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ok. this is what happened. I have a 1974 Chrysler Newport. with 400 2 barrel engine. I have been having trouble getting my timing mark lined up where it should be. I decided to get a piston stop tool so as I could make sure my balancer hadn’t slipped any. and the mark was indeed correct for my TDC. I tried to make my own piston stop tool out of an old spark plug. but I was having trouble getting it gutted out. so I bought one from comp cams. the only problem was the bolt (more like all thread) that came with it wasn’t long enough to reach my piston. so I had a longer bolt I bought. I decided to use it… well me being an idiot I didn’t realize I had my bolt reaching as far into the cylinder as I did… I started to tighten down the outer section into the spark plug hole. and this is where the problem occurred. when I started tightening it down, I thought it was snugging up like any spark plug would (or anything you would be tightening into the spark plug hole would)…. BUT what was actually making it get snug was my long bolt coming into contact with the piston… so basically I believe I got the threads from my bolts working somewhat into the piston top…. I have no idea what sorta damage it did. or even 100% sure it did do any. but I know it did make some sort of contact with the piston, in a way it shouldn’t have, because I had to slightly wiggle the bolt to get it back out! the engine seems to run fine. so I know I didn’t poke a hole all the way through or something god awful. but im still really worried I may have started enough damage to cause a hot spot, or maybe hairline cracks that will gradually lead to a failure. my question is. does anyone think I should worry if for right now everything seems ok? should I try and get a borescope and see what might have happened in there??? I know I am an idiot. and my heart about sunk out of my body when I realized what I had done. this engine has 106k original miles on it. and I love this car. besides all that I have no money to rebuild an engine right now, or even enough to buy another one to put in it. its basically all over for me if something bad were to happen. it seems no matter how hard I try to do things right and be careful. I am just the type prone to making big mistakes!!! anyways, what do you all think about this? any comments or thoughts welcome. besides about how dumb I am. trust me. I already know full well about that…
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also. to elaborate some. I only turned the bolt maybe 3/4- 1 full (360) turn. I didn’t crank it tight. it only started to get snug. then just a tiny more past that before I stoped and seen what happened. I don’t know how thick the piston tops are on these motors. or how easy it would be to put cracks in one doing this type of thing. I also saw no aluminum on the threads or anything like that when I got it back out. but I did see a tiny spec of carbon on one thread. I am praying that maybe all that happened was the bolt did contact the piston, but only very slightly. and was mostly just stuck onto some carbon. and that’s why it didn’t just come right out. this engine has been running rich for awhile… but like I said, I did have to wiggle it a tiny bit to draw it back out…. I wish I could get a borescope that was worth anything cheaply. but im not sure if the $200 range ones would allow me to see much? anyone know much about the cheaper ones vision quality??
You could use a borescope to inspect it but i really don’t think you did any serious damage. Those old girls had pistons about 5/16 in. thick and would take a lot to damage it enough to create a problem. If you had cranked the engine over with the starter with it screwed in there then maybe there might be damage.
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