Engine type most often blown up, of all time?

The original 301 came from a beefy 350 with 4 bolt mains and a heavy duty crank. To make CAFE guidelines The block was lightened, It went to 2 bolt mains, the crank lost 2 counterbalances ,
and the ports on the head got smaller. if it couldn't breath, it couldn't burn gas. If you forced it to breath you could force it to kill itself. I was thinking a light (modern production ) V8 or even a healthy 6 would make that a nice car today. Not worth the effort. The weight would be low, the power high (higher) While not up to current technology it was a good handling car for its day!
 
The original 301 came from a beefy 350 with 4 bolt mains and a heavy duty crank.

Us old farts will know that the ORIGINAL 301 was a Chevy 283 bored .060 over. Add a Duntov 30/30 cam and a Carter AFB and you had a sweet little gas eater.:biggrin:
 
The original 301 came from a beefy 350 with 4 bolt mains and a heavy duty crank. To make CAFE guidelines The block was lightened, It went to 2 bolt mains, the crank lost 2 counterbalances ,
and the ports on the head got smaller. if it couldn't breath, it couldn't burn gas. If you forced it to breath you could force it to kill itself. I was thinking a light (modern production ) V8 or even a healthy 6 would make that a nice car today. Not worth the effort. The weight would be low, the power high (higher) While not up to current technology it was a good handling car for its day!

Gotta give the 81 T/A that. It handled way better than I thought it would. I still like the crazy way over the top looks it had and it would be super fun to take the T-tops off, crank some Journey and make all my 50 year old neighbors shake their heads.

The prices on them are getting a little out of hand though. I'd rather pick up a mid-70's Cadillac.
 
Now that we're getting into the turbocharged shitboxes,may I suggest the Chrysler 2.5 from the mid 1980's?
 
AH
Lebaron GHS turbo . Motor trend COY:biggrin:
I'm not saying advertisement money influenced that. Wait a minute, actually i am!:thumbsup:
While k cars won it not that one. I could of sworn. Plenty of bad choices though.
 
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Small block chevy engines. The ones built in Mexico being the worst. You open those south of the border engines at your own risk. Sharp edges on the castings tend to slice you up pretty good. One a friend and I tore down was really bad. The edges at the bottom of the cylinders were so sharp my friend Tom had to get stitches. Street drags here were very popular in the 70's. Our drag strip was called "Slaughter House Road". An old slaughter house was at one end of the road.
I remember way more chevy small blocks blowing up than any other type. Next was Ford 302's. However most of the Fords could at leased limp home with the engine hammering away. The chevys that blew usually had to be towed leaving a trail of oil behind. Im not bashing chevy, ive had several. But man they blew spectacularly when pushed way to hard.
F*ckin hell man dont tell me that, I dropped a spankin new Mexellent 305 in my old oldsmobile DD a couple years ago.
 
On the latter paragraph, the first 3 applied, only MoPar had anything for "Public Road Handling" whatsoever. Most American Classic Muscle cars were designed for two things, GO FAST, and in a STRAIGHT LINE. Chrysler had much better brakes and much better suspension on their muscle cars than the rudimentary brakes and suspension of GM and of Ford. Both had to be beefed up a lot on all muscle cars pushed to their limits. Chrysler was very ahead on handling of the USA Big 3.
While I can agree that the average suspensions on 60's Chryslers were a bit firmer than their Ford or Chevy counterparts, Chrysler were the last holdout to have standard disc brakes on all of their cars until 1976!
My all-drum '68 new yorker actually would stop very well, But only once, and only on dry pavement. If you were on grass or gravel, God help you, they were locking up.
 
3.1 & 3.4 V6s were known as the "GM tech's retirement fund." Head gaskets on the 3.1...intake manifold gaskets on the 3.4. Plus...the 3.1 featured the infamous "piston slap". Cold they sounded like a diesel. Evidently the tin plating on the pistons wore off prematurely causing that scary rattle when cold. Wife & I had a ton of fun with our brannew 87 Sundance ES Turbo until it came to head gasket time. Twice. Still tons of fun, though. I think plenty of flathead Fords were blown up back in the day as well...guys rodded the pizz outta them. We had a 53 2-door Ranch Wagon when I was a kid (a car that would be a highly desirable piece today). On an extended camping trip in Canada the ol' flattie holed a piston about halfway home...limped 500 mi home with a v-7. Think I remember Dad pulling the plug wire off the offending hole for some reason before continuing on. Got home & he ran it up on ramps, pulled the pan & head...slid a jumkyard slug & rod in the hole, buttoned her up and drove it for a couple more years.
 
