So, whats the _worst_ engine you have built /driven?

[alex d]

people always talk about the best engines they've built, let's talk about those "great" combos which turn out to be ###### 

"yeah sure this FK89 will work wonderfully with the progressive on your 1300"

[fastfred]

time to start a "STF" engines (Sweep The Floor for engine parts...) thread ?

[Frank LUX]

Stock 1300cc dual Port with holley Bugspray...drove like Shit...

Frank

[Dave Galassi]

I don't have a worst engine story, luckily, as I am not one for exotic engines, but a good friend, Warren Williams (the lead mechanic at Bill Thomas Race Cars, for those who remember GM V8 history of the early 60's) once used this line and it made me really laugh hard. For context, here in the states, people will describe a camshaft's performance by saying it "will come alive at _________ rpm."  Warren's line was:

That ___________ cam, well, it never came alive!  Didn't even have a pulse!  We would have done better buying a J.C. Whitney cam."

Guess you have to know ol' J.C to laugh.  Hope some of you got a laugh, at least.

[The Ideaman]

A 1641 with an FK89 and 12.5 to 1 compression.  It had welded 311 heads, and ida's with 42mm vents.  The owner tried to tell everybody it was a street motor, but got busted by Dave Cormack flat towing it from Frenchy's party before bugorama.  It sounded cool, and idled around 1300rpm but never really moved.  With a junk 1300 lower end it ran 15.90's in a 1300lb car.  The owner of the motor will still tell you it runs, but it spun the flywheel off the end of the 4 dowelled crank a block from his house.

[Rick Meredith]

LOL... What the heck was he thinking??

[The Ideaman]

The guy who owned it tried to go ss/cc racing with this combination.  The car wouldn't run index.  It got lighter and lighter, and eventually became this...

Ran pretty well with a 2387 @ 1350lbs.

[Jim Ratto]

94 x 74 with 40 x 35 heads, 44IDF's and VZ35 cam. Actually drove it from SF/Bay Area to Ventura, CA for some show back in 1991, what a god awful experience. No power under 4000rpm at all, rough, bucking, popping, no jets in the world would help (trust me I tried at various "stops" down 101 in the middle of the night). Compared to the Engle 125, the VZ35 was absolutely putrid. Ate fuel like a hungry whale after plankton, stumbled so bad it would almost DIE at 3500rpm, and had to be downshifted to pass going downhill. Not to mention, we ran out of gas in Gaviota, stayed up until 6am once we got to Ojai (cough cough cough), showed was boring as hell, ran out of gas again going north (Gaviota AGAIN), had a rear shock come loose (and rub through hardline for RR wheel cylinder), and the guy i went with had nothing much to say except how hot his g-friend was.
Once I got home I stripped the car, pulled motor, swapped the 125 back in and then took a week off.

[too old for this]

94 x 74 with 40 x 35 heads, 44IDF's and VZ35 cam. Actually drove it from SF/Bay Area to Ventura, CA for some show back in 1991, what a god awful experience. No power under 4000rpm at all, rough, bucking, popping, no jets in the world would help (trust me I tried at various "stops" down 101 in the middle of the night). Compared to the Engle 125, the VZ35 was absolutely putrid. Ate fuel like a hungry whale after plankton, stumbled so bad it would almost DIE at 3500rpm, and had to be downshifted to pass going downhill. Not to mention, we ran out of gas in Gaviota, stayed up until 6am once we got to Ojai (cough cough cough), showed was boring as hell, ran out of gas again going north (Gaviota AGAIN), had a rear shock come loose (and rub through hardline for RR wheel cylinder), and the guy i went with had nothing much to say except how hot his g-friend was.
Once I got home I stripped the car, pulled motor, swapped the 125 back in and then took a week off.

Excellent

[Sarge]

A 1700cc single port with a 300cfm Holley Bug Spray and an Engle 125 retarded four degrees...."WTF is that NOISE??"  "oh, it's just a little overlap"

[Tony M]

This last motor i built = 1776 , 120 cam, big valve heads, stock crank, rods and flywheel, single 40 idf - w/ 31in tall tires - a true sweep the floor motor - runs ok from 4000 - 6000 rpms - no balls un that - but its the tires - and its in a baja w/ bus trans - it sees a hill and goes backwards - run it till it blows 

[Tony Wilkie]

The guy who owned it tried to go ss/cc racing with this combination.  The car wouldn't run index.  It got lighter and lighter, and eventually became this...

Ran pretty well with a 2387 @ 1350lbs.

