In a moment of stupidity (I had a beer in the shed) I tried to replace the spark plug in my Slant without first inserting it into the plug canister - when I went to screw it into the head it fell down into the block. I could see the spark plug through the spark plug hole resting against a push rod.

I manged to remove the plug with a little patience, but in my mind I was dreading the thought of removing the head to get access to the plug.

Moral - beware having a 'quiet one' whilst working on the engine![/i]

In the future, if it falls all the way down in the lifter gallery, I'd recommend running to the auto parts store and getting one of those flexible magnets with a light on the end of it. Worst case, you'd probably just have to remove the valve cover.

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Somehow I ended up owning three 1964 slant six A-bodies. I race one of them.
Escape Velocity Racing

in a cast iron motor, those magnets can be difficult, also grab a "pickle grabber" for about $2. they are flexible, come in several lengths, can grab non magnetic parts and wont stick to the wrong thing when your trying to get it down there. the tool has a syringe style handle and when the end is squeezed, 4 prongs come out the far end, they grab the item as the handle is released and they retract. recently used one to fish a speedo pinion out of my early 904.

...could have made it worse...good thing you noticed it went down there...if you'd had a few more maybe you'd have just grabbed an extra plug and closed 'er up....ouch!

brian

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https://tinyurl.com/yynpj4v2

Glad you got it. The peanut plug heads make it virtually impossible to (a) drop anything into the lifter gallery through the spark plug hole but (b) to recovery anything from the lifter gallery if you do manage to drop something down there. I have done both (drop and recover), but it wasn't fun at all.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Oops! I did not think of removing the valve cover.

I managed to retrieve the spark plug using some flexible hose push onto the top of the plug and carefully withdrawing it.