My vote would be the Vega with aluminum block and cast iron head. They must of funded plenty of boat payments for the mechanics that resleeved the cylinders after they wore out at 50k to 75k.

Rotary motors required careful attention to oil and coolant. I had one, smooth as butter when revving. But you very rarely see any 1st or 2nd generations on the road any more. I wonder what American rotaries would have been like. I just read that the Pacer was slated for one but it got nixed due to fuel consumption and the energy crisis at the time of development.
 
3.1 & 3.4 V6s were known as the "GM tech's retirement fund." Head gaskets on the 3.1...intake manifold gaskets on the 3.4. Plus...the 3.1 featured the infamous "piston slap". Cold they sounded like a diesel. Evidently the tin plating on the pistons wore off prematurely causing that scary rattle when cold. Wife & I had a ton of fun with our brannew 87 Sundance ES Turbo until it came to head gasket time. Twice. Still tons of fun, though. I think plenty of flathead Fords were blown up back in the day as well...guys rodded the pizz outta them. We had a 53 2-door Ranch Wagon when I was a kid (a car that would be a highly desirable piece today). On an extended camping trip in Canada the ol' flattie holed a piston about halfway home...limped 500 mi home with a v-7. Think I remember Dad pulling the plug wire off the offending hole for some reason before continuing on. Got home & he ran it up on ramps, pulled the pan & head...slid a jumkyard slug & rod in the hole, buttoned her up and drove it for a couple more years.
John, I have a 99 Chevy Venture van that my inlaws bought new with the 3.4 in it. They did have to do a head gasket at a little over 100,000 miles. The wife and I inherited it after her Dad passed and we used it for many years in our tile installation biz. This thing literally hauled millions of lbs of tile,tools ect. It was retired a few years back when we bought a P/U and because many little things started going wrong with it but the motor has almost 300,000 miles on it now and still runs strong. That little 3.4 impressed me. It now sits in front of my shop door returning to the ground.
 
F*ckin hell man dont tell me that, I dropped a spankin new Mexellent 305 in my old oldsmobile DD a couple years ago.
Ya just have to be carefull rebuilding them. There are sharp edges around the edges of the heads also. Just watch your knuckles. :thumbsup: cutting corners to save a few bucks on casting clean up.
 
John, I have a 99 Chevy Venture van that my inlaws bought new with the 3.4 in it. They did have to do a head gasket at a little over 100,000 miles. The wife and I inherited it after her Dad passed and we used it for many years in our tile installation biz. This thing literally hauled millions of lbs of tile,tools ect. It was retired a few years back when we bought a P/U and because many little things started going wrong with it but the motor has almost 300,000 miles on it now and still runs strong. That little 3.4 impressed me. It now sits in front of my shop door returning to the ground.
Quite true that there exceptions to nearly every rule:) Like yours, some gave impressive life after doing the head gaskets. The "other" GM 3.4 (the DOHC version from the late 80s-early90s) had a propensity to leak oil from every possible location. Enough to drive the Little Dutch Boy to madness. 3800s had their own little suite of problems (plastic intake plenum, anyone?) and a couple of other nagging little things but they are nearly indestructible. My 94 Park has 260k on it, and other than the plenum & a new water pump still gives 75PSI oil pressure on a fresh change. Highest mileage I've seen on a 3800 was 440k on an 86 Olds.
 
Ya just have to be carefull rebuilding them. There are sharp edges around the edges of the heads also. Just watch your knuckles. :thumbsup: cutting corners to save a few bucks on casting clean up.
Well, whew. Im not planning on a rebuild anytime soon. Im running synthetic, so it should be awhile before i have to get into the engine for any reason
 
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