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Urgent advice needed please! Grit on top of valves.

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So, it looks like I f'd up. I cleaned up the manifold as best I could, blasting grit out. But it looks like some grit still ended up down into the engine and I can see some grit sitting on top of the valves, which thankfully are all closed. Some must have fallen off the manifold when I lifted it off.

So do I try to clean it for the next few hours with tweezers and q-tips? That and trying to get a 1/4" nozzle for my vacuum is all I can think of... I definitely know it will damage things if I just ignore it and put it all back together. The only other option seems to be towing to a shop...

And to get the "why?" out of the way: I had attempted to remove both of the foam blocks last year. I could not get the rear removed, but could not get it back into place, either. Then I started hearing a chatter at 3k rpms. So I decided to remove the manifold to get it back in place and see if the chattering stopped before going to a dealer.
 
06mach1 said:
Try a real good vacuum cleaner. The other issue would be is that all the valves cannot be closed. They may look it but some have to be open.

Yea the two rears are open, but thankfully those did not get any grit as far as I can tell. I am using a shop vac with tubing and breaking up the oil with denatured alcohol. Looks like it is working except for what is trapped between the head and valve. I will keep going till I cannot make any more progress.
 
So I got 95% of the crap out and found the source. The fuel injectors were full of crap, and when I removed the fuel some of it fell down. It looks like some crud was also getting past the o-rings around the injectors anyways... Crap design IMO but anyways...I have not started the engine yet. I wanted to do some reading and see if more of you could weigh in on how big a deal it is. If it's worth towing and getting it torn apart and cleaned for probably $1k in labor or not. If I did that I would not take it to a dealer but to someplace like Dez Racing. Either way, the warranty would be gone. Or run it as-is? If the nasty metal rattle is still there it should go to the dealer anyways.

I am hoping some of you can lessen my fears...
 
Have you tried using compressed air. If you can get or have a large enough air compressor and different style wands , you be able to blow out what ever is remaining.
 
I have not tried compressed air, since I was not sure if it would create enough pressure to open a valve and blow the crap in. letting the alcohol sit there for a while helped break up the oil from the PCV system and I could vacuum up the particles, but I can still see a dark line around the valves. I am not sure if there is still grit there or not. If the grit enters and exits the cylinder when I turn her on then no harm done, but I am worried it would just get into the corners and grind the cylinder walls.
 
06mach1 said:
So what started this project and what exactly have you done?

I removed the manifold to get the rear and front foam blocks back in place since after removing them I have heard a worrying fluttering/metallic screech at 3k rpms. The rear seemed impossible to get back in so I removed the manifold. Sand/road grime that was trapped around the injectors fell down onto the valves when I removed the fuel rail. Yes, I did clean what I could reach beforehand. All but the rearmost valves were closed tight, and it does not look like those injectors were as dirty as the others. I soaked the crud with sprayed denatured alcohol which seems to have broken up the oil from the PCV system (yes, everything was pretty much coated in oil and soot...time for oil separator!). I duct taped a flexible 1/8" ID tube to the shop vac and kept soaking and vacuuming. Looks like I got all the sand/crud that I could. There might still be some trapped in the narrow space where the valve and heads touch. I closed her back up after a thorough cleaning of the intake and injectors but have not started the engine yet.

At this point I am trying to figure out if it is worth towing her to a speed shop to have here torn apart and cleaned for what I assume will cost near $1000. Or will one small contamination like this just blow out the exhaust and not cause any problems? That is my dilemma. I don't know how long a one-time grit deposit can stay in a cylinder and cause damage. I can't be sure none got in the rearmost cylinders, but I doubt it is very much. For instance, one of the front cylinders had close to 60 or so "grains" of crud on it. Most likely dirt and sand.

Others must have had this happen to them when upgrading to a Boss or Cobra Jet manifold, no?
 

302 Hi Pro

Boss 302 - Racing Legend to Modern Muscle Car
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With out seeing what your typing about, it's impossible to say whether or not you're safe in starting the engine. I'm just surprised that much crud was sent to the intake port and valve face. Nothing would have reached the exhaust valve side. A compressed air blown it out would not have opened a valve and was a good recommendation from SuperHero.

Remember to use compressed air to thourghly clean everything before removing fuel rails/injectors to keep things clean. But that's history now.

You asked, will it blow out the exhaust side? Some will, but some will imbed itself in the piston, some of it will vaporize, and some might get caught in the piston ring land area which could score a cylinder wall. It's the sand particles that can cause damage. But it's sounds to me, just (my opinion), that you got most of it so I don't belief you will have a catastrophic sudden failure from this event.

You do have to be more concerned about that "Chatter" noise at 3k RPM's that got you into this in the first place. Your IM foam blocks is not the cause of this.

What have you done to pinpoint or diagnose this noise before you got to thinking about the foam blocks? Can you give us anymore information on this?

Yes, you should install some sort of PCV oil recovery system, but if you end up at your Ford dealership for engine repairs under warranty, don't show up there with a Peterson CVC, as they are not emissions compliant.

Last, I'm sorry to learn that this happened to you, and always use compressed air to thourghly clean sand and road grit from areas where you will open up the engine. Always wear eye protection when working on your cars, it's a good practice.

Interested to learn about the 3k metallic noise.
Good luck,
Dave
302 Hi Pro
 
I did get everything I could see except for maybe 3 particles, and I do have good vision. Spent about 4 hours cleaning it. The 3k noise happens during moderate acceleration, even light. I think I have heard it once while engine breaking as well while next to a Jersey barrier. I will have to go through my private messages, I know one purge member here has the same noise and only noticed it after removing the foam valley blocks and top blocks like I did. I guess I will have to run it and see.

Edit: here is the original thread that started me down this path. Cloud9 seems to get the same noise I am hearing. In my video skip to the 0:55 mark.
https://trackmustangsonline.com/index.php?topic=7887.msg116321#msg116321
 

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