure I've ever seen in person or on the internet. Also way to use this scenario as a teaching moment for your viewers and customers. I'll definitely be curious to see how you fix this!
Man, I've been watching tons of your stuff recently, and how you are handling this and quoting Jesus, you just won a lifelong fan and brother. love you man!! Way to shine your light and show people how to have some grace and that we aren't perfect and sometimes crap happens, but God is good all the time.
Hi Steve, looking at that grain structure of the shattered pieces I agree with you on them being way too brittle. Hard luck bro, thanks for sharing and we’ll be looking forward to your next move.
What an unfortunate situation but I love the way you handle stuff, we'd definitely all be better off if everyone adhered to God's golden rule. You really have a fantastic channel going here and I'm always eager to see your content. Can't wait to see what's next and thanks for bringing us along.
Love the video. Like you said stuff happens. I like the fact that the rod manufacturer didn’t blame something, and that y’all will work together to figure out why. It’s so hard to tell, but seems like a material failure. Looking forward to the up dates as you fix the engine and work to figure out what caused it.
You know Steve you could have not said one word or not video it……. But you did…….shows you have nothing to hide……much appreciated your honesty…….👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Much Respect ! Sad to see these results , like you said it's racing , stuff breaks , hopefully we can offset some of the cost buying some merch and keep this channel alive and grow ! Glad no one got hurt !
truly incredible work Steve! It completely obliterated them! And you're totally right, no matter what kind of engineering you're doing, stuff's going to break.
Simply mind-blowing event!!! You handled this event in a way that very few others could. I'm sure your still trying to get your head around what the hell happened. You have my utmost respect for your ability to stay calm, maybe your still in shock like soany viewers. Best of luck in the future and thanks for the honest videos.
WOW! Never seen a mess like that. But as you said, it happens- now let's find out WHY it occurred and WHAT can be done to prevent it in the future for you, or anyone!
Thank you Steve. Seeing you pull the drip tray and your reaction was unreal. I could feel you staring at holes in the pan. This level of destruction is hard to believe. Please show the disassembly. You are a patient and fair man. God bless.
This has quickly become my favorite channel! I wish I could afford one of your engines. But I appreciate what you’ve shown us and I’m definitely using the knowledge. Shirt order coming your way for sure
Awesome!! One thing about Steve, if he's gonna do something, he makes sure he does it better than anyone else! When you think "broken rods", this video automatically comes to mind!
So hard to click the like button to this but you made it easy once I had watched the entire episode. It is what it is, no passing the buck which may occur if it was a customers engine. Definately up for the most engine destruction in a pass award. Most importantly though, is you are safe and unhurt. Please no more destruction, just Good Times.
Had it happen with a big Ford motor. G. This was in 2003'ish. R. It wasn't that bad, only took out 4 and 8. P. The company came to the same conclusion, a bad batch of material.
Yes I seen that. That little bit would not have changed heat treatment. I always have anything of a motor parts that are aluminum vacuum heat treatment. It helps.
Wow! Thanks for going through and showing us all the carnage. It was amazing. Never seen rods do that before either. Look forward to hearing the results of the investigation. Really good video. Thank again!
Your business ethics are very parallel to mine, and there are very few of us left. I've been in the IT supply business 19 years and have fought off Fortune 100 competitors with honesty and integrity. It is obvious you love your job and love your customers...don't every change that. You are awesome!
Man that track loves to take motors... This brings back memories of the destruction I had at DragWeek 2021. Thanks for showing this because it shows that these unfortunate events happen to even the best of us.
Man! Holy shit do I feel for you. Way to keep your cool about the situation. All logic points to the material the rods were made of. Thank you for the tear down, and walking us through your thought process. Best of luck, get her back on the track. New shirt and hat order going in A$AP! Lol
