I had a similar failure at Watkins Glen last season: #2 rod layin right there on the track (search the archives, the whole story is in there somewhere. It think the title was "Engine failure, what do you think?"). Don't be so quick to assume the rod was the primary failure. Mine turned out to be a piston failure at the wrist pin, the crown of the piston separated from the skirt which fell into the block, and that was that. All the rest of the damage was secondary. Most probably brought on by too little octane, too lean mixture and too much timing advance setting up detonation (in my case). It's worth it to take the engine apart to do an inpection to try and figure out what the root cause was. Do you see scorched bearing surfaces at the rod big ends? (Looks like the metal smeared and turned black). Can you find the rod bolts? Do they look like they stretched and snapped (tensile failure)? The failed bolt ends will look like stretched taffy. Or are they shear failure? Did the pistons come apart? Again, don't assume it was the rod itself. It's probably a good idea to bring the parts to a race shop and ask them if you don't have the experience.
(Bill, I've been THAT busy! And haven't been down to NY since we talked. But I still want to work something out with you for parts. Thanks).
Jim
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Jim
Black Rabbit Racing, #154
What would you guys recommend for engine rebuild? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. 
