[JFP in PA]

Theoretically interesting, but practical experiences say otherwise. Byron is of the impression shrapnel from his grenadeing M96, complete with holes in the block, tore up the pump; but if that were the case, there is no way the engine continued to run for ten seconds after dispatching a rod through the block, or even two seconds for that matter. These engines stop pretty quickly when things are lashing around the inside. So if the shrapnel from the failure got into the pump, the engine should have already been slowing considerably. Looking at his photos of the impeller, there are no vanes at all. Small metal bits would take a lot of time to do this, so I would expect to find some fairly large metallic chunks that would be required to do that amount of damage in a very limited time in or near the pump; but none are visible in the photos, and he has not mentioned finding them. The photos also do not show the gouging in the housing, or on the impeller disc itself, which begs a question: What size and shape object(s) could have gotten into the pump and proceeded to very quickly and cleanly cut off all the vanes, and then vanish entirely (along with the vanes) without leaving any other marks? That is why I questioned the supposition in the first place, the photos do not appear to support it.

When daily drivers/street cars have the vanes break off, and then drive to my shop, and we located most if not all of the bits in or near the pump housing and thermostat housing areas, sometimes after as much as an hour’s running time…..