Help! I dropped a jet. :-(

I can't see how the jet can get past the intake valves.  I'd check with Lane - he has extra brass thingies.  I'd give the search an overnight rest and try later with rested eyes.

Dude, I'm really sorry. I've gone through similar things.

It's not down the cylinder. The throttle plates were closed when you dropped it, and you were super careful not to open them when you did everything else.

$10 says it fell down beside the intake, and is laying in a cooling fin somewhere you'll never see it without taking the engine apart. Just be super careful when you take out the plugs next time.

Having pulled a 5/16 nut out of the piston on a 396 Chev. I feel for you. I believe you have exhausted everything you could do short of an engine pull. There were 1 couple idle jets laying in the area just above the intake manifold, under the tin, on my last engine. I could see them so I was sure they weren't in the engine. HOWEVER, Just as Stan said, be careful the next time you remove the plugs. This is not very reassuring though. If it were me, and I couldn't see them, I would keep going until I found it. Why ?  It wasn't fun pulling that V-8 apart and replacing a piston.

"There is never enough time to do the job right the first time but always enough time to do the job right the second time !".............Bruce

Thanks everyone. I am going to get a borescope ,take it apart again,  and see... just in case. Lord knows I don't want to have to pull this engine and rebuild again. Good  advice all.

I was disassembling a VW long block on an engine stand,  I dropped a washer into the case , no big problem so I rotated the engine 180 the stand and out drops a ….nut that looks like it had been there for quite some time, a bit of  wiggle and out came the washer I lost. 

Is it possible that when it fell, it fell into the hole for the emulsion tube?  

I know - a long shot, but take a look.

As Stan said, the throttle plates were closed, so if it fell into the throat you should see it sitting on top of the throttle plates.  You had a counter weight on the linkage after the incident so they never opened so if it wasn't sitting on a throttle plate then it is somewhere other than the throat.

I'm in the camp of "it's somewhere else in the engine compartment".

It's Brass - Lane could probably help.  

(or at least get you a looooooooooong thread!)

Thanks Gordon. I did. I thought the same thing and took the carb apart ( at this point I can do it blind folded) .
No luck.

Bore Scope ordered, so we will see what I see. 

I appreciate all the input guys. Thanks. One of those things that keep life interesting.

Should get yourself one of them "brass magnets."

A follow up gentlemen.

I got a bore scope and searched for hours with no luck. So at this point, I'll crank it and see how it goes.

A word abut the bore scope. It has been a couple of decades since I used one of these things. Use to be expensive with a black and white grainy image. Man they have improved a lot. I got mine from Amazon $60. Really pretty dang good images. It comes with adjustable lights, will take a photo, and even record a movie. 
https://www.amazon.com/Dericam...s=gateway&sr=8-6
That is a will spent $60.

I will be able to get back to my IM later this week. Fingers crossed!

Djya find your missing jet yet?

Thanks for asking Gordon.
Nope. I took it all apart - again - carb and manifold off. Spent a couple of hours with the bore scope and never found it.  So it's all back together , and I am going to crank it this weekend. We will see what happens. Fingers crossed.

This is another step maybe before you crank it, I would pull the plugs disconnect the ignition and try a few revolutions by hand....You do know after you do all this you'll find the jet neatly tucked away on the floor or stuck in the sole of a work boot :~)

I know Alan.  Last time I went out there, when I popped the lid I was expecting to see the jet sitting on top of the carb smiling at me. But noooo.

I actually did turn the engine by hand to see if I could feel / hear anything.  Nothing.

There are aLOT of places in and around the engine tin/heat shields where something small like that can hide.  

I'm small, and I can hide almost anywhere...............

At the West Coast Cruise event a new member was cleaning the jets on his Spyder before the run and called me in a panic after he dropped the jet. He had already looked for more than 30 minutes before calling me. I went out and we re-traced everything he had done and everywhere he had looked. The first thing I did different was we rolled the car forward and back to check the ground area without the car in the way, no luck. I started looking at all of the ledges where the jet could hide, no luck. After all of these areas were checked I moved on to where the body met the frame. I felt around everywhere first and finally got the small straw piece from a can of carb cleaner and used that to scrape underneath the frame tubes. Viola', there it was. 

Took it for a test run. No problems. Whew!

I did a few adjustments to the jetting combo, and it is running better than ever.

Thanks again for all the help.

I think Robert is on to something.

Get out the brightest light you can find and look along the body-to-frame seam and see if your wayward jet is lurking there.

Believe me ; I looked everywhere - including the frame. Then looked again and after that ... I looked again. Then I took the carb apart and off of he intake manifold, then took the manifold off. With them out of the way, guess what? I looked again. All around the engine tin, fan shroud, ... Even under the tires and cleaned the entire garage floor...
At some point you just have to give up. I imagine a year from now it will suddenly show up on the garage floor laughing at me.
Honestly I  think the blasted thing is tucked between the engine tin and the cooling fins somewhere. 
But I am sooo glad it appears not to be in the cylinder head, so I can move onto other things.