Like me... When you are almost done buttoning up a new engine, dont drop a bolt down one of the holes in the Engine. Cause then you'll be tearing it down again to get it out... I know everybody has done this at least once. And normally I stick a rag in the holes, but the one time you dont...
I'll add one: If you've got an engine on a stand, and have pulled the heads (or just the rocker arms and push rods), remove the lifters, or put a piece of tape over them. Because if you flip the engine upside down to get into the oil pan for any reason, the lifters will fall out, ruining you day. At least. -Brad
or when you put new threaded rod on the air cleaner check for clearance before closing the freshly painted hood
Missery loves company. I've got a Honda 450 twin that I rebuilt the top end on. Of course I had to drop one of the piston pin retaining snap rings in the case. :-/ I was so disgusted I just buttoned it up and figured I'd get it later. Plans are to runs some mineral spirits through it and wash the light clip out.
I once..........errr....I know a guy that forgot about the rag he put into the intake on his shovelhead to keep the mice out while he finished bolting the bike together. Later he added the carb and kicked that on that phucker for three days trying to get it to start. Finally figured it out when checked the plugs and saw they were dry even with all that gas I..... I mean "he" was squirting in there before each kick. Had to pull that rag out real slow while kicking it by hand. Live and learn, but thats one I should have already known.
Yea.. Learned the hardway too.. I mask off all the open areas with painters tape now. I hate haveing to go back to the parts guy to get another gasket set. My most recient rebuild I bent one of the 3 piece Haistings oil rings. It slipped out from under the ring compressure. Had to buy another set, Couldnt get just one. Take your time... Mistakes can cost you money.
I'm just glad to finally have proof that I'm not the only one that does this kind of stoopid shit. Some days you really start to wonder......
Don't crank over the fresh motor while your buddy still has the primer tube and drill on the oil pump. I was the buddy.
Talk about dropping bolts down a fresh rebuilt engine. Aboard the USS Affray, MSO 11 (world war II era minesweeper but this happened in '71) We had just finished replaceing a head gasket on a Packard V12 (about 1600 ci). Replacing 1 individual head gasket took about 8 hours. 7 1/2 hrs. of this was pulling the fuel lines off the affected bank and putting them back on. An E3 dropped a nut down the drive end of the engine which contained about 10 gears that drove both sets of dual overhead cams. He admitted what happened before the engine was turned over. To pull the drive cover off this engine and replace it would have taken at least a full week. Our chief spent 4 hours rigging mirrors on metal rods was able to fish it out. Oh, by the way, magnets don't work on stainless steel. Being it was a minesweeper, there was no magnetic material on board, the crankshafts in these engines were stainless steel. I don't think the captain even knew what happened. That slip was almost treasonous.
Even if you are the only one in the shop, put a note NO OIL on the windshield or key when the fresh motor goes in or you stop in the middle of an oil change. When pulling on a wrench, always have the long or stationary side behind the direction of pull if possible. Objects fall straight down, unless there is an open hole, or there is a tight spot to get lodged in. Think about where it's going before it leaves... Rightie, Tightie; Leftie Loosie
Anybody that says they've never done it is a liar or has never worked on a car. Either way I'd be suspect of em.... VonDad
How to make your Corvair engine sound like screeching banshee: 1) Drop carb nut down intake when replacing carb 2) Fail to notice you did this 3) Fire up engine 4) Success! The nut is now rubbing on the #1 intake valve. Your engine now sounds like screeching banshee.
Very early in the morning helping a buddy put his motor back together I dropped a nut down the dist. hole. We could see it but didn't have a needle nose long enough to reach so we made a magnetic screwdriver to grab it with. It was pretty funny trying to turn on the magnet with the car battery and keeping it from sticking to everthing but that damned nut. Finaly got it out finished putting the intake back on and went cruzing at sunrise!
Haven't dropped anything down an engine yet but while hanging drivers door on sedan delivery that you just spent $12,000 on candy paint , dropped door hinge pin and hit fender cracking paint. Sure made my day!
one way to get that dropped nut/screw/bolt out is to tape a rubber hose to the suck side of your shop vac, use a size just smaller than the dropped dodad so it gets held at the end of the tube
When replacing the oil filter, check that the rubber gasket is still attached to said filter. Otherwise, when you spin on the new one over the old one, well, it's very messy! Dropping things in open engine holes. My uncle and myself pulled the 289 out of my Galaxie and replaced it with a 360, lots of things to contend with and modify etc., seeing the light and the end of the tunnel, our engine hoist chain slips down into the distributor hole, no sweat, it'll come out, wrong. A day and a half later, after having giving up on this "simple" problem, we came back to try it again, this time, the uncle pulls it out like it was never caught. Good Times* *P. Juarez
i can add that when you leave a 9/16" wrench laying in the lifter valley of a small block chevy. it makes really bad noises when you fire it up.
On a related note, make sure the oil pressure sensor is screwed into the block before spinning the hell out of the oil pump with said drill. I pumped 4 quarts of oil on the firewall while I patiently sat there waiting for oil to make it up the pushrods.
One thing my automechanics teacher taught me was "never install a drain plug with out the wrench in the other hand" and never put a drain plug back in a pan w/o tightening it then and there even if the pan is off the engine. One thing I learned the hard way was "don't paint a rig with the gas filler open". Paint loves to go down the fill pipe and work it's way to the fuel filter. It took from Waco to the North side of Dallas on the way to Tulsa to discover that and 3 more filters to make it to Tulsa.
And make sure there's no debris or washers stuck to those rags before you put them where you don't want debris or washers falling in
Avoid using the battery for a tool tray. Even for a minute. Especially when small children or teenagers may come to inspect your work. And lean against the car. And the "tool tray".
When putting on an aftermarket intake manifold, make sure that the stock bolts you are re-using are long enough. I didn't once and the manifold was a little thicker in one spot than the stock manifold. The bolt went into the head but only a few threads caught before the torque went on. On the last torquing sequence I heard a loud bang and KNEW something had broken. Turns out the bolt pulled off a bit of the head......which was lucky as I immediately thought the intake had broken. A longer bolt fixed the problem. Didn't even replace the head. It only lost about two threads when the chunk popped off.... But still a dumb thing that could have been fixed with longer bolts, or grinding a bit off the intake manifold itself. Moral: When mixing and matching, make sure everything FITS!!
Before you struggle like all hell dumping your motor in and bolting up the trans, converter, mounts, etc., make sure you installed the motor plate behind the flexplate. Your boss may get angry that you now have to pull the motor out you struggled for 45 min to get in. Before you go to pick up a truck at the dealer, make sure you are actually picking up a truck and not dropping one off. When you drop a truck off and 2 people ride in said truck, it doesn't leave you a way back.
I know your pain...I had a ring break because I was in to much of a hurry to get a ring compressor. Part of the ring ended up in the motor which I was with luck able to fish out and I had to buy a whole new set of rings.
By the same token, there are several engines that have pushrods behind the intake bolt holes....too long a bolt can cause problems too.
The Jalopy Journal
