Something happened to me that has certainly never happened before. One of the nuts that hold the air cleaner assy. to the carb. rattled loose and went into the intake just as I was pulling into my garage. I heard the engine make awful noises so I immediately shut it down. I saw the missing nut and figured it destroyed at least one cylinder/piston/valve or even scored the cylinder wall.

I pulled the head and found the nut inside no. 4 intake runner. I had no idea what happened to it until I was rotating the cam with the head on the bench. As soon as I felt resistance I stopped and found the nut trying to wedge itself between the valve and seat. The valve is slightly bent because I can visibly see mineral spirits come out the intake runner when the combustion chamber is filled. Takes about 5 min for it to empty out the combustion chamber. All others hold fluid fine. I guess I got lucky. I have a new intake valve on the way, so I'll just lap it in and slam it back together. I'm sure the dual valve springs are no fun. I have the KD-2078 valve spring compressor. I'll also be replacing the hydraulic lash adjusters as they are not firm and make noise.

 

Got it all back together and running just fine. It runs noticeably better after the valve refresh/new lash adjusters/stem seals.

 

Very good!
I love happy endings!

 

Whew! Great that you caught it before the real carnage ensued!

 

Yeah it could've been really bad. Dodged a bullet for sure. I made sure to re use the nut that went into the intake. Just used a little blue LocTite this time haha.