YouTuber Blows Up His ’79 Ford F-250 Engine for Science (And Views)
Instead of yanking a Ford F-250’s 351 before installing a new motor, why not make a few bucks by blowing it up?
YouTube has become, well, a full-time job for some folks. Get enough subscribers and enough views, and you can make a pretty decent living on there. Getting people to actually watch and sub to your channel is easier said than done, of course. Sometimes, you can get there by posting content that’s educational or informative. But more often than not, you have to do crazy things that provoke a response from your audience. Things like, well, intentionally blowing up the motor in your 1979 Ford F-250 pickup.
Which is exactly what YouTuber WhistlinDiesel did in this video. And obviously, it worked. Just a few days after posting the video, it has well over a half-million views. To his credit, there is a reason for this dramatic destruction. This old Ford is getting a new engine, so the old one was headed to the scrap yard anyway. Most sane folks would simply pull the old one and maybe sell it. But when you’re on YouTube, you blow it up and likely make more than enough money in ad revenue to cover the cost.
“It has a 351 in it,” our host says. “There’s a decent amount done to it. Intake manifold, thumper cam. I think pistons, valve covers, Holley carb, and a couple of other things. It’s pretty fast. It might be 400 something horse. But the motor that’s in this truck right now is like a little flea compared to the freak that’s gonna be under there next week. Probably 2,000 some horses.”
Which is great and all, but surely somebody could use that old 351? Regardless, our host lays out his plan for destruction. It involves, well, a giant rock holding the gas pedal to the floor. And he doesn’t seem to think that the result will be all that dramatic “You’re probably not going to see some 13-kiloton explosion,” he says. “But if you notice a large hole in your leg, it’s probably time to go.”
At least the fire department was notified ahead of time. Safety first, you know. And that’s a good thing considering how this experiment goes. The poor Ford starts to billow some white smoke before a small fire starts under the hood. And within a few seconds, a massive fireball emerges from under the hood into the sky. It’s quite the dramatic exit for our poor V8, that’s for sure.
Thankfully, they quickly extinguish the flames before any real damage is done. And amazingly, the Ford starts back up and runs on seven cylinders after the explosion. With no coolant, however, it soon dies out. And despite numerous attempts to crank it afterward, the engine’s just too hot. It’s a sad ending for the 351, but we hope that bigger and better things are on the way for this particular Ford F-250, at least!
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