The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop what about a bore endoscope to inspect cylinder for debris?

Just a thought.

The scope hotrodlincoln recommended is what you want, which is what I think you are describing. With a set screw of that size (read small, narrow and likely hardened), floating around, you could easily put a hole in the piston if it gets compressed just right.

The Bore Scope I bought to find a bolt dropped into the intake on my '48 Suburban 350 V8, will fit into a plug hole. It has a bright LED light and a mirror attachment. It also has a magnet to retrieve wayward objects. I think it was $29 shipped. Saved my bacon and well worth the $. There was a warning included in the box, "Not for use as a Medical Device". Why would they put that in there? My guess is someone did it with not so good results.

I use mine regularly, and it is a very handy item. Actually, I have two of them, but the one I bought at Harbor Freight has such a large probe that it won't fit into a spark plug hole. I use it for external inspection of hard to see areas. It has a built-in screen, however, and doesn't require the use of a laptop to get a picture.
Jerry

Amazone and Harbor Fright have several low end borescope / endoscopes that are semi-useful to check engine internal conditions and lost parts.
One of the cheapest is about 16$ , and it is small 5.5mm w/6 little led lights USB and says waterproof . (search amazon for : GCA 5.5mm Diameter USB Waterproof 6 Led Endoscope ....etc) There are some little 7mm endoscopes for 13.73$ , and I think there are some smaller ones in the 2mm size. They are cheap , fun, not professional quality.

The cheaper borescopes NEED some way to view their little camera so you MUST connect their long cable to a some sort of laptop/notebook/smartphone to view the picture. Their little LED lights aren't too bright, but OK if you know what your looking for.

The next jump up increase in price is the "wireless" endoscope , borescope, snake camera that connects to a smartphone or computer /viewer easier and has a more rigid bendable cable (versus looses wire cable). They start in the 30-40$ price range. They often have more LED lights to see with.

Then there is the Harbor Fright Digital Inspection Camera style (about 74$ retail ) that has a built in viewer in a pistol grip style.

There are many many many other makes of various quality and prices as the electronics for them little cameras have gotten very inexpensive in the last 3 years..

Finally, a lot of the bore-scope, endoscope, snake cameras have little mirrors or magnets that attach to the camera end to give you another side viewing angle or ability to grab iron bits ... BUT watch that you attach them firmly (even Elmers glue them on) cause if that mirror/magnet catches on something and falls off ; then you have another thing to worry about.

Here's the one I bought (actually, two - one for me and one for son-in-law).
Wireless endoscope
It works under gasoline (used mine to inspect the fuel pickup in my boat when I had a problem with it). You can use your iphone to take a video which works better than still pics as the wire th camera is on is hard to hold still if extended very far. The camera is pretty small and would easily fit into a spark plug hole.
Would work pretty well to look into a cylinder, IMO.

or you could pickup one of the olympus versions like we have at work for a mere $25,000

I saw this advertised on TV last night:
Lizard Cam

Interesting that they say $39.95, with the standard "but wait, buy another and get XXXX free" and the default is with the extra 2 feet of cable and the two-fer, for the low, low price of $95.95.

Just the one with 4' cable for $40 isn't a bad deal, as it's a standalone product. No need for a cell phone or laptop to hook up to it wirelessly.

The truck was towed in a few hours ago and there are shiny pieces in the cylinder, I told them I was not any hurry to know.