"No, I didn't stick a rag in the spark plug hole"

[Nightcruiser65]

I am now going to indulge myself in a rant.

A friend of mine was ecstatic to help me clean off the engine before painting it.

He did a great job too...except one thing.

He used a wire brush on a dremel tool to clean the surface rust off from around the spark plug holes but didn't put shop rags in them before doing so.

Those of you who have used Dremels know about flying wire from those brushes. Dremels are great but the wire brushes seem to disintegrate pretty quickly.

Now, I do not know for sure if some of those tiny wires did fly in the holes, but I'm not going to take a chance and do a break in on this newly rebuilt engine that cost me a couple thousands...

I ordered what seems to be a great magnetic pickup tool and some dentist mirrors to try to peek into the holes and retrieve anything I might find...

 

[Phil Reed]

AAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!:eek::eek::eek::eek:

I would certainly take the heads off. Even then after cleaning each cylinder, you could rotate the crank to try to make sure there is nothing left around the pistons.

Having friends help is nice but......................................

 

[yellow wagon]

I'm with Phil. Why risk it. I think you gotta take the heads off and clean clean clean in there. Make sure you get everything. If one metal wire goes through a bearing its done

 

[Don Jacks]

:eek:I woluld pull the heads,this small wire will cause serious damage to cylinders.Head gaskets are a lot cheaper than a bore job,with all that entails.

 

[Nightcruiser65]

Aaawww eff meeeee

I just got done putting it all back together. I have pulled heads, but I have never installed them myself...:

 

[veee8]

The General's Answer

To "RING" oil consumption in zora's 265 in 55 was, pour some BON AMI down the carb throat!!!!!!! I don't think they wood recommend "WIRE PARTICLES" tho!
--- NEVER EVER CLEAN THE CRAP OUT OF THE INTAKE PAN!!! ------- It might help
SEAT lifters/cam/bearings
--- 4 head gasket torque retension
NEVER HAVE HEAD BOLT HOLES "SPOT FACED"
NEVER PUT WIDER HARD WASHERS ON THE HEAD BOLTS
just a couple of things not do MUST B SOME OTHER POSTS ABOUT THIS THO
Goin 4 a nap now

 

[Phil Reed]

NEVER HAVE HEAD BOLT HOLES "SPOT FACED"

Say what???????????? Why not???????

 

[Swiss Impala]

May be it would be better to do these "dirty jobs" before rebuilding (assembling) it. Just for next time. It also happened that I had to learn such lessons!

 

[Nightcruiser65]

May be it would be better to do these "dirty jobs" before rebuilding (assembling) it. Just for next time. It also happened that I had to learn such lessons!

Sent the engine out for a rebuild and got it back with heads installed, wich was perfect.

All I had to do was mask, paint, install intake and other little things.

As far as jobs go, it's no big deal but I just learned about this problem this week while having a beer with him and talking about what we did this summer and I must say that sobered me up pretty darn fast.

He told me he had been real careful, and it's entirely possible that nothing got in, but fact is, there was nothing there to make sure of it, and dremel brushes get torned apart real easy so....

 

[jester]

You guys are nuts. Make sure the cylinder has both valves closed ,stick the air blaster in the in the plug hole . Do each cylinder the first time on the intake stroke and a second on the exhaust..

 

[61BUBBLE348]

Friends are invaluable, especially the ones who know what their doing,
Back in 1980 I bought a 400hp 427 and put it in my 61 four door post sedan, a mate came and gave me a hand ( we were both 20 at the time), I had a couple more years of dicking around with engine swaps etc, he had none.
We got the motor and trans (TH400) in, getting ready to set TDC, dizzy was out, said to my mate " what ever you do don't drop anything down that hole" guess what, that is exactly what he did , so a day later, engine unbolted, raised up and sump off, recovered bolt and buttoned everything back up.

Moral of the story, I should have put a rag in the hole.

Second Moral, if there is only a slight chance of crap in the bore, pull it apart clean it up and put it back together.

good luck with the rectification.bang

 

[jester]

If it were a bolt or a nut I would say " pull it apart. " If it was just a piece of wire ( maybe)from a small wheel I would do as I said and I would not spare the air. It's not big enough to jam against the valve and bend it or punch a whole in the piston. It is small enough to be disolved in the combustion cycle. Just my thoughts after 50 yrs. of work on and around engines....

 

[quik9r]

what part of Canada are you from?

Quik9r

 

[Fathead Racing]

If it were a bolt or a nut I would say " pull it apart. " If it was just a piece of wire ( maybe)from a small wheel I would do as I said and I would not spare the air. It's not big enough to jam against the valve and bend it or punch a whole in the piston. It is small enough to be disolved in the combustion cycle. Just my thoughts after 50 yrs. of work on and around engines....

I would be hard pressed to pull a rebuilt engine apart for this reason. I would use a magnet first, apply air at high pressure to the inside of the cylinder with a air gun with the plug hole facing the floor then use the magnet again. Better yet, apply air with the magnet inserted in the bore! Borrow a bore scope if you have too!. I mean, the tightest you should be is .035 to the head anyway, how big is a wire wheel wire ?

 

[Don Jacks]

My concern would be that some that small wire could find it's way into the ring land area,thereby causing the ring to stick.Everyone to thier own,but for me,those heads woul d come off.

 

[jim_ss409]

There's no doubt that pulling the heads would be the safe thing to do but if it were me I'd probably just blow it out and hope for the best.:?

 

[Nightcruiser65]

what part of Canada are you from?

Quik9r

I live in Quebec City, but my car is an hour drive from there, in a rural area.

I work on weekdays and escape to the country on weekends to work on her.

 

[61BUBBLE348]

You could try another method.

get another head, lay it on some clean white paper with the head mating surface flat on the paper and replicate what your buddy did.:?

for no other reason than this will give you an idea of what crap may or may not have gone in the bore. If it piles of hard stuff and segments of wire, pull the head, if it just dust and minor flakes, blow it out and good luck.

Remembering that although many engines are built in clean room environments, I have seen the same engines with no air cleaner full throttle down the strip in a dust storm !! or idling through the pits (non sealed) with the header exhaust pushing the dust back into the intake !