454 Chewed Up and Spit Out a Burnt Rag!

[savatreatabvr]

On a previous post I described how I screwed up by making a major rookie mistake, here's the story plus an update! I pulled my Edelbrock 1407 off my truck to do some maintenance, I stuffed the intake manifold with pieces of a T-shirt so nothing could fall into the engine like dirt, washers, nuts whatever. A few hours later I pulled the rags out of the manifold, bolted on the newly rebuilt 1407 and fired up the ol 454. Well to my surprise the ol 454 started knocking, smoking and barely ran. I thought I dropped a washer or something down the intake because I've never seen an engine do the things this one was doing so I shut it off thinking I blew the engine and started calling around for a replacement 454. Then I started thinking if it was a washer bouncing around in the cylinder the plug would probably be damaged so I pulled all the plugs and they were fine so I fired it back up and all hell broke loose but this time it was knocking, smoking and now blowing fire out the 3" tail pipe, I thought the engine was toast so I figured it toast it's going out in a big way so I floored it about 5 times and BLAM, a smoldering piece of a cotton T-shirt shot out the tailpipe and landed about 6' feet from the truck! LOL, I'M NOT JOKING! As soon as it exited the tailpipe the 454 smoothed out and ran great! Is it obvious what happened now? I thought I pulled out all the pieces of T-shirt but I accidentally left one inside the intake and it got sucked into the cylinder, chewed up and spit out the tailpipe! Unfreakingbelievable! Here are the pics for your entertainment!





This piece is the same size as the above pic, a men's large T-shirt sleeve!


"UPDATE" I've put 15,000 miles on the ol 454 since my major rookie mistake with no ill effects, if anything it probably runs better than before, lol! Go figure!

[meatwagon83]

i bet one exhaust pipe is cleaner than the other!!

[Pine Bark Auto]

Rats will eat anything! Don't bother with lottery tickets this week... I think you used up all your luck for the month. Chip.

[BigBlocksRule]

My buddy has an old red shop rag hanging on a board in his shop that went through his 454, same way. Y'all both got lucky that it didn't hang in an intake valve and have a piston smack it.
Glad it worked out, that's probably something you won't do again, huh?

[Keith Seymore]

Grrrrr. That big block ain't gonna get stopped by no t shirt rag!!

(lol)

Serious story, but related:

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

I attended a memorial service for my friend Steve today. He passed away suddenly on July 2nd of a previously undiagnosed heart condition. He was 61 years old.

Steve and I worked at the GM Milford Proving Ground together. He was a mechanic through and through, with an affinity for engines and machines of all kinds. The memorial was held at his farm, about an hour north of where I live. The family had asked any of us with "hot rods" to drive them for a small display. I thought it would be fitting for me to drive lil Red, since that's what he and I worked on when we were together. They also had his '67 GTO, his wife's '69 Chevelle (it was her car from before they were married) and his '72 Chevy pickup parked out in the grass.

Many of us heard Steve say, on more than one occasion, "...after I'm gone I want you to run my ashes through a Chevy big block, running at 4000 rpm. I want to see what the inside looks like." He even reiterated with one of his buddies: "you're gonna take care of that, right?"

So - today was the day. At the end of the service they fired up his '72, which has a 396 in it, and ran it up to 4000 rpm, while pouring some of his ashes down the carb throat. I cried a little.

Godspeed my friend. A hot rodder to the very end.

K

[jjzepplin]

Now that's a real story there.
And yes, I need a rag to wipe my eyes a bit.

[motornut]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Grrrrr. That big block ain't gonna get stopped by no t shirt rag!!

(lol)

Serious story, but related:

nice!

[Oldtruckfanatic]

How in the world does a rag get past not one but two valves and out the the tailpipe? You must have good luck. When I was in my 20's I bought a 80 c10. It has a rebuilt 350 and 1406. It had been sitting a year or so and the carb was acting up so I pulled the top off to check for sticking floats etc. I cant remember why but I twisted the throttle and the acellerator pump shot the spring and check ball out. I found the spring but after an hour no check ball. I was at a friends house so eventually I fired it up and of course it started knocking immediately. After several shut off and start ups it finally stopped and ran fine. I drove it 10 years and eventually sold it. I bet it runs to this day and has a bb embedded in one of the pistons.

[TheBlueBomber]

Try that with a small block and see what happens lol

[KQQL IT]

I've said one similar. Dump my ashes down the stack of a peterbilt.

[savatreatabvr]

Originally Posted by BigBlocksRule

My buddy has an old red shop rag hanging on a board in his shop that went through his 454, same way. Y'all both got lucky that it didn't hang in an intake valve and have a piston smack it.
Glad it worked out, that's probably something you won't do again, huh?

I now keep the T-shirt sleeve on a shelf next to my other trophies, to bad I can't bronze it, lol! I got my 1978 Z28 so hot it was smoking, knocking and wouldn't rev over 3000 rpm. I shut it off, fixed the leak and it ran great! Chevrolet engineering, can't beat it!

[savatreatabvr]

Originally Posted by Oldtruckfanatic

How in the world does a rag get past not one but two valves and out the the tailpipe? You must have good luck. When I was in my 20's I bought a 80 c10. It has a rebuilt 350 and 1406. It had been sitting a year or so and the carb was acting up so I pulled the top off to check for sticking floats etc. I cant remember why but I twisted the throttle and the acellerator pump shot the spring and check ball out. I found the spring but after an hour no check ball. I was at a friends house so eventually I fired it up and of course it started knocking immediately. After several shut off and start ups it finally stopped and ran fine. I drove it 10 years and eventually sold it. I bet it runs to this day and has a bb embedded in one of the pistons.

You're lucky it didn't crack the piston or scar the cylinder wall beyond repair! I'll say it again, Chevrolet engineering, can't beat it!

[Hankster]

Cool story about the sleeve! ahaha Hope that doesn't happen to my BBC.

[S10Fan]

The only thing that could make this story better........if the shirt had been an old Ford t-shirt. LOL

[savatreatabvr]

Originally Posted by s10fan

the only thing that could make this story better........if the shirt had been an old ford t-shirt. Lol

lmao!!!