Huge cockroach in the head/valve train

[eddytheexpy]

Ok so I got a weird one. While I was compressing a valve spring to install a roller follower, a flying cockroach bounced off my head and landed in the valve train. I went to grab it and it dove deeper into the head up in the front by cylinder 5. I was out there for another 30 minutes and didn’t see it crawl out or leave but I had to call it a night. That thing was like 2 inches long. If that ************* sets up shop in there and doesn’t leave, what are the odds that it causes a problem if I just finish the job with it in there?

Can anyone point me to a cutaway drawing or some kind of diagram of the head? The roach ran into the passage between the head bolt and the forward intake valve on cylinder 5 (noted in the picture) and I want to see where that goes.

 

[JamaicaJoe]

You can't suck it out with a shop vacuum???

 

[rwmorrisonjr]

It'll get ground up when you start the engine if it's still in there. Odds are that its already crawled out.

 

[BlackCoffee]

Do you have shop air? You can blow it out. At any rate, a little protein for the engine is what built the muscle cars.

 

[JamaicaJoe]

Just hope it doesn't get trapped under the oil pickup strainer.

 

[Doug Reed]

Look at he bright side. If you have bugs like that, you probably don't have rust on your Expy!

 

[eddytheexpy]

ha sorry, I forgot about making this post I was in just general freakout mode and dealing with that timing job that just took wayyyyyyy too long. I wasn't planning on it being 100-110 daily in October here in phoenix so I was only able to do a few hours of work a day from like 9PM-11PM. so I didn't want to blow air in there because of the possible debris situation (dusty as hell out here in desert, I was throwing a plastic tarp over the engine when I wasn't working on it because of that) and for some reason I didn't think of a shop vac. about 30 minutes after I posted that picture which was already the next day I decided to see where that little pocket goes because I found an oil passage diagram and it didn't really capture that part of the head. I took a long zip tie and probed it, turns out it's a weirdly shaped passage that just comes out the front of the right behind the timing chain. So that dude was probably gone before I had a chance to process the situation which explains why I never found it. so all is well!

as for the rust comment, you're 100% right! I live in phoenix and so has this vehicle for its entire life. I have it pretty easy when doing work on this thing, I couldn't find a spot of rust on this rig no matter how hard I look for it!