[RazorX]

Here are some pictures of the damage.

[ford4v429]

I'd say of the 4 little 'riveted' areas, one was probably crimped a bit too hard, or the top plate had a crack maybe from dull stamping die...anyway, it looks to me like the 'riveted' area at about 11 oclock in the pic mysteriously has NO material counterclockwise- like maybe for whatever reason a crack developed there, allowing the thing to flap open, allowing spring to sling out of its place...however, being that close to center would need a lot of centrifugal(centripetal/whatever) force to open it up- but at the short radius, surely the lining material/O.D. parts of the thing would fly apart way before...but it looks to me like the linings are 100% tore off of the plate, as if it had oversped.

I dont think 'abuse' by hard launches had anything to do with this, dont see how they could say otherwise- but I would have to say the biggest question would be any chance downshifting on the highwa(assuming was in 5th) that it mighta been going into first instead of third? pushing towards first at over 50 mph would likely do this exact damage- however the 'whine' from the synchros would be quite noticeable, and would expect 'heavier than usual' pressure on the shifter would be needed just before 'pop'.
sorry, but with all the friction material apparently slung off(no circumferentialgrooves/marks to indicate it might have been scraped off from metal flying out from center) it sure looks to me like it was simply spun so fast the lining sheared off, the vibration from that woulda easily shook the center apart(apparent weakest link was that one rivet- but might not have been defective, just something always has to go first) and there it is.

I dunno, but whatta you think- any chance at all it mighta been going into first instead of third?

[ford4v429]

Odd timing on this thread...my cars got almost 4k on it now, slowing down this morning pulling into work I could not get it to go into first...tried THREE times, nope...pulled back to second, then back to first, no problem. (car was rolling at ~5 mph)

tonight, going to pull into my driveway, wont go into first again...tried second time, went right in- but it was third? Ive had the car since december, never had any problem finding first at all till today- makes me wonder if possibly theres a linkage issue/adjustment in the shifter, got me wondering if perhaps maybe something similar going on with yours...Ive got a feeling I'm going to have some problems soon-and will be mindful not to downshift to third from highway speeds till I figure out whats going on. I have done some abusive shifts into second pretty regularly, a handful of times into third too- but only 'bad' one I can think of is missing second once- was at 6k, would not go into gear till rpm came down a bit, surely that wasnt good for anything, but dont see how first/third gating could get 'locked'...sure seemed like it was stuck in between twice today.
gotta run to kids ballgame, will try and find exploded view of tranny/shifter later on...