Turbo Hat Came Loose

Sounds like it's time to safety wire those fasteners. I think Danny used some springs that would make it easier to service when you need to. Hope you find the other nut.

Michael, I use wing nuts now for the tops and I drilled a small hole in each ear of the nut and picked up some small springs from Lowes. The holes on the ears allow you to put spring pressure on opposing ends just like safety wiring multiple nuts.

The nuts in question are the ones that hold the base to the carb.

I have pretty much given up on finding the 4th nut.

@Michael McKelvey posted:

The nuts in question are the ones that hold the base to the carb.

I have pretty much given up on finding the 4th nut.

Over on TheSamba there was a recent thread where a guy put up pictures he'd snapped with a Harbor Freight borescope. He commented that the resolution was far better with the HF tool than with a much, much more expensive Milwaukee (or some other big-name brand) for 1/3 the money.

Perhaps a HF borescope is in your future, Michael?

I do have a borescope.  Maybe I should pull some spark plugs and look in the cylinders.

I wonder if a nut could get past the valves.

I'd look before I turned the engine over. It's one side -- only two plugs. You can always send the scope down the carb throats to check the intake runners.

Everything has to be somewhere. It's a rule.

I'd send a small magnet down the intake on a string(heavy or Kevlar fish line).

And yes, depending on valve lift, a nut can EASILY get past a valve.

@Michael McKelvey

Hey, aren't you running Dellorto Carbs?  (Silly question, since you already mentioned that your carb jets are on the top).

Before you go Bore-scoping or magnetizing or other stuff, and since you've already found three washers and two nuts hiding down in the well where the jet holders are, I would remove the air cleaner base plate entirely and see if the refugee nut is hiding under there, out of sight.  There is a space under the cleaner base plate deep enough for a nut to slip in there and stay slipped so you couldn't see it.  Here are a couple of photos from my DRLAs currently sitting forlornly on the bench.

Here's the jet well where you found the other stuff, and if you angle the view down from here, you can peek under the baseplate and see the space underneath (next photo).

Next, here's a shot at an angle so you can see the void underneath the cleaner baseplate.  The space under there is about 1/4" high and I think it spreads out left/right under the plate but I don't know how far it goes or what corners might be in there.  Remove the plate and I bet'cha your missing nut will be hidden in there, especially because you said that the velocity stack was still held on by one (loose) nut.  

Good luck, Mike......

@Gordon Nichols, I am running Weber DCNF carbs.

I did remove the base plate to aid in getting at the 2 washers by the jets.

The jets are in a recess similar to yours.

OK, Mike.   Thought I was on to something for you.....

@Gordon Nichols, in any case, thanks for thinking about the matter.

I am inclined to stop thinking about the nut.  It just seems like it wouldn't make it over the top of the velocity stacks.

I drove who knows how many miles with the turbo hat loose and nothing catastrophic happened.

Am I asking for disaster?

@edsnova, this doesn't make me feel better.

I was going to look at things today with the borescope but I can't find it.

So, maybe I will still be flirting with disaster if I go to Cars & Coffee tomorrow.

I am still wondering if a nut could bounce or get sucked over the top of the velocity stacks.  Some or all didn't.

Is it reasonable to think if some didn't then all didn't?

I was just goofing around man, plus I could not resist the urge to jam some Molly Hatchet into the thread. I think if you were going to have a catastrophe it would've already happened.

"I am still wondering if a nut could bounce or get sucked over the top of the velocity stacks.  Some or all didn't."

How tall are those stacks?  2" - 3"??  If four piddly little washers (at half the weight of the nut in question) and three other nuts didn't get sucked up over the top of the velocity stack, I truly doubt that the remaining piddly little nut managed to defy Newtonian Physics and Bernoulli's airflow theories and fly up there.  

I don't know where it went, either, Mike.

Drive it.

I drove it to the cars & coffee this morning.

I also tightened the fan belt.  It no longer chirps when I shift gears.