When I built the new motor for my 245, I painted it Ford red. I'm hoping that Thor, god of Nordic lightning bolts and connecting rods, doesn't notice the subtle difference in shading. Shiny brand new block with grungy junkyard head on top (from junkyard, new valve seals put in):


PS: For fun - a few pics of the old blown up motor.

T5 trans on the back. 16T turbo on the side, which might just possibly have had something to do with a rod letting go...


Block is split along a length of about 12 inches on the left side:


Peekaboo!


#2 rod pieces #1 and #2...


#3 rod showing a nice curve...


Failure in my case was the result of some 25 psi passes at the track, on some iffy gas. A little pinging under boost bent a couple of the rods, and while they survived the track day, the curve doomed them to an imminent fatigue failure, and #2 let go driving to work a few days later.
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'63 PV544 rat rod, '93 Classic #1141 245 (now w/16V turbo)