This is copied and pasted from Russell's home page on FB
Got a visual on my engine’s failure this morning. As suspected, the link rod on #3 cylinder failed. The link pin end came apart and the link pin end and bushing have been ground up and debris is scattered throughout the power case.
The end of the #3 link rod hammered on the bases of the cylinder 2, 3 and 4 bases and damaged them.
The link pin is still in the master rod and there isn’t immediately obvious damage, but I can only get a view using a mirror. Unfortunately the master rod flanges around the link pin took some hammering damage from the loose link rod end.
The #3 piston skirt has disintegrated and one big chunk was found loose in the case.
It isn’t clear why the link rod end came apart. Unknown as yet if the rod failed or if the rod failure was secondary after some other failure that damaged it.
The engine kept running with a severe shake after the failure but it probably would not have stayed running for long. By pulling throttle to idle after the failure I had a longer glide with the prop turning, and a bit of reserve power near the ground, which came in handy. I’m glad I made the choice to land immediately rather than try to stretch to get to get to Gillette.
I made good progress preparing for an engine swap, with some of the baffles removed, all of the accessories and carburetor removed, and most of the hoses removed.
Going to take the next few days to head to my original destinations via airline. New engine nominally arriving in Gillette on Tuesday.