Aaaarghhh...sacrifice to The Valley!

[ram_g]

And I was SOOO close...

I've been working on my plenum and injector R&R all week, in between various T'giving commitments.

In the final home stretch, trying to put on that super-fiddly DIS connector in the back, having read all about bent pin horror stories. And learning that key success factors are having thin hands and no beer belly to come in the way as you bend and crane in awkward positions.

And then my 1/4" long socket came loose and fell into the valley! I looked and looked and simply could not see where it went. At that point I was so far into the re-install that I simply gave up and proceeded to finish.

After buttoning everything up, the car started just fine, no untoward noises. It's raining nonstop though, so not a good time to test out the new injectors.

So what does anybody think will happen to the socket? Stay in the valley until the next plenum pull? Drop out somewhere along the way? Will it hurt anything?

[HAWAIIZR-1]

Sorry to hear this. I know I wouldn?t be able to sleep with a socket in there. I have an inspection camera like this that has saved me more than once finding and fishing dropped tools or fasteners.

https://www.harborfreight.com/27-in-color-compact-digital-inspection-camera-64623.html

The one I have has a magnet, a hook, and another attachment to help fish out stuff. You should give it a shot if you have the patience. Best wishes.


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[Tripler]

Grab a magnet tool with a flexible arm . Maybe you can grab it that way . I knownthe feeling . I found mine had rolled under the car after installing the rear connection . I was lucky

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[ram_g]

Tried blind fishing with a magnet tool, no luck. Have ordered an inspection camera from Amazon, they had several on Black Friday deals. And double checked the garage floor, no luck.

In Marc's plenum DVD he states to get a good grip on the MAP sensor bracket bolts because if one falls, you'll never find it again. But there's a difference between a small black bolt and a 2" long shiny 1/4" socket!

I'm hoping to hear from others that something like this has happened to, where they did not find whatever dropped. And either "yeah, I never found it again" or even "it dropped out and caused all kinds of damage" ... one of those will determine how I sleep tonight!

[HAWAIIZR-1]

Tried blind fishing with a magnet tool, no luck. Have ordered an inspection camera from Amazon, they had several on Black Friday deals. And double checked the garage floor, no luck.



In Marc's plenum DVD he states to get a good grip on the MAP sensor bracket bolts because if one falls, you'll never find it again. But there's a difference between a small black bolt and a 2" long shiny 1/4" socket!



I'm hoping to hear from others that something like this has happened to, where they did not find whatever dropped. And either "yeah, I never found it again" or even "it dropped out and caused all kinds of damage" ... one of those will determine how I sleep tonight!



Good deal and understood. Worst case scenario if you can?t locate it with the camera is to just pull the plenum again for more practice. If you ever decide to block off the coolant, the plenum pull is very quick and no mess in the future. I hope you locate it with help of the camera. [emoji1303]🤙🏼


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[ram_g]

Found this thread:
https://www.zr1.net/forum/showthread.php?t=23667

Looks like I'm only the latest (and surely not last) to lose a tool to the ZR-1 valley of doom.

I think I will sleep better tonight.

[ghlkal]

I'm hoping to hear from others that something like this has happened to, where they did not find whatever dropped. And either "yeah, I never found it again" or even "it dropped out and caused all kinds of damage" ... one of those will determine how I sleep tonight!




I think I've lost that socket every time I have the plenum off (4 or 5 times so far and I need to replace the AC compressor, so it will happen again). It is usually on the floor, but I wonder if it did drop in the valley once ...

[Paul Workman]

The only thing I can think of to worry about would be if it made its way under the starter where it might come in contact with the purple (starter) wire if rubber elbow cover was like mine...dry rotted and disintegrating, leaving the connection exposed to stuff like sockets or screws, etc. that might find their way under there.

On the other hand, I tink it would be unlikely for it to get under the coil base plate and then on down to get under the starter. It is more likely (I think) for it to come to rest near the coils?

