I bought a 66 GTO convertible from a buddy years ago. He was doing a tune up and had lost the wing nut from the top of the aircleaner stud and was using a square hardware store 1/4 x 20 nut. He was screwing the nut on the carb without the aircleaner in place to just store it there temporarily, and he dropped it into the quadrajet. The motor was running at the time!

I got it at a bargain basement price because he thought the motor was blown . It was smoking like mad and barely ran after the nut got down in there. When I pulled one head there was a perfectly square hole punched in the top of one piston, all the way through. I bought one more piston and had it back on the road in a weekend. For a while I saved that piston as a conversation piece.

I think when you are done with this seasons racing you should pull both heads and inspect every nook and cranny because chances are that piece is stuck somewhere and might come dislodged at the worst time.

Don