Engine Did something dumb. How screwed am I?!

evintho

Dirt-Old 20+Year Member
Nov 12, 2003
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Santa Rosa, CA.
I wanted to prime the engine before startup by spinning the oil pump with a drill. Pulled the distributor, attached a 1/4" hex driver to my long drill extension using the 2 small set screws, chucked it in my drill and went to town. After priming, I pulled it out and found 1 set screw missing! I looked really well and I can't see it down there. I'm hoping it'll just work it's way into the bottom of the oil pan. What's everyones thoughts on this?
 
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It's likely in the pan, but you gotta find it. Is the set screw magnetic? (test the other one), if so, drag some magnets across the pan bottom.

You can try to pull the timing cover and see if you can fish it from the front
 
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UPDATE:
Got that little sucker!
Flushed the motor 3 times with oil and it still didn't come out. Screw it.....out comes the motor! Wasn't too much of a pain 'cause there's no front sheet metal on the car.

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Dropped the pan and there it was sitting in a far corner.......

P1010003_8 (2).JPG


That tiny little screw could have caused a lot of damage! Glad I got it. Tomorrow the motor/trans go back in. Moving forward!
 
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In all honesty it probably would’ve just gotten stopped by the screen in the pickup and not really been a big deal, long as it’s not smaller than the screen perforations

One more reason to pick up the priming tool, it’s cheap insurance imo. Definitely worth the $15 on Amazon.
 
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Any of us would have lost sleep had we not been able to find an object that small in our build.

I unconsciously exhaled when I saw you got it. :nice:


My fear would have been the off chance it doesn't make it down to the oil pan and somehow ends up staying in the rotating assembly and jamming somewhere..... catastrophically.

Once in the pan, i agree the screen on the pickup would have caught it.
 
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