Not Saying I am Perfect & have never done such a thing, I just wonder Why while on your "Break" from insatlling a Manifold & you remeber you did this a Person would go to The HAMB & tell the World ? Maybe if you paid more attention to the Job at hand & less about what the HAMB thinks it wouldnt have happened. And as i write this i can Honestly say i have never forgot a Rag in any of the Engines i have worked on ... But Hey, I guess your not alone in the Field Sorry i dont share the same feeling as the need to tell All Tales on the HAMB.
You cant get if fished out of the dist hole? I would sure as hell try before pulling the intake again. Just a thought.
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...12&highlight=paper+towels+make+the+whole+trip Was this the guy? Either way, what a dumb ass...
33 Chevy; In this world of "transfer the blame" it's refreshing to hear people admit their mistakes. It's also a cryin' shame that there are people that presume to be error free. I guess they actually believe their manhood is at risk if they admit their mistakes. Actually, it's the other way around.
Put an early hemi together a few years ago, and left it on the engine stand until the chassis was ready for it. A few weeks later I was digging through one of my parts drawers in the garage and found a hemi cam retainer plate. I could have sworn I put it on the engine, but my memory isn't something I trust much anymore, so back into the engine I went. Sure enough, there was one installed, and I never have solved the mystery of where this extra one came from. I think maybe one was shipped with the new cam, and I just forgot.....
Yep. I'll add. If you know somebody that claims to be immune from making mistakes, or ashamed to admit it when it happens, figure out a way to stay away from that person, for god's sake never let him advise your kids, and never enlist him to do any mechanical work for you. At best, refer him to your worst enemies.
Better a rag than a wrench, I guess! Has not happened to me, pretty worried about that kind of stuff. Seems like I always get interupted, or get a call when I go to drop the intake on. THAT WOULD BE A BETTER THREAD--WHO HAS BEEN INTERRUPTED AND LEFT A RAG OR WRENCH IN INTAKE VALLEY??
done the same thing years ago, 350 in a GMC 2ton dump truck put in a NAPA reman short block,had to get it going over the weekend to go to work on monday, started to tighten the hose clamps could'nt find my screwdriver, pulled intake back off there lays my screwdriver and a grease rag.
sure...something like that....and then the other time...when ya THOUGHT you left something in there...
I was running a drag bike in a comp eliminator round, and the bike that I was running against was the guy that usually won comp eliminator. He got a push to start his bike and when we pulled into the lights he was running crummy. He had 2 shop rags dangling out of his velocity stacks The lights came down, and buy the time he got the rags out and launched...I was long gone... Darn shop rags
Not in the motor, but before I got my drivers license my brother and I would sneak my dads merc. out at night by stuffing rolled up socks in the straight pipe exhaust. About a quarter mile from the house I'd stomp it down and blow them out and away we would go.
Back in the early '80's ,, i had Gall Bladder Surgery ,,the cut on my stomach didn't heal up ,,keep weeping blood n stuff ,,after a couple months ,,i went and saw the doctor,,,he took a pair of those stainless steel pliers ,,stuck em in the not healed cut ,,and pulled out a big piece of gauze that was left in there by ,?someone ? ,,,,,,,the cut healed up in a couple weeks ,,i asked for those pliers ,,he gave em to me ,,i have em still in my tool box ,,they werk great removing those clips behind those window / door handles on thri 5 & other Chevy's ,, No,,i didn't sue him ,,he hired me to restore his Triumph TR-6 for his Son to drive to collage ,,and a cosmetic resto of a '61 Jag XJ-150 coupe for his wife ,,plus ,, let me drive his New 1983 Ferrarii Testa Rossa at over 160 mph on I-35 just north of Des Moines on our way to buy that Jag ,,when the Iowa Hi-Way Patrol pulled me over just north of Ames ,,he showed his Doctors Credintials & told the cop we were on an emergancy ,,the cop said "Take Care" and away i went ,,, Money couldn't BUY that deal ,,
That sucks some ass but atleast you will be quicker and taking it off and putting it back on now lol.
