SBC Dropped screw in dist. hole??

Help!!! the screw that holds the dist. cap on, fell out of the cap when I tipped it over to tie back out of the way. '89 SBC is difficult to look directly down hole because of big '39 fat fenders, but when I can see down it, I can't see the screw.
What can I do short of pulling engine apart?
Thanks

 

i guess your only bet would be to fish around with a magnet and hope and pray you get it

 

Sometimes draining the oil gets it if it hit the pan.

 

I would try using a magnet on a stick and spend several hours finding it. After an honest search and I didn't find it I would say the HELL with it and go on!!!

 

I am with the magnet crew, don't fish around with anything but a strong magnet.... Like one of those telescoping ones on a stick....

It may be saveable, you gotta get it outta there, unless your sure it went to the bottom of the pan....

 

Last one didn't post, but was thinking if its in the pan and doesn't come out when you drain the oil, you can try run a magnet along the bottom of the pan. If its down there you may be able to draw it towards the drain hole and fish it out.

 

I dought it will fit through the drain hole....

 

"might" being the operative word for sure.

 

Telescoping magnet should do the job,,if not you already know the alternative. HRP

 

If you can verify it is past everything, and in the oil pan, leave it there. I dropped a lifter during a cam change, it stayed put til I yanked the motor years later. If you are really worried, put a magnet on the pan. It will find it and keep it there.

 

HA Ha!

 

Drop the frickin pan !!!!!!!!!!!

 

I am in the magnet group BUT you will probably pull the oil pump driveshaft out and the little plastic alignment collar will fall off....and it isnt magnetic. Thinking about the path that the screw can take, it probably falls thru to the pan and hits the oil pump top side...and bounces into the pan floor or onto the pickup. Chances are slim that it would stick at the cam gear or go into one of the gallery holes. It also wouldnt catch on the oil pump driveshaft slot...you could see it there with a good flashlight. Removing the intake doesnt give you much visibility to the lower end so that's out. So, magnet for a while and when you give up, drop the pan. Education costs money and time.....you arent the first nor last to drop something down the hole.

 

Rent a portable camera from home depot used for seeing in drain's and get a good look around.

 

I would just turn the engine over slowly by hand to allow it to fall if it hasn't already. Once it is in the pan, it's fine.

 

just do it right and drop the pan if you can fish it out within a few minutes. better safe than sorry

 

Neighbor inexperienced kid and his buddies working on his 396 Chevy. dropped a 1/4" drive breaker bar in to running motor with valve cover off. bar went down oil return and con rod jammed it against block and cracked it. ruining block. water jacket leaking into pan.



Ago

 

turn it over by hand with the plugs out SLOWLY ---if you don't find it put a magnet on the pan and drive it...

 

Been there and done that, the only thing I felt comfortable with was pulling the pan. Found it, and do not have any leaks.

 

magnet, if no good, pull the pan. if your sure its not laying on the trans., or frame rail. sometimes i think the worst when i drop something and then there it is. LOOK AROUND FIRST!!

 

I dropped a screw the same way. Years later a drill bit. Never had a problem with either motor. As far as I know..... they're still in the pan.

 

Like Jan sez...look around first! Hate to pull it apart and then find the bolt on the frame rail!

 

disgruntled GM Chevrolet employee dropped extra rod bolts in to an entire 7 car transporter of .... are you sitting down.... 1969 Z-28's

some cracked, some blew up, and some we looked into and found bolts.
sad to see them choke and puke coming off that truck.

 

I agree with
#1: Drop the pan
#2: magnet on pan
#3: leave it alone

Number one will take less time to accomplish than realizing that your magnet on a stick will get stuck on everything but the screw.

 

The traditional thing would to forget about it,and just drive it.The chances of a small screw like that causing any major damage is slim to none.

 

Ya got the pan off yet???

 

as to a magnet on a stick, or one of those telescoping units, your engine block is cast iron, the magnet will stick to everything it's near on the way down and unless you have excellent hearing, you won't know if the screw has been attracted to the magnet. You'll have to keep dropping it down and trying to fish it around down there.

 

oops good luck bro ~sololobo~

 

I would try the magnet method first and if nothing then drop the pan but whatever you do, get it out before you turn that motor over. Guys are crazy when they tell you just to leave it in.

 

Ok, I'm at a "gee, I sort of don't know ...." I was once using an impact socket to hold the crank on an upside down engine while I broke loose the flywheel. Bing! it went, and I didn't find where it had bounced to. Put the engine back together, told my buddy to not hotrod it until he had a few hundred miles on it, and he locked it up that night on a beer run.
Took the trailer to where he was, about 40 miles away and he said he'd never seen anything like it. Pulled out, wound it up a little in 1st, wound it up a little in 2nd, then BAM and the engine jammed shut imediately. Couldn't turn the engine with the starter.
Turned out the impact socket had bounced into the upside down piston, dropped into the oil pan, got picked up by the surging oil when he wound it up a little, and was slammed by the crank throw which splintered it and jammed a bigger piece between the crank throw and the block really good.

Of course a lifter or distributor screw MIGHT be significantly weaker than an impact socket.

Maybe.