67Dart273
Well-Known Member
An old story from what are now the old days
My old 70 V code RR original 440 lost it's guts somewhere S of Stockton somewhere around 1973.
I had engineered some 4 days off without leave (we worked 24 on / 48 off at GCA, so we traded some) and a friend (now RIP) were going to drive up to the Navy comsta near Davis? Sac? to see a friend of mine, and who was the car's original owner.
So we jump in the thing in San Diego and 'drive all day.'
Somewhere around midnight somewhere S of Stockton in the "middle of nowhere" I began playing with the throttle. Gary asked what? I said I thought I felt something "maybe it's a chunk out of a belt"
As near as I can figure the sequence is something like this:
The no6 rod lost it's cap more or less, and affected a nearby rod. At least two rods broke, and one windowed the block. Of course all the oil and antifreeze fell out. There was a hole somewhere in the pan, too
As the rods slung around and around, the cam got broken up into several pieces. One, I kept for awhile, was a cute little thing with two lobes on it!!!
So now the valves are all stopped, some closed, and some open, but most of the pistons are still sort of going up and down for a time. This of course means that the valves, some of them, got the crap kicked out of them, and this didn't do the pistons or cylinder walls any good, either.
We walked and walked and WALKED. Finally came across some one-horse service station in the middle nowhere, and luckily, the only half drunk operators where JUST closing up. And!!! They had a wrecker!!!!. So we went and got the wreck with the wrecker, AKA the smoking remains, and then the two only 3/4 drunk operators gave us a ride into Stockton. We left the RR at the station.
The two mostly completely drunk station operators dropped us off at a hortel. We were standing there on the corner, contemplating "whut" when a motor cop rode up, so I hailed him.
"Sir scuse us, can you advise a way out of town?"
"Have ya tried hitchikin?"
"Sir you don't understand. We have MONEY. We are lookin for a plane, boat, train, you know "wheels."
"Have ya tried hitchikin?"
So we got a room with an EARLY wakeup (this is I don't know 3AM by now) to catch a plane
The wake up call came, and we decide, screw this let's sleep. We can rent a U-Haul and haul /tow the RR back to San Diego.
So we get up about 11AM and find that NOwhere in Stockton can we find a one-way truck to tow or haul the RR
So we Greyhound to SF
Get a taxi to the Oakland airport
Jump on a PSA flight back to San Diego
Taxi from the San Diego airport to Gary's house in National City (Paradise Hills)
We get his truck, go round up a U-haul clamp on tow bar, and go N to NAS Miramar where we drop the PU and jump in my 64 426 Dodge and drive ALL the freekin way back N to damn near S of Stockton to the service station........where the RR sits
(On a side note we woke up the daughter of one of the station operators who was jumping her boyfriend in a little trailer out back of the station. Laughing and giggles afoot)
Hook up the RR, and drag the smoking remains all the way back S to NAS Miramar.
Now my leading chief used to do a really good imitation of Columbo. He would knit his eyebrows and frown concernedly, and say "I just have one question."
"Are you supposed to be able to look down THROUGH THE ENGINE AND SEE THE GROUND???
My old 70 V code RR original 440 lost it's guts somewhere S of Stockton somewhere around 1973.
I had engineered some 4 days off without leave (we worked 24 on / 48 off at GCA, so we traded some) and a friend (now RIP) were going to drive up to the Navy comsta near Davis? Sac? to see a friend of mine, and who was the car's original owner.
So we jump in the thing in San Diego and 'drive all day.'
Somewhere around midnight somewhere S of Stockton in the "middle of nowhere" I began playing with the throttle. Gary asked what? I said I thought I felt something "maybe it's a chunk out of a belt"
As near as I can figure the sequence is something like this:
The no6 rod lost it's cap more or less, and affected a nearby rod. At least two rods broke, and one windowed the block. Of course all the oil and antifreeze fell out. There was a hole somewhere in the pan, too
As the rods slung around and around, the cam got broken up into several pieces. One, I kept for awhile, was a cute little thing with two lobes on it!!!
So now the valves are all stopped, some closed, and some open, but most of the pistons are still sort of going up and down for a time. This of course means that the valves, some of them, got the crap kicked out of them, and this didn't do the pistons or cylinder walls any good, either.
We walked and walked and WALKED. Finally came across some one-horse service station in the middle nowhere, and luckily, the only half drunk operators where JUST closing up. And!!! They had a wrecker!!!!. So we went and got the wreck with the wrecker, AKA the smoking remains, and then the two only 3/4 drunk operators gave us a ride into Stockton. We left the RR at the station.
The two mostly completely drunk station operators dropped us off at a hortel. We were standing there on the corner, contemplating "whut" when a motor cop rode up, so I hailed him.
"Sir scuse us, can you advise a way out of town?"
"Have ya tried hitchikin?"
"Sir you don't understand. We have MONEY. We are lookin for a plane, boat, train, you know "wheels."
"Have ya tried hitchikin?"
So we got a room with an EARLY wakeup (this is I don't know 3AM by now) to catch a plane
The wake up call came, and we decide, screw this let's sleep. We can rent a U-Haul and haul /tow the RR back to San Diego.
So we get up about 11AM and find that NOwhere in Stockton can we find a one-way truck to tow or haul the RR
So we Greyhound to SF
Get a taxi to the Oakland airport
Jump on a PSA flight back to San Diego
Taxi from the San Diego airport to Gary's house in National City (Paradise Hills)
We get his truck, go round up a U-haul clamp on tow bar, and go N to NAS Miramar where we drop the PU and jump in my 64 426 Dodge and drive ALL the freekin way back N to damn near S of Stockton to the service station........where the RR sits
(On a side note we woke up the daughter of one of the station operators who was jumping her boyfriend in a little trailer out back of the station. Laughing and giggles afoot)
Hook up the RR, and drag the smoking remains all the way back S to NAS Miramar.
Now my leading chief used to do a really good imitation of Columbo. He would knit his eyebrows and frown concernedly, and say "I just have one question."
"Are you supposed to be able to look down THROUGH THE ENGINE AND SEE THE GROUND???
