finding or replacing a dropped fastener
 

I was adjusting the valves on my 1996 corvette and dropped one of those large pan head torx bolts that hold the center bolt valve covers in place, it vanished, down into the void between the pass side engine and fender well but failed to reach the shop floor .....
every guy who has ever worked on a car knows the frustration of dropping tools ,sockets, and fasteners down into cracks and restricted places in an engine compartment.
if you can see where it dropped an extendable magnetic pick-up took can some times reach it,theres also those extendo claw mechanics grab tools, that can be useful, and you certainly won,t be the first guy to use a garden hose with a nozzle to try to flush out a hidden fastener.
http://www.grumpysperformance.com/grab2.jpg
http://www.harborfreight.com/15-lb-c...ool-95933.html

http://www.grumpysperformance.com/grab1.jpg

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...r&clicked=true
a surprising number of times bolts and nuts seem to fall into little nooks and UN-accessible places that you just can,t seem to see them,, If you have an air compressor in your shop, one tool that's useful is a long needle like high pressure air nozzle that allows you to force 120 psi jet of compressed air down into areas where the hurricane strength air pressure can dislodge the hidden fastener allowing it to fall onto the ground where there's a slightly better chance of you locating it, rather than have it drop out of the car at some random location after you drive over a speed bump or chuck hole.
http://www.grumpysperformance.com/95159.gif
a bright mechanics drop lite and a flexible inspection tool can be a big help at times
now in this particular case I eventually found it by use of high pressure air knocking it loose and an old geezer crawling under the car to get it, but it occurred to me that if Id failed to locate it, I,D NEED A REPLACEMENT bolt and if I was going to replace one Id replace all 8 bolts (ideally with new chrome plated version) so I looked on line and found that even the stock bolt (PART NUMBER 10108675) and the seal washer under it (PART NUMBER 10068165) which are about the diam. of a 50 cent coin and and about an inch long http://www.grumpysperformance.com/lt1bolt.JPG are discontinued parts at chevy and not available in chrome plated finish, so does anyone have a source for these?
they would look very similar to this, but have a slightly wider head
http://www.chromebolt.com/images/sto...Torx-Trans.jpg
http://www.grumpysperformance.com/scopeinternal.jpg

http://www.harborfreight.com/high-re...html?hftref=cj

GOOGLE[/color] SLI-PV618
related info
http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/...+bucket#p20837

http://forum.grumpysperformance.com/...+bucket#p33281

Yeah man... It's also a good idea to keep inventory on anything you bring into the engine compartment to make sure when you are done, that everything is accounted for. When I drop something, EVERYTHING stops till I find it, otherwise I know darn right well I'll forget about it later on.

My '66 was up on the lift, and the '03 that's usually under it was in the driveway drying off after getting washed. So I figured, wth! With that, I drained the oil and changed the filter. Mind you, the car is in the air so new oil wasn't added at that time. I made up a sign saying simply "ADD OIL" and placed it on the driver seat. Good thing, because 2 weeks passed and a lot happens in 2 weeks, and I did forget. Luckily I did that sign thing.

Getting old sucks, but remembering the basics rocks. :dancer01:

Well, the GOOD thing about a bad memory is that you can't remember how much you used to know. I mean, how often do you say "Oh yeah... I remember now that I had forgotten that." :hehehe: Now it's more like "Did I EVER know that?" :shrug01:

And remember the old saying "He has forgotten more than I'll ever know."? Well heck, I have forgotten more than I once knew. :lmao:

How many times do you catch yourself walking somewhere and you are hoping that you remember where you are going and what you are going there for before you get there? :ack2:

How many of you suffer partial temporary aphasia?
You know, you are talking along and right when you are getting ready to say a certain word *poof* it goes right out of your head and you just stand there feeling dumbfounded trying to remember it. And it's a word you have probably used a zillion times in your lifetime.

Was putting in a new set of plugs a couple months ago and dropped the socket half way through the job...it didn't fall to the garage floor and 2 hrs. later I was able to recover it..............:banghead:

They know.........THEY KNOW! All inanimate objects have a mind of their own
and most will wait until the precise time to do anything. How come, whenever something
bounces off of the bathroom sink, does it head RIGHT for the hopper? I'm tellin ya,
THEY KNOW! :rofl1::rofl1:
Andy :wavey:

Yeah man! NEVER, EVER allow a socket to get onto the floor and start rolling. It will instinctive head towards the most inaccessible place imaginable.