Rope in cylinder

[J MICHAEL SHAW II <103253.3336@domain.elided>]

Yes, that's right-my subject is rope in cylinder!  I swear, I don't know if
you have ever kicked anyone off of the digest for stupidity or bad luck,
but might I present a candidate on both counts: ME!  If this is contagious,
stop reading this and delete now or you shall be forever cursed!!!
'Tis I again, the "overfiring" Scout II ('73, 345, auto, rustbucket) guy. 
After getting several suggestions over this fine digest, I tried about
everything recommended to no avail-though I learned a great deal in the
process.  Then I got a few suggestions that I may have some carbon build-up
that was maintaining heat and causing a premature ignition, leading to my
bucking and popping problem.  One suggestion mentioned a method that
involved feeding some rope into the cylinder through the spark plug hole,
turning the engine by hand, and seeing if some debris was picked up by the
rope.  The person that recommended this said they had done it and gotten
some small chunks/slivers of something (carbon) out, and their engine was
fine after that. 
Well, leave it to me!  I tried this, and though the process was described
telling me NOT to pull out any rope when the cylider was at TDC, I gave
just a little tug to help me determine if I could compress the rope
anymore.  A little rope came out, and I began to turn the engine some more.
 A little more rope came out, so I turned the engine some more, and the
rope would not budge.  I pulled a little harder, no movement.  I turned the
engine some more; no rope.  Ultimately, I now have an engine that was not
running properly and was annoying the Hell out of me anyway, and now it has
some nice 1/2" rope hanging out of the #3 cylinder.  I've tried turning the
engine in each direction, and still get no rope.  It was suggested that by
pulling at TDC I snagged it on a valve.  However, after experimenting with
this many times, I've found that I can only get about 3/4 turns out of the
engine before it seems to "lock" and won't turn anymore.  This makes me
wonder if the rope couldn't have gotten looped back behind something on the
cylinder itself somehow, and is restricting it from moving all the way to
bottom.  Is there something else in there to get snagged on?  I've tried to
push the rope back down in with a stiff piece of wire to unsnag it and seem
to be having no luck whatsoever.  I'm almost resigned to pulling the top
off of that side, but don't know if that is more of a job than everybody
was recommending when they said that the best way to learn it is simply to
do it.  If anyone has any ideas, please let me know, otherwise, save this
one for your book of "stupid mechanic" stories.  I'm going to go pull the
valve covers off right now, and I will check in before proceeding any
further.
Thanks!  (And I hope you either have a great suggestion, or get one Hell of
a chuckle out of this!!!)

J. Michael Shaw, II

'68 T'all
'73 Scout II
'66 Dodge Monaco