Had a feeling your were talking about Jerry's car 
He told me that 1600 engine ran some crazy number too 

Got to love Jerry and his stories 

[Tony Wilkie]

A 1641 with an FK89 and 12.5 to 1 compression.  It had welded 311 heads, and ida's with 42mm vents.  The owner tried to tell everybody it was a street motor, but got busted by Dave Cormack flat towing it from Frenchy's party before bugorama.  It sounded cool, and idled around 1300rpm but never really moved.  With a junk 1300 lower end it ran 15.90's in a 1300lb car.  The owner of the motor will still tell you it runs, but it spun the flywheel off the end of the 4 dowelled crank a block from his house.

Didn't he spray that engine with a 200+ shot or something???

tw

[Donny B.]

A 1641 with an FK89 and 12.5 to 1 compression.

I know that car...   It sat on my side yard for a few months...

[Sam K]

The worst engine combo I ever had was a tired 1600 with tons of blow-by that I put a 300 cfm Holley bugspray on. It would only idle around 500 rpm's and it souned like a harley davidson. It didn't start pulling until around 3500 and that tired ass engine ran out of breath around 4500. It blew up catastrophically soon after that. Good times. I actually found that bugspray in the shed at my dad's house a couple weeks ago.

[stealth67vw]

My worst combo was a 1776 with a DMS c/w crank, Rimco 12lb flywheel, a CB cam similar to a Engle 140, bone stock heads with dual springs I got from Darrel McNulty, 6.9:1 compression, Berg 1 1/2 header and 42 DCNFs. It ran like shit till 3,500 and was over by 5,000. It idled great but fell on it's face till 3 grand and did not jet/tune worth a shit either. It ran so bad I pulled it out and it's been in my dad's basement since 1994. I hope to one day recam it, dump the DCNFs and put some decent heads on it.

[Zach Gomulka]

A 1641 with an FK89 and 12.5 to 1 compression.  It had welded 311 heads, and ida's with 42mm vents.  The owner tried to tell everybody it was a street motor, but got busted by Dave Cormack flat towing it from Frenchy's party before bugorama.  It sounded cool, and idled around 1300rpm but never really moved.  With a junk 1300 lower end it ran 15.90's in a 1300lb car.  The owner of the motor will still tell you it runs, but it spun the flywheel off the end of the 4 dowelled crank a block from his house.

Didn't he spray that engine with a 200+ shot or something???

tw

He sprayed the big motor. The day after that I was following him over to Don's house in The Sloback (a couple blocks away from his) and he put a rod through the top of the case

[ESH]

A stock '52, got overtaken by a bicycle. Twice. 

[Neil Davies]

A 2276, 82mm Scat flanged crank with type 4 centre mains, J&G floater clutch, Pauter 5.7" (I think) rods, Mahle 94mm P&Cs, 12:1 comp, Superflo heads with 48x39mm valves, CB 2298 cam, Scat 1.5 rockers, (think there was just over 0.600 lift at the valve!) Chevy dual springs, 48IDAs with 44mm vents, MSD dizzy and 6AL and so on.

Sounded mean, looked ace, but couldn't get it to run anywhere near its potential. Think it ran somewhere in the high 12s in a 1600lb car (with driver!). Threw a rod through the case at 7000+rpm - suspect a piston broke up or a barrel split. Made a mess, anyway...

[nicolas]

my current Peugot Partner 1.6HDI engine. it sucks, and doesn't give me any trill or joy at driving. i had to chose, a fast car and lots of tickets or a family car within budget... and it seems i love my family very, very, very much.

[Bewitched666]

My first 1679 engine.

Stock crank
88 slip in cofaps
stock crank
009 dizzy
1.25 rockers
and weber progressive carb
 

[The Ideaman]

Had a feeling your were talking about Jerry's car 
He told me that 1600 engine ran some crazy number too 

Got to love Jerry and his stories 

I could tell you some doozies!

[Jim Ratto]

probably the worst I have driven (but didn't build) was a 1914 with huge welded VW heads (golf ball ports), probably 30cc in heads, like .040" deck, Engle FK87, Weber 48's..... it was in a "street car" but under 6K I could have run faster than this thing.

[stealth67vw]

probably the worst I have driven (but didn't build) was a 1914 with huge welded VW heads (golf ball ports), probably 30cc in heads, like .040" deck, Engle FK87, Weber 48's..... it was in a "street car" but under 6K I could have run faster than this thing.

"I like peaky" 

[Jim Ratto]

probably the worst I have driven (but didn't build) was a 1914 with huge welded VW heads (golf ball ports), probably 30cc in heads, like .040" deck, Engle FK87, Weber 48's..... it was in a "street car" but under 6K I could have run faster than this thing.

"I like peaky" 

wasn't that one

it was Aaron's