anyone built a budget "bomb" engine - story time

[indyjps]

anyone built a budget bomb, i wanna hear about the cheapest, rattiest engines that have been bolted together. ive always enjoyed seeing what could be done with no cash (now that im older and have some funds and less time it seems ridiculous). heres a couple

355 2 bolt previously tough street engine that blew up,
boiled block and honed
scarred crank - got two journals turned .020 others standard
(machinist made me promise id never mention his name)
5.7 rods
mismatched pistons 6 forged flattops from original set two domed pistons, domes ground off and weight matched to the catalog spec for the other 6 pressed onto spare rods from unknown engine
cam- of course specs unknown, used new hydraulic lifters
heads- 76 cc 2.02 that we got from circle track guy, had 3 scarred chambers that got dressed up with grinder, replaced two valves and hand lapped, umbrella seals, the guides were questionable
intake - trusty victor jr that was picked up @ swap meet cheaply due to being hogged on extensively
(noone else trusted the epoxy on one runner where it broke thru)
stock oil pump, stock timing chain, mostly new gaskets
-- ran hard for 40,000 miles most spent driving back and forth the street racing area, never did blow

355 unbalanced of course,
--cast crank at the machine shop it was dropped off and had to be turned .025 to clean up, owner left it and never came back for it. traded a set of 76 cc heads for it.
--2 bolt block .030 and worn, honed it up used file fit rings
--j&e pistons, at the time not many people were using 6 inch rods other than late model circle track guys, picked up a used set of pistons for $40 due to a scarred dome, ground the domes to match and mounted on a set of 6 inch oldsmobile small block rods, had to so some screw ball job on the pins, dont recall what all it took, bearings were a pain in the ass to order too.
-- heads 76 cc 882's 1.94 valve, more grinding on pistons
ran one season in modified circle track car, never did blow up

383 blew up due to studs pulling out of heads
-- heads double humps, pinned all studs but two, installed screw in studs in garage ( no fixture, no drill press, scary) 2.02 valves, fixed 3 guides
-- 5.7 rods 5 from balanced assembly with aftermarket bolts, 3 random
-- 6 matched pistons .030, 2 .060 mismatched and ground to weigh close to spec weight of the other 6
-- crank one journal .010, other 7 main bearings still looked ok.
-- new balancer for some strange reason we worried about harmonics
-- reused oil pump
-- driven 5 summers, parked for 5 (child arrived and rearend blew) unveiled last month still runs low 12's in a 72 chevelle. friend has parts for a new engine but wants to see how long this will one will go

most builds just for fun at the time to try and blow something up, they didnt blow up, they kept running hard. anyone else cram something together to make a race weekend and had the thing live.

[myclone]

Never went so far as to hack something togeather just to race but have been short on cash and needing transportation so Ive cut a few corners in the past.

1) 78-ish 350 that spun a rod bearing out of a drinking buds 4wd blazer. The stock bore cylinders were worn so egg shaped you could see ~1/64" of the entire top ring in each bore so we threw in some used file fit rings, found a 305 crank that needed only a good cleaning on the journals, cleaned/reused oil pump but shimmed the bypass, $20 import/el cheapo timing chain, stock heads with umbrella seals (guides were trash), no valve job, threw it all togeather and I drove it for about 15k miles before the rings barrelled from the piston rock causing it to burn oil....LOTS of oil. Still ran fine though but at idle you couldnt see out the back of the car due to oil smoke.

Forgot to mention that the cylinders being so egged caused so much piston slap the thing sounded EXACTLY like a diesel at idle LOL.

Yanked that motor and installed another bone yard motor that didnt smoke so it sat in the corner of my garage for ~10yrs until recently when I went through it again (correctly this time). While at the machine shop they found a crack between cylinders 4 and 6 on the lifter valley side into the water jacket so I told em to finish the machine work and Id fix the crack with JB weld myself. The engine now runs like a champ in my beater 4x4 that I drive daily to work.

[indyjps]

we were just trying to see how far we could push things. i think our machinist was half axxed interested in it too. he did not want to be associated with it but always wanted to know how things turned out. all deals were cash out the back door anyway.
we also did many quality builds, these were mostly spare pieces, some beer and hey what if. we would buy a truck load of small blocks and tear them down to see what was useable cores, rebuild the good cores and sell most of the stuff that needed extensive machining, maybe why the machinist liked us so much.