John Pucak's Alfetta Engine Blow-Up

[Paul Newby]

For those of you who were at the FOSC Wakefield Park meeting back in October you will recall that John Pucak comprehensively blew up the engine in his silver Alfetta GT. The smokescreen was impressive, as was the oil trail... 

On inspection back at the pits it became evident what had gone wrong as there was a large whole in the block with number three conrod poking through... 

Anyway a couple of weeks ago fellow Alfetta punters, Grame Jeffries, Steve Smith and your truly helped John take the engine out of his GT and I had my camera along to record this for posterity. It would appear that it sheered a conrod bolt. The crankshaft itself seemed fine and so was the cylinder head. Here are some pics: (hopefully this will work ... )

[alfagtv58]

Ouch 

I saw this happen, I had thought (hoped, for John's sake) that he had simply spun the oil filter off.

So what is the plan John?  Mega HP motor on its way?  And are you going to get the chance to give the new engine a run before Bathurst in Easter?

[Scott Farquharson]

Well done John, that is a spectacular effort.  I have never seen it before in one of these motors.

[John A Pucak]

I was lucky that no body was behind when she let go, it could have been a real disaster for anyone following .The amount of oil and smoke exiting the back of my car reminds of the original Batmobil escaping from the Riddler. I was lucky enough that the head escaped without any damage, extractors are ok , block, crank, rods , pistons are a throwaway. I think the reason why she let go was oil starvation.I did notice that oil press gauge was flickering in the previous race. So the moral to this story is install a mechanical oil gauge.
I will be busy this Christmas break with rebuilding the engine. I am aiming to get Wakefield for the VRA track day in Feb . As for Bathurst, I am filling out the entry form as we speak, are any of you Victorians entering Bathurst?. Viva Group S
John

[alfagtv58]

My entry for Bathurst is in, fingers crossed it is accepted.

I am off to do my flagging duties (so I can get off my 'P' plates) this Saturday at Sandown.

[Scott Farquharson]

Sent it today.

[alfagtv58]

Hey John, is the engine ready to go?  Not long to Bathurst!!

[John A Pucak]

The engine is being assembled by Rob at Manning Motors as we speak. Brand new forged pistons ,liners,valves, block ,balanced crank,fuel pump,cams,new balanced flywheel,new tailshaft, donuts and the list goes on.I hope to have it all together within 2 weeks, this gives me time to run the car in and weed out the problems.I managed to fit a V6 radiator into my car,amazing what you can do with a angle grinder and alarge hammer. I hope this will fix the  overheating problem. Fingers crossed, I will make it to Mt Panorama. Did you fix the panel damage to your car?. Cheers John Pucak