What have you broken while out hot rodding your car?

[Kern Dog]

Besides breaking "the law", what have you broken on the car? U-joints? Drive shafts? Motor mounts?
Oddly, for as much as I hammer the throttle, I've never actually blown up an engine to the point where it wouldn't run. My second 440 in the red car threw a rod but still ran. I've never grenaded a clutch or a main shaft in the transmission. I've had automatics lose 3rd or reverse but never go completely out.
I never have blown out a differential but I did lose a wheel and tire during a short burnout leaving a cruise spot 35 years ago.

[70 sublime]

About the only thing I have broke was on a 73 RR

Just after I got it was out and the gas pedal cable broke
I was one town over from home at the time so ended up just speeding up the fast idle screw on the carb and drove all the back roads to get home

Same car I had a little fender bender when someone pulled out in front of me

[John_Kunkel]

They say pictures are worth a thousand words. My old 426 Max Wedge.

[Kern Dog]

Ouch. That hurt the engine and your wallet!

[tan top]

since the late 80s,
few head gaskets, 3 engines , 1x rod bearings in one engine, 1x broken oil pump drive &  totally seized another engine,  1x timing chain/ gear  in another engine,  2x manual gearboxes  1 auto gearbox , 1x drive shaft, 1 U joint off another, ripped a manual trans rubber mount x2 , 1x engine mounting,  2 x  driver side rear leaf springs    & wore out the tread on plenty of rear tires

Just after I got it was out and the gas pedal cable broke
I was one town over from home at the time so ended up just speeding up the fast idle screw on the carb and drove all the back roads to get home

haha !  broke a throttle cable once  too & done the same increased the idle speed  was a manual transmission that was a bit tricky had a lot of stop & go traffic on route to home  , had a steep hill to climb  a ,mile from home too so pulled the choke ( manual) out just for the hill little more speed , 

prolly a few more things ive forgotten but nothing since  about 1998/9 onwards

[moparguy01]

Short answer? Yes.

Long answer, in the 24 years of owning my car, 3 camshafts wiped, 3 head gaskets, 2 melted pistons (nitrous not quite right), 3 rocker arm failures, 18 severly bent pushrods, 1 pretzeled driveshaft, 1 twisted off axle, 2 center section failures, 5? Ujoints(its happened alot, so i dont remember exactly)

I wasnt exactly gentle with it....lol these were all on my 74 charger.

On other cars, ive broken a lot more. My wall of shame is fairly complete.

[Kern Dog]

I thought I was tough on my cars but I never had anything powerful enough to hurt itself like many of you.
With my cars today, I'm hard on them but not destructive.

[Old Moparz]

A timing chain, twice on two different cars. The first one was on my 1969 Charger SE with a 383-4V that did a lot of damage to the engine. This was in the early 80's & I don't recall where I was, but I had the car towed home. All the push rods were bent so I swapped a used set in when I replaced the chain. It ran, but ran like crap. It needed body work as well & sheet metal for these didn't exist so instead of throwing money into it I gave on it & sold it for $650.

The second chain was on my 1971 Scamp with a 318-2V. This was 10 years later while I was on my way to work at 6am on the NYS Thruway in January. The car was running great, had only 90,000 miles at the time & suddenly lost all power. I coasted over to the shoulder & wasn't able to restart the car. Waited almost 3 hours for a tow truck & froze my ass off.  When I discovered it was the chain I didn't mess with it & simply had the entire engine rebuilt.

Had the shop do performance upgrades while they had it, bigger cam, balanced, aluminum intake & 4V carb & a few more things. 

[Back N Black]

Has a torsion bar break doing 50 MPH, that was interesting. Put a fresh 440 in my Road Runner and forgot to tighten the motor mounts, on the road test i floored it and the engine jumped off the mounts hit the hood and throttle stuck, fan cut into the rad. Two years ago broke piston rings on the 440 in my charger with only 20,000  miles The builder installed wrong rings, broke rings on three pistons. In my younger years put many cars in the ditch, I have been in a few accidents with me and my friends driving (racing). Being upside down in a car is not fun.

[timmycharger]

A few years back, right around this time of year I wanted to take the Charger on a quick drive during my lunch break (I work from home). It was barely warmed up when I started flogging it and during a 1-2 shift I heard a strange noise from under the hood followed by tons of smoke.  I pulled over and saw that my Thermostat housing failed big time and coolant was spraying everywhere. What a mess but it ended up being the cheap chrome housing I had that warped. I replaced it since with a billet/o ring deal that has been flawless since.


Right after I had the car painted, no bumpers, lights etc I thought it was a good idea to take my young son around the block, but in my excitement I forgot to put the bungie cord I had holding the hood down temporarily and when I  gave the throttle a quick stab, the hood started to fly up on me. I braked while this was happening but the hood still managed to bend badly.

This was my original hood that was perfectly straight with no rust that I had hanging on my ceiling to keep it safe only to be destroyed in seconds due to my dumbass.   I ended bending the hood back, welding in some supports and then having the painter re shoot it.  THe painter felt bad for me and painted it for free (I had left over paint) and even drove to my garage with his UV light to make sure he had a perfect match. 

The hood is still not right, doesnt sit flat on the sides where it meets the fender so my plan is to buy another one in the future but I also plan on putting my fiberglass 6 pack hood back on for now.

[Kern Dog]

If you live on the couch, you never make mistakes nor do you enjoy success.
The guys that are out there living are the ones that get things done.

[Drache]

Blew up a rear end on one car and a lifter through a rocker on another car.