Maximum engine abuse stories

[Unchained]

It looks like a new thread is needed here.
What's the worst you ever saw an engine being abused.
I was on a construction site a few years back when I saw a bored worker put a cutting torch (unlit) into the air cleaner opening of a rental 20 hp air compressor running wide open and try various mixtures of oxy and acetylene. Major detonation, hammering and black smoke coming out.
I was driving a semi on the expressway with a 50 ton load on the trailer going downhill with the throttle to the floor when I ran over a rough section of road which caused the cab to shake hard and caused the shifter to slap into the next lower gear, the engine revved so high that the tach wound around past 0.
Detroit diesels aren't supposed to go to 5000 rpm.
I was riding dirt bikes with a guy who 1/2 way through the ride his air cleaner fell off and he rode the rest of the day in the dirt with no air cleaner.
A friend had a van with a worn out small block that he decided he wanted to see the engine blow up. He ran it for miles in low gear with WOT and it didn't blow. He continued to run it at WOT and had someone roll some ball bearings into the carb opening. That did it.

[mondorally]

When I was a kid we had four stroke kawasaki motorcycle (circa 1980 or so) that we rode in a dirt lot next to our house. We ran out of gas so decided to use the most flammible thing we could find for fuel - used paint thinner! The bike actually ran as long as it was wide open.
Around this time the clutch cable broke. Again, being the ingenious kids we were we attached vice grips to the broken cable. To get the leverage to actuate the clutch you would have to wrap the vice grips around the handle bars and turn them full lock. As you would straighten out the wheel the clutch would disengage. Made for some wild rides keeping the throttle wide open while trying to release the clutch and get the bike rolling without spinning out or control.......

[572Daytona]

This is more on the lines of entire vehicle abuse but I use to line up front fender to front fender with a buddy of mine in a parking lot and see who could push the other's car backwards. I usually ended up losing since my '67 Biscayne station wagon was lighter than his early 70's New Yorker and I also had 100 less cubes 283 to his 383.
The worse engine abuse I created was probably hooking up a 455 olds to a jet drive Actually after putting the engine back in after having the hull regeled, I hooked up the cooling hoses so that the water came off the jet drive and went right to the logs and out the back never touching the engine. I actually drove for quite a while that way before I noticed. 455's never were meant to be air cooled.

[lucky]

I don't abuse my stuff ! BUTTTTTT when i was 16 i had this rayson - well on the edlebrock tr2x it has four bolts on the INSIDE of the plenuium and one came loose - so i stuffed a rag ( when actually it was two ) down to keep debre out - well put it bakc to gether and took it to the lake and was putting around with my buddy whom got my attention ( he sat bacwards ) and said whats that - about that time it started hammering - had white fiber comming out the header drain holes - bent push rods and a refresh and i was good to go
my father 79 peterbuilt ( does abuse his stuff unknowinngly ) 8v92 tta with a 13 welll - he found a switch that was right under the dash - It bypassed the govener - and low and behold i remember watching the speedo hit 106 and the tach was somewhere around 2600- delenian and alf put a crank in it that week - !

[CrazyHippy]

Hehehe... friend had a chevy luv. Also had a 5.0 liter POS mustang. He bought the mustang planning to swap the 5.0 into the luv, but his parents wouldn't let him because the truck was still running fine. We drove it from ventura to Santa Barbara and back in 2nd gear (valves were floating around 72mph) trying to blow it up, and didn't.
Damn thing never ran better :yuk: :crossx:
watched a guy hole a piston in an IMCA modified, and not have a spare motor. He was doing really well points wise, and had to go out for the main, so he pulled the pan off, took a sawzall to the rod, and one on the other side for "balance" pushed the piston up as far as it would go, and tack welded 2 tabs to the cylinder wall :220v: :220v: :220v: Slap it back together, pull the plugs from the dead holes, back the valvetrain off the 2 dead holes, and go run it... he made it all 25 laps (not very fast though)
BJH