I've had this Nissan 4x4 NAPZ engine based shortbed since 1984. Great little truck. It has always had carb issues. Yesterday I swapped in a new carb. I must of dropped a nut down the intake.... It's now at the shop. Probably ate the motor. At least the head is gone. It's not smoking, or overheating but a dead miss after some banging around. I bet the nut is stuck in a valve seat or? So in retirement I find my limits. I used to be able to personally swap 383's, 440's, all day long by myself. No more. I'll know more next week what I actually did.
Yeah have to keep all the parts, nut, washers etc accounted for... I've had the carb off my Comet four or five times in the last couple months chasing a leak(that's finally fixed)... Last time I thought there was a missing nut but knew they were accounted for when I pulled it, just as I was about to pull the carb again it showed up tucked under the lip of drivers valve cover...
The nut probably just closed the end of a spark plug. I would pull the plugs and if one is damaged stick a magnet in the hole. Many decades ago I had an intake manifold with a removable plenum divider. The divider shattered and sent chunks of aluminum into different cylinders. Made a heck of a racket, sounded like marbles in the engine. Pulling the heads I found nothing was damaged. Removed the metal pieces that were left (some must have made it out the exhaust) and motored on.
A guy at work dropped a 12mm nut down the intake of a toyota highlander, bent the intake valve it went through, put large dents in the piston, and to top it off it bent the rod.
I'm hoping for the best but waiting for the worst. We are hoping only the head needs to be replaced. Stay tuned... If I can get pictures I'll post the damages. And my CC is already beginning to howl
I had a motor on an engine stand. with it upside down it would rotate all the way through. with it right side up, same thing. but on either side it locked up in the same spot rotating it back and forth. pulled the plugs and found a washer on top of a piston. on the side the washer was flat with the cylinder and hit the head. right side up it was flat on top of the piston and would rotate all the way around.
When i was like 20 I dropped the air cleaner wind nut down inside my GEO metro. It costed me more then I care to remember to get it fixed.
My son dropped a nut in the 302 in His pickup truck. Try to start it an trashed a piston. I could not be up set . You have to learn what you can an can not do. Me being absent did not help him. But, in the end we both redone his miss hap to bring the engine to its prime state. All good.
Did this last time I pulled my carb. Freaked out, then ended up using a new nut. Started the car and it ran fine. Pulled the car out of the garage and LO and BEHOLD!!! My lost nut was under one of the tires.
The engine might be DOA...the top of #4 piston, is pretty beat up. The head is trashed. The pic with the two plugs (This engine is a NAPZ with 2 plugs per cylinder) and the rounded nut that got sucked into the engine. I have not checked to see if the cylinder wall on #4 is damaged,. there is a possibility the piston survived. my gut tells me to get a low mile used motor and be done with a chancy fix Roughly $2K for a used long block low mile installed. Probably 1/2 that if I risk the block and piston. The piston might of survived. These NapZ engines are tough. All I worry about it cylinder scraping and scoring from metal spurs on the top of the piston or ?
Actually that picture is a classic. It went viral. They say we all need a claim to fame....my saggy shorts at the beach is mine.
