oh no there was quite a noise to be heard along with fluids.yes the block got the full treatment when it was built a year and a half ago.it is what it is.i'm just thankful that i didn't wreck the car.the coolant could've hit the tires and sent me elsewhere or worse.all that said the block is 51 years old so anything's possible..yes this totally blows as i spent more than i've ever spent on a motor and the broken bellhousing is the cherry on top.like i said could've been worse.No KaBoom???? With that level of destruction, there should have been an earth-shattering KA-BOOM!!!
Gotta second the notion of the school shops cut-away motor idea. Most of the heavy lifting is done already. Both seven and eight are junk, the oil pump has been sheared away, The split runs all the way from the #7 exhaust through the water jacket and down through that back freeze plug boss and then down and across to end at the starter motor boss. I can almost think that that block had been injured already; just wasn't showing or making noises about it, and finally just succumbed to an increasing level of damage over time. Just as a question here, did you happen to sonoflux or magnaflux that block when You built the mill?
Nick