Disaster *DIVERTED!*

[shadango]

Ok, thanks

It will have had about 20 hours to cure by the time I get back to it today. That outta be enough.

Hoping the ends are sealed.

[shadango]

Well, it looks like I lucked out BIGTIME.

At 7:30 today I was granted a pardon by the mopar gods for my stupid mistake!

The engine is running fine...no odd noises or problems at this point.

The idle is lower than it was (I added the 1/2"spacer".....so far no leask but just ran a few times around the block....

And I *may* have a bit of a vaccum leak around the rear runners on each side of the intake....my guess is I am not torqued down quite enough (I hope).....When I spray carb cleaner near there the idle bumps up for a bit.  didnt do this before so the gasket is the change....(anyone know offhand the torque specs for a edelbrock performer manifold on J heads using stock bolts?)

I am definately glad I didnt kill my fish.....

It took me a good couple hours to calm down after finding out all is OK....I had a case of the shakes the whole time I was getting ready to test fire again.

The sound of my engine running normally again was about the best sound I have heard for awhile!

Guys thank for all the support and well wishes....I wouldnt have made it through without this place.....

I am sure this wont be the last time I do something STUPID and need advice/help...glad to know we have this place to call home!   

Not sure if the spacer has done its job (hot start issues) or if the car wll just shut down on its own still.....both were issues that lead me to this mistake.....but at least I can pick up where I left off!   

[72rtchallenger]

  that is good news   

[Bullitt-]

   

[shadango]

After all was well, I stood in the garage, patted the fish on the roof and apologized for damn near killing her...(Seriously, I really did that...is that sick?)

I plan on mounting the two shop rags in a frame as an eternal reminder to make sure the brain is engaged before picking up a wrench.  LOL

[bb71challenger]

Great to hear you made it with no damage!

[Chryco Psycho]

We have all done stupid stuff ,you won`t make that mistake again !!
I figured you would be fine

[Super Blue 72]

   Glad the fish is swimming again! 

[dutch]

great news... congrats         never kill a fish unless you want it for dinner... 

[UKcuda]

Excellent - I think we all had our fingers crossed on this one - we all do something stupid sooner or later.

More than once I've left tools in the engine bay and found them days later still there after I was driving around "hmmm, I've been looking for that".  I bet I've left something in an engine some time or other and just been lucky it didn't do any damage.

I know someone who left the bolt out of an engine mount and when he set off hard from a junction the engine went up and dented the hood.

In a similar act of stupidity, I put a floor sander in the back of our car and when I set off it rolled back and smashed straight through the rear window !

[Tonefiend]

This is great news! 

At least you got the inside of your intake cleaned out and have a good story to tell!

[shadango]

Thanks again guys....yeah, its a story all right.   

If it had been someone I had paid to do the job, I would have been all over them...."How could someone be so stupid?"

...now I know how.   

I just hope I didnt do anything else STUPID...LOL  I guess its all a learning experience.

By the way, glad I changed the oil....when I was dumping the old oil from my catch pan I saw a nice layer of antifreeze as I got to the bottom.....kinda of like a neat science experiment...LOL 

I used the cheap autozone oil just to flush her out a bit...plan on changing the oil again soon now that I know she is healthy.  PLus, to make sure I dont have any internal leaks.....most of the antifreeze should be out of there, unless there is an internal leak, right? How long should I go before changing agaion?

[72cudamaan]

            THAT IS AWESOME NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Glad to here all is well. I would find that intake leak first before you change the oil. Just in case you have to pull it off again.

[wally426ci]

So glad to hear the good news!! I don't know what oil filter you use but when you change it again, don't use Fram. Theres been alot of threads about the quality, you'll be fine with it on this cleanout run.

The motor mount story is familiar, I bought a 72 D100 once and it had a bad knock when I stepped on it. I was pulling the motor and for the life just could not remember pulling the motor mount bolts....  Seems the last shop in there did freeze plugs and forgot the mount bolts. I drove that thing numerous times 150 miles to Bethlehem, PA and it got me there and back. 

That was a bummer, when I swapped out a most likely good 72 motor for a hagard 78 oil leaker. 

[Strawdawg]

bought a Buick to build for my son..dropped the pan to check the bearings and found a red shop rag in the pan....some one worked a lot harder than you did to do that....