Help - dropped washer!

[bbh03]

Well, everything was going fin until I dropped a head stud washer into the open chain hole on the right side of my 3.0 case. Much fishing has yielded nothing including magnets, tapping the case, flipping it over on the stand and rotating the crank (no binding at all). Is this section of the case (the right side, rear most chain isolated from the rest of the case? That is, could the washer have entered another section? My photos from assembly make it look like it's isolated, but I can't tell for sure. Please help - I need ideas!

Brian

[john walker's workshop]

isolated. better find it! i hate it when that happens. you never know if it's really in there.

[bbh03]

I know it must be in there. 99.999%. So it will come out eventually? Any special techniques? Glad to hear it's isolated. Weird part is I cannot hear it no matter what I do.

[Mike Juzenas]

You have checked the floors and pan under your stand (on the happenstance that it fell out and you did not notice?)

It could hang up easily on all the various places on the inside of the case. Have you rotated the case 360 and tapped on the outside of the case with a rubber mallet while its being rotated to shake it loose?

Cheers,

Mike

[bbh03]

I'm almost positive it went in. I watched it fall and it went in like a quarter into a vending machine. Plus, there is no sign around my stand.

I can move the crank freely and tapping has not helped, although I keep trying to get lucky with that.

I'm really bummed out about this. I have put so much time into this to get this far and there is no sign of it coming out. I can't even hear a rattle when I probe around or turn the case over. I don't even want to think that I might have to tear this all the way down.

[john walker's workshop]

tried an airgun? turn the stand sideways and blast air in there while turning the crank.

[bbh03]

Yes, I tried that believe it or not. I'll give it another shot tomorrow with the case sideways as you say.

[bbh03]

No luck so far. I am borrowing a bore scope tomorrow. Hopefully I can locate it.

[Mike Juzenas]

It must of gotten jambed somewhere and is totally hung up. If air does not work have you tried a long probe and a shop vac? I know you likely went with a magnet so I don't know what else.

Sometimes you have to just take a large breath and take it all apart and redo the work. It might be easier in the long run since you can spend lots and lots of hours searching for the washer. If you don't find it then you are never sure. My vote is to spend another two hours at it ; if it does not show then split the case, cleanup the adhesive, located the washer (take a picture of all of us!), and then assemble. It will give you a chance to check how well the sealant worked etc.

I had to redo my cam towers (both sides) after forgetting the aluminium baffles that are underneath the oil return tubes. As soon as I realized my mistake I had a few choices ; remove the new oil return tubes and use expandable ones ; undo the head nuts and pull the heads up off the pistons or redo the cam carriers ; I voted for the cam carriers since I could check the Threebond seal with the cam towers. In the end it worked out well and I only lost 4 hours...

Best of luck!

Mike

[gestalt1]

if it makes you feel any better i did the same thing, except after a couple days of using a magnet and turning the stand it did fall out. later i droped a cam tower nut down the oil return tube - that one came out eventually also. i then spent some time taping off every hole in the engine before i did anything else.
good luck!

[bbh03]

Hello everyone. I'd like to share some good news. I was able to retrieve the washer, but not without the help of a friend who managed to secure a loaner on a medical endoscope. The fiber optic light source is great for lighting the recesses of the case and the scope allowed to me to confirm the location of the washer and get it out with a creatively bent magnet. The fiber is so thin, you can slip it between the aluminum gear and the case (< 1mm). Close call for me and a lesson learned. Thanks everyone for your suggestions and sympathy and I hope this thread can help another unlucky engine builder in the future.

[bbh03]

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[iamchappy]

Great work, I've been worried about your washer situation.
I love happy endings to mechanical nightmares.

[ischmitz]

Hey - that same sh|t happened to me once when I rebuilt my 3.6. To add to the problem mine was a nylon washer that I used as part of my home-built mechanical chain tensioner. It had about the same dimesions.

To further add to the missery my case was oily inside (I did not split it) and the washer got stuck to an inside oily wall. No turning over was helping that situation. It took me four hours to make visual contact and another two to get it finally out. At time I was ready to say "screw it, leave it in there and see what'll happen" or push the entire engine over the cliff. I was so frustrated.

Glad you got yours out and slick tool. I hope you cleaned it before you used it

Ingo

[bbh03]

Thanks everyone! I learned if it's oily, you can just go to town with brake cleaner to try and degrease everything. A nylon washer sucks since a magnet is useless!

[126coupe]

Whenever I rebuild my race engines I always stuff rags or the blue paper towels anywhere where anything can fall in

[bbh03]

Yup, that lesson nearly cost me tens of hours!

[Jim Sims]

See Waynes engine rebuild book about covering all the openings with Saran wrap; I keep a roll in the garage plus a big bag of rubber corks and chair leg tips (crutch tips) for plugging the smaller round holes.