ok so i'm in the middle of my cam swap and my keepers are being a pain well i back the spring out and my keepers go air born i can find one half but the other is MIA. is it possible that it fell in the bolt hole at the back of the head and down into the block? i'm thinking thats where it went. if thats the case what do i do now?

 

Go to GM parts and buy another one. They are .50 or so each.

 

i guess i should have put in what i'm doing.

TSP 231/237
patriot golds with titanium rets.
TR pushrods
harland sharp rockers
jwis chain

dont think the cheap keepers will work for my application

and that still doesnt change the fact that i might have a huge chunk of metal in my motor

 

the stock valve spring locks will be fine, i just used them on my cam, which is just as big as yours. i also lost one, went out and picked a few up

 

stock keepers will not work they are five times smaller than the patriot lockers i just tried to see if the stock lockers were compatable with the patriot retainers and vise versa....well it's a no go. i'm not going to put this motor back together with a retainer in there so buying some more is out of the question. what i need to know is it possible for it to have fallen to the pan? or how i can get it to fall in the pan if it hasnt already so i can fish it out. Also, the best meathod would be draining the oil and using a tough magnet right?

 

I shot one of mine off in my cam install...

Damn thing's probably still sitting in a crook in my headers (grumble, grumble)

 

ah i see, i used PRC and they fit fine. its possible, but highly unlikley that it fell into the oil pan. my mechanic friend came over, and said they used to call them "jesus clips" because they would fly off, never to be found again.

unless you heard it fall into the oil pan, its probably not in there. there is also a large lid covering most of the oil pan, except over the pickup tube. i droped a bolt in there and had to drop the oil pan to get it out. its too big to fit through the pickup tube screen, so it will probably end up getting caught on the magnet of the oil drain nut, but its up to you. if you decide to drop the pan and check it out let me know, i can tell you the best way to do it

 

well i did a search and found one thread of them landing in the lifter gally. so basicly i have to pull my intake and knock sensor plate or whatever the hell it's call and hope it's there. if it's not i just might save my cash and just pull the motor and rebuild it the right way instead of performance patchwork like i've been doing.

 

Keepers are a bitch. I watched one fall to the ground. Youd think itd end up close to where it dropped but it hit the ground and started spinning and ended up underneath the other side of the car. I never expected it to make it that far. One time I spent over 3hrs looking for one. It was a Sunday so none of the dealerships would be open.

Maybe try going aroud the engine with a magnet. That helped me a lot. Also cover up any holes with a rag. I also wrapped a towel next to the head where the headers would be. This caught most of the keepers that dropped.

Yeah its scary losing a keeper. Dont want that stuff dropping into the engine.

 

I did the same thing. I thought it went into the motor as well. I got a big magnet, ran it around the engine bay and then I heard it click to the magnet. Don't give up until you run a big *** magnet around the engine bay for a while.

 

yo i did the same thing i was doing my springs with the heads off the car in my garadge and one flew off once and by the grace of god i found it then it happed again and it was no where to be found and i was so pissed i punched a solid wood door of my garadge and split it haha but i ordered 2 locks from sdpc but it ends up my grandpops found it while cleanin haha

 

PM me your shipping adress, I have a few super 7 locks laying around i could shoot you one for free.Let me know if you still need it.

Carter