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your advice? Why did it happen?

Hello, I have 97 Explorer 5.0 engine in a old rod. Now it has always ran well, last fall i was having problems with what I thought was a fuel pump locking up. I didnt even think about it this winter, I decided to put a supercharger in now 2 months later I go to start and it wouldnt fire. Very weird good fuel pressure but just wouldnt fire. At first i thought it was the alarm, as you know when they malfunction it could be the problem. I still couldnt get it to fire so I brought it to a electronic shop $300.00 later they finally figured at my expense that the roter was not turnning. I knew it sputtered to a stop in my drive going 10mph. So I saw the cam was not turnning so I took off the front cover and my cam chain was in the pan! I freak! Than I pulled the plugs looked great. At first I was going th throw a chain on it and than check the compression. I rolled the cam and the rocker arms were moving fine I eliminated a busted cam. to remove the right rocker the charger needed to come off. When I rolled the cam over I could see something was not correct. The lifters for cylinder 4 was acting real weird it jumped! Well the heads need to come off. Looking at it it looks like the pushrods are all bent a and probably the valves too. Why did this happen? could somebody explain? Im so confused. All the pistons are not marked they look real good. Do I need to check the cam? Lifters? Rockers? What push rods would you recommend? Presently I have a nice small blower cam/ Roller ford rockers/ ported and polished heads/BBK SSI intake and full syethetic oil. Other than that its vertually stock. Any one have the same experience Why did this happen? Other than the bent valves the head isnt marked at all. One thing you can say is that I was lucky the engine didnt blow sky high, good thing I was doing 10 mph. Help & Thanks, John
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Dunno how aggressive your camshaft is but if the chain broke, the valves could have impacted with the piston.
 






additional info

Yes, the valves impacted with the pistons. You can see very little impact marks on the pistons. Now, I have about 3,000 miles on this setup. It was built for play so I have been rough on it. However when it went, I was .25miles from home. and I was doing 10 mpg and less than 2,000 r's when it stopped ant I would have bet it was the fuel pump. I dont think chains just breakl! However the engine was setting for 10+ years before me getting it.
 






Yes, the valves impacted with the pistons. You can see very little impact marks on the pistons. Now, I have about 3,000 miles on this setup. It was built for play so I have been rough on it. However when it went, I was .25miles from home. and I was doing 10 mpg and less than 2,000 r's when it stopped ant I would have bet it was the fuel pump. I dont think chains just breakl! However the engine was setting for 10+ years before me getting it.

5.0s can jump time/break chains and do exactly that. I had that happen on an 80s crown vic. THey are interference engines. Someone had this happen to on a lincoln forum recently.
 






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