Skip to end if you're in a hurry...... Well we had to slightly DELAY our tuning session on the digger today when my buddy dropped a little something into #4. Ratza Fratza..... actually my buddy was pretty embarrassed about it - I thought it was funny - only 'cause we KNEW he had done it and therefore could retrieve it before any damage was done. He told me that'd I'd stop laughing when we had to YANK the HEAD to remove it!!!! I told him "me no skairt". Anyways he wanted a peek at the cylinder wall and yanked out his mega dollar scope complete with mini TV like screen when the itty bitty "90 degree viewing adaptor" fell off in there. I was laughing it up pretty good - he was nervous that'd we have to pull the head because the darned thing didn't have enough steel in it to retrieve it with a magnet. He spent who knows how long with a wire trying to hook it. In the end we got it out by taking a vacuum hose duct taped to his shop vac and it had just barely enough suction to hang onto it and pull it up and out through the spark plug hole. So anyone else have some good stories about dropping stuff in your motor?????? **Names have been withheld to protect the ignorant.
Once I bought a freshly built Stude 289 from a guy down the street for just a few bucks because he dropped a tiny washer in it and didn't feel like opening it back up because he was disgusted with the events. I took it apart and didn't find any washer. Did he imagine it? Did he miss, and think it went in?
had similar issue but didn't turn out as well. Put fresh motor in 40 cpe and my helper kinda forgot that he dropped a 1/2" nut down the carb throat--you know the rest--lots of bangin' and a destroyed #1 cyl and piston----
When i worked at the junkyard we sold a 6 cyl chevy truck motor, the guy who bought it said the core he gave us had a knock. Pulled the head off the core after he left...there was a little screw from the carb laying on a piston...put the head back on and sold it as a good used motor.
I had the intake off on my 39 and took out the brass plug blocking off the oil pressure hole. It went down in the block and I heard it rattle it's way bown. Pulled the pan and there it was. Fun with my car!
I had an old V8 Holden with a 2 barrel Stromberg on it. The kind with the aircleaner hold down mounted on a wire type of setup over the venturi. Stupid clip let go while driving in the middle of nowhere. Made lots of noise. Got all the bits out eventually. Didn't take the heads off till years later. It had done a bit of damage in there but we just put it back together and drove it for many more years.
I busted a spark plug off in the head of my driver. 3 hours later the last bit of spark plug fell into the motor. $800.00 later I was driving again. figured while I had the head off I would do the timing belt, water pump, hoses and belts and radiator as well as have the head rebuilt. I should have just left that one plug in there when it wouldn't come out. what did I learn from this? antiseize is your friend.
A buddy's Toyota pickup with 150k plus miles started having issues with the throttle sticking. After not finding anything external, we pulled the carb to find that the throttle plate was loose. The heads to the two brass screws had popped off. Since they were brass, there was no hope of a magnet and we didn't feel like pulling the head. Put new steel screws in the carb and slapped it back together. Its close to 200k by now.
I was getting a race engine ready for winter storage while squirting WD40 into the cylinders, the little red squirt tube shot off the end of the can into a cylinder the the piston was on the bottom of the stroke. Talk about an exercise, about 2 hours later and alot of F-bombs we got it out. It wasnt to easy considering the engine was still in the truck, trying to work around headers, rollcage,shocks, not to mention it was #4 cyl on a Ford v8.
building my first motor for my 62 impala in 1982 . took the heads to a shop to be reworked when I picked the up the shop owner said they are ready to bolt on pull them out of the plastic bag wipe down the mating surface and bolt them on easy enough got the motor together in the car turned key to fire and knock knock knock after a lot of cussing and head scratching took the head off and found the remains of a rocker nut in number four cylinder . Now having only one motor and no extra parts I knew the nut came from the head shop . sure enough they fessed up and paid for the new gasket set piston and repair the scoring on the head chamber . thank goodness the bores were ok . Mark
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I can tell you what WILL NOT pass out of the exhaust valve !!!!!! NOTE TO SELF, when installing a 1/4"-20 stud in the carb for the air cleaner hold down, LCKTITE 1/4-20 JAMB NUT ON CARB STUD !! Removel process R&R cylinder head with damaged spark plug electrode. I can understand the guy down the street!
Not the same thing, but in high school shop class we had to tear down a flathead and rebuild it. Next step was to show the shop teacher which cylinder was firing and which was exhaust. We hid all the nuts and washes we had left over and then poured them down the carb for the next group to find. _________________________________________________________________ Like I told the kid, "Your music's not too loud, it just sucks and so does OKC!"
I had a valve spring break on my dad's el camino and droped a valve into the motor. It hit the piston ok but put a golf ball sized hole in the head. He was less than pleased with my driving skills at that point. I had barrowed his car to pick up the new rearend for my truck that I had blown into bits the week prior.
I once bought a 6 year old VW for $100 because it wouldn't run right. When I pulled the engine I found a small nut in one of the cylinders. It had shot peened the top of the piston and put some pox marks in the head. I replaced the damaged piston, cleaned up the head, drove it for about 4 years and sold it for $800.
Back in '69 I was traveling across the country on my way to a Navy ship in Long Beach, the distributor in my 65 Mustang was going so I bought a new one and tried to install it in the parking lot. The oil pump drive fell into the pan, and since this was a Saturday the guy told me it would be Monday morning before they could get to it to drop the pan. When they closed up one of the techs said he'd try to get it (after the boss left). He worked about 2 hours with a claw tool and finally got it out. We installed the distributor, timed it, and I was on my way. He refused any money so while he was cleaning up I stuck a hundred in his steering wheel and saw that he spotted it as I was driving away.
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