The wedges for the second connecting rod ended up failing after about 980,000 cycles. Neither of the connecting rods failed. Both of the main bearing caps failed at the points they were modified rather than at the bolts. Overall the testing fixtures were successful. The wedges worked and will work even better once some minor modifications are made. The main bearing cap fixture was a success as well. It never failed and carried out the tests as planned.



Recommended Modifications
- Make wedges out of harder materials to avoid slippage. Use either high carbon steels or tool steel.
- Apply a better-quality finish to the wedges to allow for an improved grip of samples.
- Decrease the wedge thickness to allow for a larger sample size. This will lower the likelihood of the sample failing somewhere other than the bolt.

Main Bearing Cap: Engine Block Failure