Were it me? Well, I get paranoid about stuff like that, so I'd pull the plenum and go looking for it. (After my first flurry of plenum pulls [AND plugging the coolant ports] I learned how to save and reuse the gasket and added a pneumatic ratchet to my toolbox - the plenum can be laying on the dirver's side wheel shroud in 10 minutes! I wouldn't give pulling the plenum a second thought...but that's just ME.)

[secondchance]

Found this thread:
https://www.zr1.net/forum/showthread.php?t=23667

Looks like I'm only the latest (and surely not last) to lose a tool to the ZR-1 valley of doom.

I think I will sleep better tonight.

Ha! You found my old post. Dropping a 10mm bolt and not knowing where it went (I was taking short cut and injector housing intakes were open) was worse. Drive to discount auto, every magnet tools they had I bought and fished all intakes. Found it in #5 cylinder secondary intake.

[XfireZ51]

I put just a tiny bit of electrical tape on the 1/4? extension before sliding the socket on the end. That really snugs the socket onto the either the socket driver or 1/4? drive socket wrench.

[secondchance]

May be it?s time to get one of these.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Magnetic-Socket-Inserts-Metric/425124860?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=1148&&adid=22222222227238063136&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=t&wl3=283952431585&wl4=aud-1025747331496:pla-476687084148&wl5=9008140&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=112562587&wl11=online&wl12=425124860&veh=sem&gclid=Cj0KCQiAh4j-BRCsARIsAGeV12Afb8ni-JZkk1hq-cnEGxenHkyWyaap_ExTUfCmR7BL9UDAkVZ3GksaAtv7EALw_wc B

[Tripler]

Good idea lol . Maybe Santa will bring you a set [emoji848][emoji6][emoji106]

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[Paul Workman]

I put just a tiny bit of electrical tape on the 1/4? extension before sliding the socket on the end. That really snugs the socket onto the either the socket driver or 1/4? drive socket wrench.

Yes! Me too!:thumbsup:

Also, I put that connector back on BEFORE I bolt the plenum back down. That little bit of extra room allows me to gently maneuver and position that connector in place: actually feel the pins sliding into place before the connector bottoms out. Then the set screw/bolt only secures the connector from coming off: that way it never is used to wrench the connector over the pins (is when pins get folded/bent).

[Paul Workman]

....especially for those first timers pulling the plenum:

Two of the best suggestions I learned from this board, regarding plenum pulls: 1) is prepping the (new) plenum gasket before installing it, and
2) installing a plug in the coolant port of the driver's side injector housing, blocking off coolant to the throttle body.

Prepping the gasket amounts to using some 3M adhesive on/around the injector housing coolant port only (a thin layer) to keep the gasket from squirming away from the coolant port. (Less of a problem since Jerry's Gaskets started providing those gaskets!) And, second, I found that spraying the plenum side (only) of the gasket with a silicone spray (ACE Hardware or the like) facilitates future removal of the plenum.

Once the bolts are removed, I can slide a putty knife along the entire edge of both sides of the plenum and the gasket remains attached to the injector housing and intact. (I've been able to reuse a gasket for a couple of additional plenum pulls. However, I keep new gaskets handy "just in case".)

Plugging the coolant port in the injector housing that feeds coolant to the throttle body saves most of an hour when it comes to pulling the plenum. Unless you're in the habit of driving your Z in freezing or sub-freezing weather, you will never miss it. And, doing so - not having to fuss with coolant, and with the help of a pneumatic ratchet to remove the bolts - a plenum pull and re-installation is a breeze!:cheers:

[Hos327]

After reading this thread last week I purchased an endoscope on Amazon. Turns out best 40 bucks I?ve spent in a long time. Haven?t done anything too stupid yet on my first plenum project until today. Was feeding the plenum vacuum tube through the injectors before pacing the plenum and the line fitting slipped off and fell into the primary intake of #4! Hindsight could?ve pulled everything back apart and removed the injector housing, but spent almost an hour with the hook on the end of the scope fishing it out of the valve. Thank god the valve was closed when it dropped!