Block strength - CEG Archives

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I was talking to a buddy who said he heard someone (in the racing community) say the Duratec was the most under-developed engine out there. He said the webbing and the like are just amazing, and no one has come close to the potential of the engine for a race car.

That, combined with some tales of cracked 302 (5.0 Mustang) blocks, got me thinking. Has anyone ever cracked a 2.5 or 3.0 block? I've heard that con-rods are a potential weak spot, but with a 400+ fwhp 2.5 out there, it makes me wonder - where's the limit? With TVR and Noble both having used the block, can we expect to see some really crazy parts in this block?

There is a Pro-mod Cougar running a 3L Duratec (turbo) with the stock block and heads. It makes over 1600HP.

He used the stock crank for quite a while. When he reached around 1400HP he finally twisted his original crank.

Originally posted by DemonSVT:
There is a Pro-mod Cougar running a 3L Duratec (turbo) with the stock block and heads. It makes over 1600HP.

He used the stock crank for quite a while. When he reached around 1400HP he finally twisted his original crank.

Wow, that's pretty interesting. Fourcam330, a member on SVTPerformance mentioned that the iron 5.4L MOD V8 blocks are good up to 1400hp before the bores distort. Just goes to show you the amount of engineering that went into the Duratec.

Originally posted by Auto-X Fil:
I was talking to a buddy who said he heard someone (in the racing community) say the Duratec was the most under-developed engine out there. He said the webbing and the like are just amazing, and no one has come close to the potential of the engine for a race car.

That, combined with some tales of cracked 302 (5.0 Mustang) blocks, got me thinking. Has anyone ever cracked a 2.5 or 3.0 block? I've heard that con-rods are a potential weak spot, but with a 400+ fwhp 2.5 out there, it makes me wonder - where's the limit? With TVR and Noble both having used the block, can we expect to see some really crazy parts in this block?

Except I have yet to hear about anyone breaking a a stock rod. Tom didn't...the Nobles don't, and I doubt I will either. From everything I have read/heard the rods being weak is an assumption.

Originally posted by stilov:

Originally posted by Auto-X Fil:
I was talking to a buddy who said he heard someone (in the racing community) say the Duratec was the most under-developed engine out there. He said the webbing and the like are just amazing, and no one has come close to the potential of the engine for a race car.

That, combined with some tales of cracked 302 (5.0 Mustang) blocks, got me thinking. Has anyone ever cracked a 2.5 or 3.0 block? I've heard that con-rods are a potential weak spot, but with a 400+ fwhp 2.5 out there, it makes me wonder - where's the limit? With TVR and Noble both having used the block, can we expect to see some really crazy parts in this block?

Except I have yet to hear about anyone breaking a a stock rod. Tom didn't...the Nobles don't, and I doubt I will either. From everything I have read/heard the rods being weak is an assumption.

The rod BEARINGS are the weak link.

Originally posted by Big Jim:

Originally posted by stilov:

Originally posted by Auto-X Fil:
I was talking to a buddy who said he heard someone (in the racing community) say the Duratec was the most under-developed engine out there. He said the webbing and the like are just amazing, and no one has come close to the potential of the engine for a race car.

That, combined with some tales of cracked 302 (5.0 Mustang) blocks, got me thinking. Has anyone ever cracked a 2.5 or 3.0 block? I've heard that con-rods are a potential weak spot, but with a 400+ fwhp 2.5 out there, it makes me wonder - where's the limit? With TVR and Noble both having used the block, can we expect to see some really crazy parts in this block?

Except I have yet to hear about anyone breaking a a stock rod. Tom didn't...the Nobles don't, and I doubt I will either. From everything I have read/heard the rods being weak is an assumption.

The rod BEARINGS are the weak link.

well im new but if were talking bout the 2.5L SVT Duratec i have broke a rod that started with the rod bearing but i did drive on it for 20+ miles before it went soaring through the side of my block .. it had only 113,000 miles on the block . no mods just bone stock..

SpdySVT

First CSVT 2000 Black
Lots of mods Ran Great
Curent CSVT 1998.5 Silver Frost
No mods Runs like .. well it doesn't anymore ..
working on 3L Swap due to Blown Eng ...

Originally posted by Auto-X Fil:

That, combined with some tales of cracked 302 (5.0 Mustang) blocks, got me thinking.

Well you have to realize that are a dozen or more designs of 302 blocks. If your talking about the HO block that they put in fox bodies those are junk. If your making 500 horse your difinately running on borrowed time. But the weak point on those engines are the rod bolts not the block itself. Now if your talking about a Mexican block you can go std bore or .010" and still safely make 600 horse or better. A 69-70 BOSS 302 block. Good luck breaking it unless you have some sort of other internal engine failure.

That's the block I chose for my street srip 347 and I designed that to take over 1000hp (weak point is the crank).

Well there's your Mustang lesson for the day.

Mike

Originally posted by DemonSVT:
There is a Pro-mod Cougar running a 3L Duratec (turbo) with the stock block and heads. It makes over 1600HP.

He used the stock crank for quite a while. When he reached around 1400HP he finally twisted his original crank.

Any details on that?

Thanks guys - I knew the Porsche engineers knew how to make a tough block, but I had no idea it could hold that kind of power. What's really amazing is that the 3.0L can take that kind of power, since it has bigger holes than the 2.5L block of the same dimensions!

I'm going to go search for the differences between the 3.0L and 2.5L blocks now - if it's all discussed in the 3.0 forum, don't bother listing them, I'll find out. If it's not that simple let me know.

The driver is Manny Cruz. He runs twin GT40 turbos on a Duttweiler built 3L engine. The car has run 6's at 200+ mph. That's a screamin' V6.

Originally posted by DemonSVT:
The car has run 6's at 200+ mph. That's a screamin' V6.

Originally posted by TourDeForce:

Originally posted by DemonSVT:
The car has run 6's at 200+ mph. That's a screamin' V6.

Originally posted by paul martin:

Originally posted by TourDeForce:

Originally posted by DemonSVT:
The car has run 6's at 200+ mph. That's a screamin' V6.

Okay, that's enough of that.

That's pretty sick. RWD, looks like. It says that's a Jag block - is that the same as the Taurus/Escape/Mondeo?