Just my kind of luck!

astumpf · 04-18-2008

I was planning on getting the new cleveland running last night. I was pumped! I was almost all the way finished....I mean hooking up fuel lines to carb and nitrous. Well, when I went to put the hose clamp on the fuel solenoid for the nitrous system, it slipped out of my hand. Having not primed the oil system yet, the distributor was not in yet. You can prob. tell where this is going....it all head south, so to speak, from here. Needless to say the clamp fell into the hole AND ALL THE WAY DOWN INTO THE OIL PAN!!

I decided it was possible (not probable) to stick my cable magnet down and try to fish it out. After about fifteen minutes of trying, I finally decided to quit. When I went to pull the magnet out IT GOT SNAGGED ON THE OIL PUMP! Now I have to drain the oil back out and take the pan off to fix my stupid mistake. On top of it all, we had an earthquake last night (5.2). I hope thats not a bad omen for me trying to start up this money pit!

I feel better now...good venting sesion

steveswelding · 04-18-2008

Those kind of days makes most other days ok in comparison.

Hilltop · 04-18-2008

That sucks...sorry to hear that

astumpf · 04-19-2008

Tell me about it. I am taking a break right now from working on it. I'll get it done someday....maybe.

Veronica · 04-20-2008

Hello.

Welcome to the glamorous world of vintage auto restoration.

Now you know of yet another use for that wonderous material known as duct tape. A piece of that over the open holes will prevent this from happening to you in the future.

SLOSteve · 04-20-2008

All I can say is "Murphys Law". It happens especially when you have your hopes up about something (at least for me that's true).

At least you knew when to back off and walk away. It'll get better tomorrow.

Oh, and welcome to the wonderful world of earthquakes. Here in California we call them "E-Ticket" rides. But they have to reach at least 6.5 to be considered as such.

.boB · 04-20-2008

Yeah, that stinks. Done that myself once. You certainly don't want that bouncing around in there while you're driving. But, it won't hurt anything for it to be in there while the engine is running in the garage. So, here's what I would do.

When I build a new engine, I run it in the garage for 30-60 minute. Set the timing, check for leaks, adjust this and that. Then I change oil and filter before taking it out to drive it around. Considering the price of oil, I would hate to throw away 5 qts of clean fresh oil.

I would leave it in and run it in the garage for the first 30-60 minutes. Then I'd drop the pan. That way, you don't waste the oil. And you have the chance to look in the pan for any debris. Who knows, maybe you'll discover a leaky gasket, and have to take the pan off anyway. You'de hate to do that job twice if you don't have to.

astumpf · 04-21-2008

well, i got it all apart and back together. im glad i dropped the pan. that was a pain though. i have a high volume pan and ended up having to pull the sway bar off in order to get the pan out. i will say that i am glad i dropped the pan. for one, i got my magnet back. when i looked in the pan my clamp wasnt anywhere! started feeling around and it was laying on top of the crank timing gear. THAT WOULD HAVE MADE A MESS! Got it all buttoned up and now im just waiting on a set of tall valve covers.....any when i was putting everything back on, i taped all of my open holes!!!