Here's a re-post from the AACA forum about my PCV grommet installation nightmare: Well, I used to be one who believed it could not happen to me. I thought I was too meticulous and careful to let it happen. I'd heard stories of it happening to others, and figured I would not befall that fate. I was wrong. A few weeks ago, I attempted to install a new PCV grommet into the engine of my 67 Riviera. It fell inside. I attempted to pick it up with the wrong tool, and pushed it off the valley pan gasket, where it fell underneath the gasket and onto my camshaft. Many different methods of extracting it were tried. All were unsuccessful. Leaving it in there to get chewed by the cam, then have engine heat break it down into bits to clog the oil pump pickup screen, was not an option. It had to come out of there. Time for some heavy lifting. The grommet was lying right on top of the cam lobes for cylinder #8: invoking certain disaster had I turned the key with it sitting there. Now, with the manifold on my bench, installing the grommet should be a piece of cake. Wrong. Even with the manifold off the engine, the rubber part kept pushing through the hole. I needed to soften the rubber up a little bit: ...with the old tea kettle. A few minutes in the boiled water did the trick: So, with everything clean & ready to go back together, what else could go wrong? LOTS. Bolt #2 decided to give me some more grief. Thank the maker for left-handed drill bits: This bolt, and one other gave me some trouble. When the instructions say to blow out all of the bolt holes and run a tap down them, they should say: "or else you will BREAK bolts." I thought I'd done a thorough job blowing the holes clean: apparently they were not clean enough. While I had things apart, I also decided to address the worn fuel inlet threads on the Q-Jet. I'd threaded the deepest part of the inlet and used a long inlet nut, but the fix seemed shaky at best. Occasionally, I'd smell gas while driving and pop the hood to see fuel spraying from the side: not good. I broke out the Helicoil kit. Using a 57/64" drill bit by hand is an interesting experience. Now, I am happy to report everything is back together and humming along nicely. I hope to never go through this again for a crummy $6 rubber part. :3gears:
Wow, that's pretty rare to see a 67 with a smog pump. My 66 Wildcat had one, and you almost never see them intact. Thed PCV grommet can be a real bitch...most of the old ones are hard and it's near impossible to get the old PCV valve out, let alone a new one IN. Dish soap does wonders on them, though.
There was the day when I had to drop my transmission to replace a .59 freeze plug in a small block Chevy in my 73 C10 Van. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Yep, I bought it from the original owner in Reseda, CA...and it was his family car from the day he got married. Apart from a few road trips to the midwest, it spent its entire life in SoCal. During the bodywork, the shop found only a little rust on the passenger-side front fender...and that was all the metal work required. The AIR system was completely intact with original pump, hoses, check valves, gulp valve, etc. Now that the car's smog exempt, I could take it all off, but it really doesn't impact performance all that much with the tiny drive belt. I could tweak the carb a bit more, but it's got plenty of pull off the line as is...quite a sporty-driving boat.
I think if youu've owna 400, 430 or 455, you've donr that goof at one tiome or another. Those new PCV grommets are real fun to install I was lucky enough to grab it with a set of "chinese fingers" and pull it back out. I zipped up an intake manifold job once and couldnt remember if I took out the rags covering the lifter valleyou: :spank: The intake manifold went on so well, I didnt want to remove it. I went out and bought a boroscope to look under the valley pan. Guess what? No rags!
When the grommet fell under the valley pan gasket, I took one of those USB gooseneck LED lights, hooked it to a USB cable, and plugged it into my laptop for power. Then I fed it into the grommet hole, and braced it against the back inside edge of the engine block where the light was illuminating the area under the gasket. I could just see the edge of the grommet sitting down there, but I could never hook it up. I tried picks, hooks, coat hangers -w- hot glue on the end - no luck. Time to order new intake manifold gasket and 3M pads for the die grinder. o No:
