The stud was slipped into the spark plug hole intentionally it's too long to get past the valve without getting bent or bending the valve itself

I agree I would sleeve that block and recheck the rest and should be great

I once lost a 355 SBC to an air cleaner stud. It had a dual plane intake, and the stud was initially chopped up into three pieces by one valve and then ended in three cylinders, ruining the entire block. I feel your pain.

I accidently dropped a bolt into the lifter gallery of my Pontiac motor one time. Paranoia took over so I lifted the engine, removed the pan and retrieved the bolt. Since I was that far into it, I pulled the motor and replaced the crappy rope rear main seal with a Cadillac Neoprene seal to fix a leak.

This is a great channel. I really enjoy your depth of experience and knowledge that you bring, and the serious approach, unlike so much other car related content.

Ouch!. been down that road.. Thank you for your knowledge and video's USA 🇺🇸

Seen it many times. Needs a jam nut at the top of carb to lock stud in place. Seen the jam nut fall in also... wasnt tightened.

Engine builder didn’t do that, whoever put the carb/carb stud and air cleaner in didn’t use a stud that bottomed out in the carb, and also should have put a nut on the stud to lock it in the carb!

I don't think this block needs to be condemned yet. A sleeve can fix that providing the crack doesn't migrate above or below the cylinder wall.

Congratulations on hitting 5k.

Looks a bit long to go through the inlet valve, maybe it was dropped in before the head went on.....looks like the air filter threaded securing rod😕

I've been building Motors for 50 plus years, I have seen a lot of Motors destroyed by dropping crap down through the carburetor. All carburetor air cleaners studs should be Loctite in, also if you run a open Platinum intake and you put a holly carburetor on it you absolutely always take the middle bolts out of the base plate of the carburetor, cuz they will fall out in just a little bit of time it will kill a motor in a heartbeat.

Cast piston came apart. That happens with carb wingnuts sometimes, carelessness!

I have seen this before...sabotage... be careful who you let "hang around" in your garage. I had a friend with a fresh built 383 stroker. On startup, a bolt was in the combustion chamber and busted the block. The day before this happened, the heads were bolted/torqued by the owner with "help" from a few friends.

If he is lucky, it can be sleeved

Same thing happened to me climbing 'rock cut hill' going into Bracebridge. Felt something stick the throttle when I let off. Gave it a little tap on the pedal, and thought "I'll have to look at the linkage when I get home". Made it to the lumber yard, the far side of town and it started running rough. Saw the stud was gone, got towed home. #8 intake was stuck open. Held the valve open and got it with the curly tool that Arnold used up his nose in "Total Recall". I think it might have marked the valve seat a bit. But I just kept driving it. Got lucky that time. Sometimes it pays to use a mild cam I guess.

I’ve been told before but I’ll definitely learn from his mistake. Don’t run engine with the air cleaner stud flopping around.

it sucks to lose an engine to a loose air cleaner stud. that was some great failure analysis. say this happed to a 454 in a Sanger drag boat. only it was a nut from one of the velocity stacks on one of the carbs on a tunnel ram. that block could probably be saved with a sleave. I am not a fan of sleaves in anything other than a restoration of a numbers matching show car. like a numbers matching DZ 302 Z28 or a LS6 Chevelle, a 400 or 455 T/A or GTO boss 302 mustang, etc. but those are show cars and not driven on the street or raced. if it was a weekend cruiser you may be able to get away with it if you never overheat it, but if you race it, eventually the sleave will fail from my experience. on road and off-road heave Diesels are a different story, most of those use a wet sleeve cylinder package and are designed to be replaced or rebuilt "In Frame". their sleave are much thicker than a gas engine sleave. one trick to making a sleave work long term is to stop any further cracks in the cylinder. by drilling the ends of the crack to prevent it from cracking more and intending into the deck or main webs. when the cylinder is bored to fit the sleave, you will be able to see the edge of the crack, find the ends of it and drill the crack so the crack can't continue up into the deck or down into the bottom of the cylinders. this prevents the cracks from getting worse once you press the sleave into the cylinder. i would also have the head pressure tested to make sure there are no cracks in the combustion chamber. some of those 455 heads are fairly thin wall castings. and if it was bad enough to crack the block, it is certainly capable of cracking the head. you wouldn't know until it was all back together, so i would go through the heads as well. double check all the valves and pressure test the head just to be sure.

I dont understand how that stud was able to fall past the carb into the plenum, then fall to the intake valve & actually get past the intake valve, then into the cylinder??!! Wow!!! Nice catch with the flex plate by the way! Dont think I didn't notice that! Lol!

My goodness, I'd have had a damned heart attack by now, tear down the damned engine already!!! By the time it took you to make this video, I could have had this entire engine rebuilt and running!! ROFL!!! Guaranteed, he got the engine home, dropped the carb stud into the manifold and didn't realize it, probably figured he misplaced the stud somewhere while installing his carb, and just put a different one in it's place. The engine runs for a few minutes until the stud finally works it's way into the cylinder, then badda bing, badda bip... magic!! That's why he didn't take it back to the original builder, because the original builder would have called him on his BS! So to save face, and not take the blame where it belongs, he takes it to another engine builder, and claims the other builder must have done it! ROFLMFAO!!! Yeah, that carb stud was in that cylinder bouncing around for 10 minutes, and nobody knew or heard anything going on, it was fine, and then just all of a sudden, bang!!!... the other guy did it!! ROFLMFAO!! Yeah, OK Joe. ha ha ha

WOW! Always put a lock nut on the carb stud!

The stud probably bounced around on the back of the intake valve for a while until it got to the right angle to slip in the cylinder

Is it hard to sleeve these blocks? Would seem like it could be a good fix if it could be done?

The 400 blocks are pretty easy to come by. They make a nice kit to make it a 468. One of the benefits says with the 400 block is it uses a 3inch main bearing instead of a 3.25 inch main . It's possible that it can be sleeved. I'm sure the rod is bad. Also I noticed that the casting number of the head was ground off almost all 455 heads have 111 to 115 cc chamber and they have a hard time making 8 to 1 it's possible that was a 400 head like a 6X or something. I'd be very interested to see if you could CC the head anyway he's got work ahead of them and it sucks because it's happened to me twice with my Oldsmobile but I was lucky and it just hurt the piston. It didn't hurt the block or the rods. The first time I didn't think about it but when you use a Holley carburetor, you have to use a lock not The stud otherwise they can back off if the air filter wing that loosens up the second time, the stud broke at the gym not for some reason. And it was only part the size of the first time actually the first time it took out four pistons and bent the ring lands down on a couple of them

He can see how much to weld up the cyl and sleeve it if he can't find a block reasonable. Or if it's matching numbers. I'm sure you know all this but people reading the comments may not.

If a used block cannot be found, sleeving it is a possibility as long as the block deck isn't cracked. Aftermarket blocks exist and are much stronger. Otherwise, a new shortblock from Butler Performance, Kauffman Racing, Tin Indian performance etc. I like Pontiac engines in Pontiacs, Ford engines in a Ford etc. I vomit a little every time I see an LS engine in anything other than a late model GM.

Thx for Informative video....I Always Learn something watching your channel !! .....Feel sorry for Joe 😢 .......The most Important takeaway Lesson is Don't Start an engine or even short Driveway test runs with a Secured Complete air filter Assembly !! .....Very Likely car was Driven with No Air filter,,Just with the threaded fastener Stud.....That's the Only Likely way that 1/4" Stud got Ingested by carb & ultimately Into the Cylinder causing the Usual metal foreign object engine Damage......Hopefully, can be Sleeved & Block saved !!! .....Lesson Learned no matter how Short duration test drive is...Don't Do it ,,,,,,

I feel for Joe, such a small thing causes big damage. I work repairing audio electronics, one small mistake while testing or replacing parts can cause massive damage to a piece of electronics.

I am amazed how that long stud could possibly get through a valve. I would think that if it could it would take multiple valve openings to get all the way through then in the process not hit the piston until it was in the cylinder. You should take that intake valve out of the head and see what the valve and seat look like as it should have some signs of damage.

Sometimes the screws out of the bottom of Holley carb would fall out and go through the engine and leave pretty nuts in the top of piston, show type of threads and was a Philip heads screw. That's why they had plates that fit between the carb and intake so the screws cannot fall out and get in the engine...

Like your show I had same thing happened to my I build 400 sbc D stroke 327 crankshaft destroyed piston and 400 dart little M block busted cylinder 😢 sickness still today don't know how bolt gotten into my cylinder Evan busted piston

Looks like an air cleaner stud, wasn't the builders fault, short pistons break like this and blocks when bolts are in any combustion chamber

Sad video on this engine. A proper air cleaner stud with jam nut is the answer and lesson in this case...happier days lie ahead.

not the fault or design of the Pontiac engine. The problem was who built./assembled the engine

Miller Automotive in boston Pennsylvania has a Pontiac 455 ready to run. They build Pontiac and Oldsmobile and Chevy big blocks.

Hey brother, there is a 71' pontiac 455 long block on E-Bay for $750. It's says it's out of Jacksonville, Florida.

Is it possible to sleeve these blocks? A recommendation to improve your videos: Activate "auto levels" in your camera or editing software. Currently audio volume varies a lot, especially when using a rattle gun and trying to talk.

bummer. i’m wondering how that made its way through the Venturi. A big item! could have been hanging around the plenum for some time? very unfortunate. i ruined an HO head one time via dropped valve. hurt my heart.

That is a new one on me, the breather stud?

So sad to see that happen I know how he feels though I just had my 454 eat the cam during cam break in

This is why you use a bolt and not a stud for air cleaner!! We want parts to stay put not become travelers!

You have a lot work ahead for you AG...

Since you rebuilt motors I have a 1968 pontiac lemans I did a ls swap on. I put a old 5.3 in it but I did get a 6.0 to rebuild. My question is do I rebuild the 6.0 or do I rebuild the pontiac 455? Still been trying to decide I will be putting a toqurestorm supercharger on which even one I rebuild. Just looking for another opinion.

Glad i use a tapered head bolt on my air cleaner lid. Its hard to find the hole though.

Unless I was restoring an old Pontiac, I would not build a Pontiac.

Block could be sleeved maybe?

Sorry, never-ending. Butler doesn't sell core block. I just went to his website for you and no go. They sell shirt block on up but no core blocks.

It can be sleeved pretty easy...

Carb stud got dropped down the intake and worked its way down and smashed the engine. It happened and it shouldn't have. It was a accident. I've seen that 1 other time. But it was a intake bolt. My cousin dropped it down the intake before he mounted the carb. Oh it won't go anywhere he said. Oh yes it did. As soon as he started it he revealed the engine 3 times on the 4th BAM!!!!! BYE BYE LITTLE BIRDUE LOL. we were 17 or q8 at the time. We were green back then. Just kids. We never did that again lol. I dropped one down my intake of my 72 Chevelle. Slipped right past a open valve. Yup got to pull the heads back off to find it. We didn't have magic like camers and such back then lol. You will get him squared away as soon as he locates a block.

That sucks!

dont use cheap cast pistons!

I'm working on a Pontiac 455 HO engine and would love to have one of those red parts trays you are using. Where can I get one of those? I'm also in Canada. If you can suggest something it would be appreciated. Thank you.

Sleeve it! I’ve done it lots of times.

Put a sleeve in it

For real

Scrap start over with a new long block.

Does it have non adjustable rockers? Pontiac use too... That is a down fall on them.

I've got a great block for his build if he's interested so it is a 421 4 Bolt mains never been assembled from the factory no pistons no connecting no crankshaft doesn't have any serial numbers on it this was a cast block from the factory never assembled

I have a 71 455 y c motor willing to sell if the make a good offer

The rest I see on E-Bay they want 3 grand for them lol. They are getting very rare and people are proud of them things aren't they lol.

Try looking at Frank's Pontiac Parts.😅

That sucks

Pontiac block harder to find Evan block sick sick I understand how guy fill

He may want to contact Butler Performance and see what he has for blocks.

I wood go all out set butler performance H beam rod's set forge piston there guy in star sc have all Pontiac block any Pontiac parts you buy hold Pontiac 428 complete engine $600 buck I'm in ga state

Time for joe to enjoy a LS swap!!…..unless he gets lucky and finds a block……NOW can we all have a moment of silence for the 455 that is no longer with us

Butlers performance Pontiac out Mississippi have part's he kneed better get his pocket book open

Take it to a reputable machine shop and have them put a sleeve in that cylinder. That block can still be used, and everything will go back together. That way he does'nt have to swap in a piece of sh!t LS or other junk ass Chevy.

FIRST OF ALL YOU SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE A LEGACY ENGINE BACKED UP BY A MUNCIE M22 ROCK CRUSHER THAT HAS HAD PAUL CANGIALOSI'S HANDS IN IT ! WHY WOULD SOMEONE PUT AN AUTO TRANS ON A LEGACY ENGINE ? SO YOUR WIFE CAN DRIVE IT ? SO YOU CAN DRAG RACE ? TAKING A 4 SPEED OFF OF AN ENGINE IS LIKE UNPLUGGING FUN....WHY ? GOOD LUCK WITH THE REBUILD ! PUT THE 4 SPEED BACK, I MEAN PUT THE FUN BACK !!! OH....GREAT CHANNEL ! LONG LIVE THE 4 SPEED !

Punch a hole through the piston...

Sleeve it