Guys, you're not gunna believe whats happened this time.

My Fairlane had developed a bit of a miss, down a bit on power. I just parked it for a month or 3 due to other projects. Sothe other dayI started it and the missturned into a full blown 7cyl firing versus one just rattling. I'm thinking wtf broken rocker stud, valve, piston?????

I pulled rocker cover...nothing obvious. So pulled plugs to turn the motor over and see if that would id anything. Check the plug.



No choice but to pull the inlet manifold and head off. Much swearing and busted knuckles later (it hasnt been apart for a while) and we find this...



its the bolt that holds the aircleaner on.I knew it was missing but it never occured to me it would go into the carb with a wingnut on the end.How it made it that far I will never understand.
I think the inlet valve is toast but apart from that, no damage. The piston is nice and clean and has been peppered a bit. Cleveland toughness FTW

 

I havent the slightest clue as to how in the world that could have gotten all the way into the cylinder. That thing is huge. Im sorry to hear that, but im kinda amazed. Good Luck.
Matt

 

man, you have no luck when it comes to enginesmaybe you sohuld just get a bicycle and call it goodhows your 408 comin?

 

The Fairlane runs on bothLPG and regular gas. Just switch between the 2. I was towing the GT back from the shop and the Fairlane backfired pretty bad. I think the wingnut had come loose, the seal on the gas aircleaner has broken causing the backfire. So it blows the aircleaner up, pulls the bolt out of the top of the carb at the same time and drops it down the hole.

The Fairlane loses power cos that thing is jammed in the valve. But when you run LPG, you never knowwhen you are low on fuel. The gauges are useless. When it does run out, the car just loses power...which is exactly what this felt like. Next start up the thing has managed to drop through the valve and hence beat up the plug and start running truely on 7.

The luck of it was that the open chamber heads allowed enough room for it to rattle around. OK, still not good, but imagine the carnage if i had closed chamber heads!!!!

The 408 is going back together this week.Dave refitted the pistons last night.Its taken 6 weeks to get the valves. I have no idea why it has taken this long. I still have a bucket load to finish after that, but at least its a step closer

 

Wow, that's amazing! I never would have thought anything would make it all the way into the compression chamber. I figured if I ever dropped something down the thoat of the carbit'd just rattle around down there until I decide to take the intake off and shake it out. Sheesh...I guess next time I drop anything in the carb I'll be sure to fish it out ASAP.

 

.....

 

hahaha, I am hoping the valve is not even bent just needs lapping in again.
I got a head gasket for free and so all i need to fix it is inlet gaskets and a new plug...fingers and toes are crossed. Should be running again this weekend.

 

One of my friends did the same thing on his monte carlo but he drove it a lot longer the stud was bent in a u and jamed up in the head.

 

haha you got lucky i had pop up pistons in a cleve and the valve broke off and fell into the combustion chamber busted the cylinder wall and tore up the top of the piston and damaged the head. ive got everything to put it back together now except for rings and bearing and i need a larger cam i was running a crange engizer with 272deg and 524in lift also need some alum head so i can run a 13:1 compression ratio

 

I have 4 Ford V8 engines and not one of them has been trouble free.
I guessI amlucky it didnt do more damage, but its just another expense in time and $ that I didnt need right now.[:@]

rmodel how come you are shooting for such a high comp ratio...wont you have to run racing fuel in that to avoid pinging? Doh...did i miss the joke