Can kick myself..carb nut missing,down manifold?

[37coop]

Hi guys,a thousand times over the years I,v taken off a carb..did it last night on my 51 f1 when tired,the hood doesn't lift very high a nd have to lay right across and the rear carb nut is missing,can't find it and praying it isn't down the manifold,I won't start the truck till its found...if I take the manifold off where is it likely to be sitting,I put a flex magnet down the holes with no luck,gonna have to bite the bullet ,anybody else dumb enough to do this or is it just me?,cheers. Jim.

[Brian]

Jim, At least, with the valve layout on a flattie, a nut that goes down the intake cannot get into a cylinder. [Unless you fire it up possibly] So, upon removing the intake, if its not in one of the runners- if the intake manifold doesn't rattle, and it's not in one of the block ports, you've not dropped it down there. Good luck.

[JWL]

Perhaps I'll be the first to admit it. I was removing the 4-barrel carb from my Jeep when it began raining. Naturally I was outside the shop and rushed to get the carb off. I (WRONGLY) thought one of the nuts fell on the rear of the intake manifold and spilled into the grass. Stupidly I plodded ahead and replaced the missing nut when I installed the carb. Upon starting the engine a strange "clicking" sound was being emitted.

Now to your question, if the nut is not inside the intake manifold it will be resting in one of the ports in the block. But, be sure to examine every possible external location such as bell housing, transmission, floor, axle, frame, etc. before removing the intake. They are usually hiding under the sparkplug wire looms on top of the ehgine.

[37coop]

Thanks guys but I,v just won the lottery,my wife Sue looked on our shingle drive where I was working and the magic words " could it be this shiny thing"...hey ,I could have kissed her but let's not get carried away..she has always said when I work out side on the drive to put a sheet under where I am working so if I drop anything I can see it ...us guys know best,...by the way I,m swopping my old carb for a new( expensive) Stromberg 96,got one on my 39 ,pleased with it.thanks again..lesson learned. Jim.

[Tim Ayers]

Originally Posted by 37coop

Thanks guys but I,v just won the lottery,my wife Sue looked on our shingle drive where I was working and the magic words " could it be this shiny thing"...hey ,I could have kissed her but let's not get carried away..she has always said when I work out side on the drive to put a sheet under where I am working so if I drop anything I can see it ...us guys know best,...by the way I,m swopping my old carb for a new( expensive) Stromberg 96,got one on my 39 ,pleased with it.thanks again..lesson learned. Jim.

'37coop:

I LOL'd at your write up with the wife.

Curious, are these Stromberg 96 one better than the 97's?

[37coop]

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My mistake ,it is a 97.....after being married for53 years ( we were both 17 ) the clash of teeth can cause damage.

[RKS.PA]

37coop, chalk this one up to righteous living!!! I had a loose wing nut on the bottom of an air cleaner drop down unnoticed in my "non-flathead" hot rod engine......cracked the piston!!! Won't make that mistake again!!


Glad this worked out so well for you!!!


Dick.

[Tim Ayers]

Originally Posted by 37coop

My mistake ,it is a 97.....after being married for53 years ( we were both 17 ) the clash of teeth can cause damage.

37coop. I know, I was being snarky with that.

Congrats on 53 years. That's certainly a long haul, but it sounds like you have a great lady.

[big job]

I do not think you are dumb . curious did you drop it after taking it off then loose it?
did you drop it over the carb? if so throttle plates are closed so it should be in carb. If not
it bounced off the intake hit the fuel pump and fell into the bowels of that mystery hole in the shop floor everybody has. I'm not being wise this happens to me every day ugg...

[adileo]

I dropped a carb stud down in there. I used a magnet and was able to retrieve it, after upteen tries. Keep trying.

[stangblue]

Nice find! Damm it's always the last place you look! :-)))

[B-O-B]

I always call the bride when springs, nuts & whatever else my clumsy mitts drop & I cannot find. She locates dropped item quickly.

[Willit Stop]

It must be gender related.Men will remove the intake,order new gaskets,re-install and torque.Women will look under the car.

[Ross F-1]

I quit putting washers under carb nuts for this very reason.

[37coop]

Originally Posted by big job

I do not think you are dumb . curious did you drop it after taking it off then loose it?
did you drop it over the carb? if so throttle plates are closed so it should be in carb. If not
it bounced off the intake hit the fuel pump and fell into the bowels of that mystery hole in the shop floor everybody has. I'm not being wise this happens to me every day ugg...

I undid the front two nuts and put them in my magnetic tray with the washers, I then reached over and used a long socket on a small extension and small ratchet
Couldn't really see what I was doing as the hood doesn't lift very high,I should have used a magnet to retrieve the nut and washer first but carefully lifted the carb over the studs with the nut and washer balancing on the carb edge,that's when the nut dissapeared by the time I got it to the front of the truck....never did this before and lesson learned ..was lucky ,thanks.

[Merc Cruzer]

After dropping too many nuts and bolts, where they don't belong, I went this route. As you can see they are from Harbor Freight. Just a thought.

[37fatfender]

Had a similar situation happen to us at Bonneville a few years back. We were running an Ardun in a 28 Roadster. Well the car makes a record run. We’re off to impound. But before getting to impound we discovered 3 missing nuts on the intake scoop. Did think much about it. Well we let car cool down, celebrating taking in Bonneville experience, setting a record and being in impound. Finally time down to business. We put a breaker bar on the crank nut to rotate the crank....Guess what the crank will only rotate about a full turn and lock up. Well we missed the attempt to set the record that day. Hawled the car back to our pit, pulled the heads and found 2 of the missing nuts. It could have been worse, cause the nuts didn’t find there way down the cylinders while traveling 190 mph. We put the engine back together and ran a record run the following day. Willie Glass (RIP) still holds that record.

[V12Bill]

Have always had good luck finding dropped items with a magnet . After 70 years of fooling with cars, I dropped my first nut down the intake. What a klutz !! Took off the manifold and shook it real well. No nut! Thought it was in the engine. Engine was frozen and couldn't turn over in the first place. Found the nut the next day where I was shaking the manifold.

[Tinker]

Consider it an omen to pull the intake and do a valve job. Silver lining maybe.

[rotorwrench]

One of my most commonly used tools are the telescopic magnets and magic fingers. I just thank God that car, tractor, and aircraft hardware is still mostly made of steel. Working on the turbines is more frustrating due to the use of mostly stainless steel hardware for them. It's magic fingers or gum on a stick for them.