Never left anything in a motor.....but I left a few parts out!!....Best (worst ?)working in a VW dealership ....pulled motor for clutch job,went to lunch came back in a hurry to finish job ,put motor back in,tried to adjust clutch ,would not disengage motor....Thought "what the hell!!!",kept adjusting back and forth on the clutch wing nut,got mad ,cussing the thing ,buddy walks over ," What's the matter?....Dam clutch won't adjust "....well he looks around at the bottom of my tool roll around and say's "It would work if you had put the dam clutch and pressure plate in it!!!!"...Yeah the clutch and pressure plate and release bearing were laying on the bottom of my tool roll around. I had to pull the motor again and put the clutch in. Every body in the shop started calling me "Ole Double Clutch".... But I have found things that other people have left in motors, bought a V8 flathead Ford from wreaking yard to put in my 50 Ford, pulled the pan to check out the bottom end and in the gunk in the bottom of the pan was a pair of new vise grips..........still have them Kenny
Many, many years ago I was at the drags at Tulsa Int'l and there was a pretty hot '57 chevy wagon that came up to the line. The lights went down and he launched hard, then came to a halt a couple of hundred feet down the strip. The guy jumped out, opened the hood, jerked a shop rag out of the carb, got back in, fired it up and then punished the thing. Hard to lie your way out of something that the entire crowd saw.
Werse yet ,,in '69 ,,i was waiting for the Street Eliminator run offs ,,my C/Gasser was up against a D/Gasser for the trophy ,,the wind was blowing a lota dust around the strip/pits,,,i went and put a couple rags in the carbs ,,never had done that before ,,by the time all the other run offs got done ,,i'd fergot about the rags ,,went to fire up the 396 BB ,,it wouldn't start ,,crank n crank ,,no start,,,,that D/Gasser got a by run ,,THEN ,,,i popped the ''glass tilt front and there they were ,,two red rags sucked down into the carbs,,,heck of a time pullin' em outa there ,,,
Thanks for sharing that. I figure I can always learn from other folks' mistakes. And then, maybe I won't have to make 'em myself.
I got one. happened to a 440 i got out of a motor home.. took the intake off.. and lo and behold... a tube of black RTV lol and from the crustyness of the motor and the worn off spots on the tube it ran that way for a while.
I remember, a "mechanic at a Chrysler dealership I worked at years ago, left a rag in the lifter valley of a 318. It wrapped itself around the camshaft, and split the block!
Never done it myself but I bought a used race motor, had two seasons on it and I ran it for a third before selling the car. The next owner ran it a full season before taking it out to be freshened. When he pulled the intake he called me and told me there was a red rag in the lifter valley. Lol. can't believe it stayed intact that long with heat, oil, and that much runtime in a dirt track car.
Years ago a buddy of mine left on the masking tape he used to cover the intake ports and mating surface when he painted the freshly rebuild engine. Almost didn't catch it except when he was hooking up the throttle cable noticed some tape sticking out from the edge of the intake. When he went to peel it off he realized what the deal was.
left a rag in the oil pan of a plymouth flathead 6 cyl in 1964. ran for 2 weeks developed a faint knock. rag wrapped around the oil pick-up. checked crank and bearings nothing hurt. the 2 or 3 people that remember it still call me rag-man.
You're not a true hot rodder until you've done something like this at least once. I had a fresh small block Chevy with a new fuel pump that wouldn't start, figured out that it wasn't getting any gas up to the carb, figured out why when I spotted the fuel pump pushrod laying on the workbench. One of the best small block Chevy builders I've ever known told me he had done the same thing a time or two.
At work I put a tailshaft bearing in a Ford truck trans. Lowered the truck down & put it outside. Came back to my stall and saw the thrust bearing/spacer laying on the floor. I'm sure I'll think of some more. You don't do this job for 40+ years and not f#*k something up.
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