Re: Heads n' my 392

[Tom Mandera <tsm1@domain.elided>]

"Peter F. Ferris" wrote:
> wunnerful 'gag-proof' gas siphon!). I love my compressor vacuum.  Even my
> fairly rigid OEM vacuum wand wouldn't miss a beat on sunflower seeds... it's
> about 3/4" diameter.  It'd take an awful lot to clog / choke it. I imagine

Compressor/OEM vacuum?  My choices are - household vacuum, or maybe a
"siphon" action from the siphon-feed sand blasting attachment (gotta
love Bernoulli).  I could probably beg/borrow a shop vac if that's what
I need.

> any walls/channels.  Only prob is, you'd be "blind" as to whether you missed
> any.  You might _think_ you know where all the seeds are, but do you really?

I could try a dentist's mirror..

Actually, some fiberoptic cable and a vid camera would work pretty
well.. too bad I don't have anything like that lyin' around.

> A good vacuum would draw many hidden ones.  Again, sunflower seeds are
> organic, and I bet are "soft" compared to a valve spring or whatever

I'm just not sure how cylinder walls would like that.. I thought about
just getting the big chunks out and hoping the rest go out the exhaust
ports quickly.. of course, since this motor has sat for 5 years, the
chances of it just firing up and burning out the gunk quickly is slim to
none - more likely lots of cranking and fiddling and cranking and some
ether will be involved... and I think a 5gal gas can will be the fuel
tank for the initial trials.

> crunching up/down on 'em.  Just my 2 cents! OTOH, I wouldn't think BLOWING
> air in would be a Good Thing!

I was thinking - air in on one side of the intake port, which would
swirl the crap around and out the other side of the inlet..

> curious... Ummm, how did the seeds come to be there?!  This sounds like a
> problem <I> would have!

The Travelall I bought has been sitting for 5 years - with the intake
manifold off (part of why it was $200).  The previous owner was doing
some trading for a 4bbl intake.. got the 2bbl off, didn't acquire the
4bbl, and never put the 2bbl back on.. and so it has sat.

Apparently the guy had a chicken farm or something.. when I cleaned the
interior of the T'all out (not quite done) it looked like someone'd
butchered a chiken inside.. a Guinea hen at that.. feathers everywhere.

Pop the hood to clean off the very dirty valley pan (idea here was to
duct-tape the intake ports on the heads, and then hose this (valley)
off), and get the OE gaskets removed from the heads, and I started
pulling some feathers n' "fluff" out of the intake ports on the heads. 
Pull up my work light to get a bettery view.. and I found sunflower
seeds sitting in one of the heads, on top of the valve.  Something tells
me that doesn't belong there, and it probably won't be a good substitue
for gas, either.

I'll start asking around for a hi-po vac to borrow.. sucking out the
crud would be SOO much nicer than yanking the heads!

-Tom (who hated lifting that intake manifold around)