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I have been dialing in my Webers and working on the 3 - 4k range with the main jets. Having success too.

But last time I put in the emulsion tube #4,  out of the corner of my eye I saw a flash of brass. Yep - the main jet had fallen off the tube. (I was sure it had a tight pressure fit, but ...noooo.)

So I took my mirror and flashlight and could not see it anywhere. I thought it had fallen down the venturi - but not completely sure. 

So next I put a light vise grip on the throttle arm so the throttle plate would not open sending the jet into the cylinder, then proceeded to disassemble.

Step by step , all the way down to the intake manifold, I could not find that blasted jet.
So now I am thinking the worse, some how it made it's way into the cylinder
(fiy - I meticulously cleaned the engine compartment, and I looked everywhere (Everywhere!) before beginning all this.)

With mirror and flashlight I can not find the bugger. So now I rotate the engine until the pistons are at their top , still not see or feel anything. So I take a pencil and stick it down #3 and #4 when each is at it's top to see if I can feel / hear anything. Nope.

Next  I take a shop vac and stick it on cylinders to try and vacuum it out. Nothing. Then I thought better of this , because I got a visual image of me blowing up my garage. (electric spark + gas vapors = dead Carlos)

Then I rotated the engine around a few times via the crank . Did not feel or hear anything.

At this point I am thinking it is simply hidden somewhere in the engine tin or compartment where I could not find it. I reassembled everything, but before cranking wanted advice.

If the jet is in the cylinder , would I feel it by hand rotating the engine like I did? Would the cylinder even make it to the top of it's stroke? Could the jet keep me from being able to rotate the engine?  What happens  if it is in the cylinder, and I crank it - lunch the engine?

Before I turn bad luck into something stupid, I thought I would ask for some advice. Help.

 

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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

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!)

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!

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. 

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.

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