August 3, 2026

Tonight I felt like I scored the winning touchdown in the Tri-Five Chevy Superbowl!

Last night I ordered an endoscope thingie that connects to my phone. My hope was to use it to locate where the missing hold-down stud went that I dropped down the oil return hole on the head of my 350 SBC in my 55 Chevy wagon.

The unit arrived before lunch — as promised — and after lunch I had the unit hooked to my phone and in the garage with it. Can’t say enough good things about the endoscope — it was exactly what I needed.

Its little camera features a series of LED lights that let you actually see what it was seeing in high resolution. I pushed the business end of the scope into the oil return hole and immediately saw the two pushrods that connect between the rocker arm and the hydraulic lifter in the bottom of the valley. And yes, right there — to the right of the pair of lifters — sat the missing stud, just sitting there. Damn, so close but yet so far!

I spent time then trying to determine the best way I could attempt to retrieve the stud. Unfortunately, the stud was not located directly below the oil return hole — was on the right side of the righthand lifter, laying flat.

How about a magnet? That oughta do it, right?

I took a small magnet that had a screw-in hook, removed the hook, and threaded into the hole a insulated piece of 14 gauge copper house wiring. The fit was really good, the magnet was secure. So fishing I went — blindly, because I couldn’t get both the magnet and the camera in the same hole.

Without the camera, I could holy guess if the magnet was anywhere near the stud. It appearnely was never close. I pulled the magnet out and checked the stud’s location with the camera. No change.

I found a few rare earth magnets, and took one of those and taped it to the camera. Now I should be able to see where I was going. Turned out the problem wasn’t seeing, it was navigating the camera with the rare earth magnet, which was attaching itself to every piece of engine as I probed the darkness trying to see the threaded stud.

When I decided to withdraw the camera, the magnet fastened itself to the side of the oil return hole; to retrieve the camera, I had to leave the rare earth magnet behind. I wasn’t happy about that, but given how securely stuck the magnet was, I’m not worried that the magnet will ever wind up somewhere it shouldn’t.

I returned to my chair to review the situation. While perusing the manual, I discovered that the camera came with several special-use tips. For example, one tip had a tine mirror; another had a simple wire probe; another had a hook at the end of its wire probe. The last one caught my eye — it featured a magnet, small but powerful, though less powerful than the rare-earth magnet.

Hmmmm .. . .. .. .

I attached the tip and went fishing once again. This time, the magnet was front and center, and I had a great view of the lifter valley and there sat the threaded stud. The first time I approached it, the magnet grabbed the stud; it fell off before I got it up very high. The second time, the magnet caught the end of the stud, and it came out lengthwise rather than crosswise, which allowed it to clear the oil drain hole with ease!

Hot damn!!

I had been preparing to remove the intake, and had just unbolted the carb. I reversed that operation and celebrated my good fortune. Now as long as I don’t drop a stud in the oil return hole on the other side, I think I’ll be good!

I’m going to shoot a video review of the endoscope and sing its praises. That may not happen until after the Tri-Five Nationals, however!

Tomorrow I have a fiscal court meeting to cover, then I’ll come home and get the top of the motor replumbed. If I can this week I would still like to have the oil changed.

TRI-FIVE PREP CONTINUES. My new scissors lift jack arrived today. This jack can raise a vehicle 24 inches, which is about the highest lift of a scissors jack I’ve seen. I also have a new tire inflator coming and two new Vevor jack stands.

I would prefer aluminum jack stands simply to cut down on weight. The scissors jack collapsed is only 4 inches tall and weighs just 13 pounds. I thought the jack would fit in my largest new tool bag, but its like 3 or 4 inches too long. I’ll need to find another bag or something for it.

Speaking of spare tires, I have and old steel rim and tire I used on my original 55 Chevy as a spare. I’m thinking of using it as a spare, though the spare tire well is fairly small. I might be able to deflate the tire enough to get it to fit. I would ike to stow the scissors jack in the spare tire well too if possible.

I would like to find a compact spare tire for the Chevy, though that might be a touch order with just a week left before the Tri-Five Nationals.

At this point, I don’t think I’m going to worry about removing the lowering blocks. I’ll check the weather forecast this week. Would still like to do that to see if it’ll give us some extra clearance.

TRI-FIVE NATS – YES OR NO? I’m waiting to see what the weather forecast looks like, though the final decision won’t come until next Tuesday or so. If the weather holds out, we’ll do it. The long range forecast looks great for the week after Tri-Five (naturally!).

My son wants to go even if we cancel the Tri-Five Nats. I don’t blame him, but not sure what all we would do in town … of course, I haven’t really looked for things to do in Bowling Green before.

I have a decision to make. If the weather and time works out, I’ll try to get the lowering blocks removed — even if it looks like rain.

After seeing how low the headers are hanging below the frame rails, I think I’m going to have to consider either ram’s horn exhausts manifolds or a pair of shorty headers. But that’s down the road.