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Good idea, Tod, I tried that but was not successful thus far. I also loaned a borescope from the zone, but it is a bit too large to get into the cylinder and you cannot see anything with that little mirror adapter. I've got the cylinder to TDC, fishing in there with a small magnet but am not pulling anything out. I also undone the exhaust pipe below the manifold and was able to get up to the valve with the scope - nothing... Tried a vacuum cleaner, at various places, too. I am pretty sure that the intake was closed when this happened, the exhaust was open. So it's got to be in the exhaust... I'll just take the manifolds off, tomorrow, and check some more. It is better than removing the head, at this point 🥲

Ever seen water get pulled way up a leaking low slope roof ? Capillary attraction between layers of roofing. Could happen to a porous casting.

Pistons should be aluminum (non-magnetic) while the split lock washer should be steel (magnetic). You might be able to fish it out or verify it is not in the cylinder using one of those magnet on an extendable wand tools.

To me, that all looks fine. Perhaps your local gas pump is adding something to the gas, wouldnt surprise me one bit. The fuel isnt pouring out the side of the carb, so cleaning up the gasket surfaces to a smooth finish and make sure they are true. Use JB weld to body work the gasket surface if you have to. Also, use a fresh gasket..

Perhaps someone else can repeat the experiment on one of their carbs and report back. I don't have any carbs floating around or I'd try it myself.

Didn't try using sealant on the gasket, yet?

SURVIVOR: saw this Dodge between Lake Graham and Newcastle

Well, I admin - I've done some pretty unintelligent garage stuff, before, but today was probably the absolute bottom record. That likely even beats catching the oil filter on fire... I needed to turn the engine by hand, so I took out the plugs. Then I decided to use the starter (to check for oil pressure) so I disconnected the - wire from the ignition coil and (dropped the little split washer right into the #6 cylinder... Oooops... Cannot get it out because I don't see it. Chances are, it went straight into an open exhaust or intake valve 🙄

+1

That's reasonable, it will be interesting how much you would charge for your own time and effort 😋

Are you suggesting I need to wash the washer/dryer in the garage??? ..... Blasphemy!

Back to the gas issue. After I started and ran the engine for a few minutes, I saw some gas pooling in the now usual places around the airhorn gasket and adjoining surfaces, as expected. I also saw some wetness down below on the gasket between the carb body and the lower spacer plate. At that point I figured I'd just take the damn carb off and have a look at in on the bench. Gradually I took the carb apart (airhorn, spacer plate, throttle plate) while looking for anything obvious. Didn't notice anything. So I'm left with the float bowl in my hand, which still has gas in it. Removed the float, accelerator pump and the jet/needle assembly thing and set the bowl on the bench. The top gasket surface of the float bowl is still wet so I wipe it off repeatedly. And repeatedly it becomes wet again. Then I dumped the gas out of the float bowl and dried it out with compressed air. The inside walls of the float bowl look kind of rough in my opinion, and seem to have a fair amount of pits and voids (see photos). Granted, I know the surface isn't supposed to be precision smooth, but they look rougher than I expected. Then I took some fresh gas and poured about 1/2" of it into the bowl and watched. You'll notice in the photos how dry and almost chalky the float bowl looks. Well, as I'm watching it, I see the gas wicking it's way up the walls of the float bowl. Not fast, but it's happening. There is a distinct "wetness line" creeping its way up the walls. Eventually I see gas pooling again on the top gasket surface. So by everything I've seen, I have to conclude that the casting is porous. Maybe it was ok when it was made, but over time deteriorated? I don't know. I think it's new carb time.

As others have said, the Dodge/Chrysler/Plymouth/DeSoto flathead sixes have hardened exhaust valve seats from the factory, and they are very capable of handling modern, unleaded gas without any issue. They came that way starting in 1933 or 1934, and remained that way throughout all years that they were produced, which was well into the 1970's. So you don't need to worry about that.

It's interesting how the rules change so much. We pay typically about .75 more than the regular but the no ethanol is only available in premium.

Moparpro is a great place to way overspend on parts. There is nothing special about him.

What is your altitude? The acceptable vacuum value drops as you go higher in altitude.

Well, in that case I will put together a kit and charge even more for it, I'll include bulbs, lol.

I put this radiator in my 51 Plymouth, it fit. It works. No on will confuse it for original, even if you paint it black like I did, Use your original cap, or one of similar pressure rating

My car had a bracket so i used it...right or wrong. A sponge will carry water to the top of it as well through capillary action.

You don't by chance happen to use SEAFOAM in your tank. It's commonly used as a fuel additive for cars in storage over winter and that stuff will creep uphill.

Okay, they must've changed it, thanks. Sorry for hijacking the thread. Now, let's find-out why Mark's carburetor is wetting itself 🥲 I am thinking that even if the alloy carb body became porous, somehow, (which is preposterous, in y opinion) the gas is still not expected to accumulate and puddle "upstream". The gravity does not quite work this way. A sponge drips from the bottom, it does not leak from the top. So I am thinking that there has to be a simpler explanation for the observed phenomena.

My personal preference is an additional .002 on intakes, additional .003 on exhaust when setting cold and book specs a hot setting.

Autoclave gauntlets would prevent burns

My 51's vacuum line is routed similarly, across the head, Ian has a 40? Odds are they changed it.

You can buy non-ethanol gas around here for your car. It's about a dollar a gallon more and it's 87 octane only, I don't care one way or the other, I drive it enough that I don't have to worry about the gas going bad on me.