Seriously, can a piston make it out the TOP of a motor?

[WOT]

Serious question. Ive blown a few motors, spun a few bearings, boosted the shit outta cars that had no right having boost. But Ive never had a part of the motor come out of the top of the motor.

I was just watchin pinks and this lady had a white work van big ole long ***** with slicks and a 350, they interviewed her cause she was a chick driver and a van I guess, and they showed her motor, 350 v8, only thing was, the engine was completely back inside the passenger cabin, low but the bottom of the valvecovers were level with the floor pan, the only ting they had seperating this ladies motor from her tootsies was some flimsy looking plastic kids swimming pool strength cover.

Isnt that unsafe? Ive never had head problems before so I dont know if valves or rockers or something can fly through the valvecovers, and that plastic cover wasnt stopping anything with more force than paintball

I was surprised she passed tech and ran 12.7 i think on 10psi 14" slicks and did a wheelie

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[cj407]

a piston cant come thru the top unless your head just isnt attached and your connecting rod isnt secure around the crank...

 

[M Cook 10+ year member]

Yea, I dont think theres any possible way for it to go through everything to blow out the top.

 

[kmanian 5,000+ posts]

the piston wouldn't come through, but with the right conditions the rod (or part of it) could possibly. not likely, but possibly. the heads would have to be aluminium for sure.

 

[Cravingbass123]

NO WAY!!! shards might come through but not anywhere near a whole piston

now a valve rocker might come lose if not installed properly but thats about it though lol

(and you have to be an idiot to allow that to happen)

 

[RE_XXX]

ummm..... buddy had a rod come up through the head on his LB7 Duramax.....

But it was also twin turboed.... nitrous and methanol injected and a bunch of other shit....

 

[hornedfrog1985 5,000+ posts]

I don't know... If you have like a 300 shot in an underbuilt motor it's probably possible.

Enough pressure all at once, can do all sorts of shit.

 

[lilmaniac2 5,000+ posts]

its gonna fail at its weakest point, which I highly doubt is the very top underneath the uber strong valve cover

 

[I Like Waffle]

Not likely on a car engine, I had it happen on a kart before though. I was running an alcohol stroked briggs raptor engine modded to hell on a old kart i used to mess around with. I was riding to the store one day turning around 7500 on the tach, and it started clanking then the rod snapped. Shattered the head and shot almost completely out of the block. I still have the block/head/piston with embedded spark plug somewhere around here //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif Thats why they make those girdle kits for stroked kart engines running high comp. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

Only thing ive heard about shattering on car motors is the clutch i think. Apparently it can explode and come through the ***** and **** alot of shit up if you dont have a scatter shield

 

[Vermithrax 10+ year member]

ummm..... buddy had a rod come up through the head on his LB7 Duramax.....
But it was also twin turboed.... nitrous and methanol injected and a bunch of other shit....

Pushrod or connecting rod? There's a big difference. I have heard of pushrods coming through the valve cover before.

 

[DBBOOM 10+ year member]

No. Not gonna happen. The flywheel would be the dangerous element in that ride. Hope she has a scattershield installed.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

That's what vans are like...on the plus side, I change my plugs from inside the cabin //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[tommyk90 5,000+ posts]

It would take a WHOLE HELL of a lot of force for a piston to make it through the cylinder head. So much that the piston would pretty much disintegrate (or get flattened) before it even made it through.

Pushrod could get shot out, sure. But not a piston.

Like previously stated, the flywheel/torque converter/clutch is the dangerous part. Have one of those explode at 6000 RPM and you're in for trouble.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

its gonna fail at its weakest point, which I highly doubt is the very top underneath the uber strong valve cover

A rod can be ejected. If this occurs, the valve cover would be of almost no protection. That is not their intended purpose, and display much less resistance to ejection than would the head itself.

 

[jdc753 10+ year member]

I know its a totally different catagory and all but ya can not rule out anything and everything...



I don't think I would want to be that close to a motor getting pushed hard down the track. Even if not the piston but any shrapnel from a rod windowing the block or heck even the burning hot oil or coolant splashing out in some bad cases, or the fly wheel grenading.