slownrusty Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 Well what a miserable day yesterday! It started off great too...I guess they always do. I got ready to put the head back on the block, had all my ARP studs in placed ready to go...had my 1mm Metal head gasket all ready to go and as I placed the head on the block...BANG I dropped one of the cam tower dowels down the front timing chain cover. I tried to fish it out with one of those pen magnet deals that telescopes and then that BROKE way down into the timing chain cover!!!! CRAPPERS...yes I did cry at this point. I eventually got the broken magnet piece out a few hours later, but the dowel is no where to be found. I am thinking the dowel has fallen into the oil pan. So I am going to remove the oil pan today which is a bitch of a job on a 280ZX Turbo due to the rack and pinion in the way and the block is bolted back into the car too. To make matters worse...I just sealed the oil pan with a brand new Nissan Motorsport Oil pan gasket...so there goes that brand new gasket. 1 step forward 5 steps behind. Someone please come to Colorado and give me a hug...I need it! I wanted to have this thing running a month ago.... I should give up this car hobby and take up cake baking or something.. Yasin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom'sZ Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 ahhh... yasin, man that sucks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelToad Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 If youre pretty sure it went into the oil pan, just pour the oil down in after it with your drain plug out. with any luck you'd be able to wash it out. If you have a long funnel or hose, all the better to keep the force of the oil up till it gets to the pan. If it doesnt wash out, take your broken pen magnet and fish around the drain plug, maybe you'll be lucky and it'll be close by. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCchris Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 Step back, chill, have a beer or whatever and regroup. Cake baking is not all it's cracked up to be! chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big-phil Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 I have had to take the oil pan off so many times, I can get the rack off in no time, and the front tires are still in line. good luck my brother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b__sosick Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 I'm sorry :[ *hugs* hahaha maybe explain what happened to your gasket source and get a pity gasket/discount? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slownrusty Posted November 5, 2006 Author Share Posted November 5, 2006 Well guys, thanks for the help and the "cheer-me-up", I have never been much of a person to give up, so after drinking half a pot of coffee this morning, looking on http://www.ebaymotors.com for cars I cannot afford I am going to go back into the garage and get back into my beloved Z! Its really my fault, in my haste to get started yesterday, I should have put a rag into the opening where the timing chain cover is...and this could have been prevented... More hugs welcomed though.. Yasin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Scott Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 That's too bad. I dropped a carburetor stud down an intake.. when it was running... beat up my valves and a piston. My wife has a nasal fiber endoscope, mini video camera at her disposal. I've tried, unseccessfully, to talk her into letting me borrow it for situations like this. What's wrong with the smell of 90wt oil? Hang in there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b__sosick Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 Its really my fault, in my haste to get started yesterday, I should have put a rag into the opening where the timing chain cover is...and this could have been prevented... More hugs welcomed though.. Yasin I'm pretty sure in the Haynes and the "How to rebuild your Nissan/Datsun Lseries" books it says something like that. hahahaha don't beat yourself up over the should have could haves. Just do what you can to make the universe right again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EZ-E Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 I had the dowell from one of the valves that holds inside the top of the valve spring, I was replacing rockers, and popped the rocker. That lil bit flew in the air, I swear it was like a movie in slow motion, I watched as it fell straight down the timing cover. It was a miserable day indeed. I to like you tried to fish it out to no avail. I know the pain you felt on that day trust me talk about misery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 You know what they say... "Nothing really worthwile is ever easy", "To err is human", and "Dammit, this sux". Just get her running, break her in, then warm her up and see what she's got. Stomp on the gas and say, "C'mon baby, lets do it!!". When she responds, just take what she's willing to give and enjoy the ride. When you feel her REALLY kick in, you'll forget all about your troubles... at least for as long as the ride lasts :^) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 You know what they say... "Nothing really worthwile is ever easy", "To err is human", and "Dammit, this sux". Just get her running, break her in, then warm her up and see what she's got. Stomp on the gas and say, "C'mon baby, lets do it!!". When she responds, just take what she's willing to give and enjoy the ride. When you feel her REALLY kick in, you'll forget all about your troubles... at least for as long as the ride lasts :^) i hope you mean AFTER he finds that dowel. LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike Posted November 5, 2006 Share Posted November 5, 2006 Of course... I'm not THAT "Careless":shock: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randy 77zt Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 pull the drain plug and dump about 2 gallons of solvent down the timing cover and try to wash it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buZy Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 I should give up this car hobby and take up cake baking or something.. Yasin Hang in there Yasin! Don't take up baking quite yet, it will be worth it when you hear that motor sing once again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big-phil Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 My wife has a nasal fiber endoscope, mini video camera at her disposal. Tell your wife its for HybridZ, she should understand that!? Would that be a great tool for the loner program!!!.... "Ah.. yea, send me the A-arm pin remover tool, and ummmm, that nasel fiber endoscope" that would be cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
510six Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 I have done the same thing on a couple of different occasions.Both times I used a speaker magnet from a 10" base that was trashed.Like Randy 77 I drained the oil and ran diesel in the crankcase , dropped the oil pump and used the magnet to guide the pieces to the magnet on the drainplug.A trick a friend taught me was to get a rare earth magnet from Radio Shack and to JB weld it to the drain plug.In both occasions I was able to move (a dowel on one occasion and a piece of wire that was hooked on to a Timing chain wedge on another) to the drain plug. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S30TRBO Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 First time I helped my buddy on his 240Z L28 w/ triples changing the cam and he dropped a stainless steel bolt down the front cover. Stainless equals no magnet DAMN IT so front cover came off. One other time on the same car we adjusted his cam timing and he dropped the cam bolt washer down in the front cover. We tried all my magnets and nothing. Last attempt he had it unbeknownst to him and as he was pulling it out it fell off the magnet and into the pan. So we hooked the cherry picker up, loosened the mounts jacked the motor up and pulled the pan. Reinstalling the pan the pan slide right in and then it hit us. You can't remove a L24E with the engine mounted but the L28E you can doahhhhh the motor didn’t have to be jacked up…. Anyways we all feel your pain man… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badjuju Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 I should give up this car hobby and take up cake baking or something.. You lose a dowel in a cake and you wouldn't be much better off. sorry to hear about that man, don't give up. *hug* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olie05 Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 I have had to take the oil pan off so many times, I can get the rack off in no time, and the front tires are still in line. good luck my brother. Maybe the turbo engine is different, but i have been able to take the pan off with out taking anything else off in the past. Just undo all bolts, then get to the oil pickup with a wrench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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