I knew better but was in a hurry.

I start my emergency truck, a 66 F250 with a 352 every week. This week, the fuel pump filter and the carb was empty due to running it out of gas the prior week.

I removed the air filter and primed the carb with a little gas and it fired up and I fed it using a ketchup bottle filled with gas until the fuel pump supplied the carb. When that finally happened, it flooded big time and shut down the engine. Gas had come out the vents on top of the carb for a second before the float shut off the gas properly.

For a moment, I considered doing it right....... pull the coil wire, pull the plugs and rotate the engine to ventilate the cyclinders. This is exactly what I have done several times in life when I have seriously flooded an engine.

Anyway, I got into the truck and floored the pedal and intended to just jog the engine over. As soon as I hit the starter, it fired and backfired really bad, then ran with a terrible rattle.

I located the rattle to be on both sides, inside the rocker arm cover and knew I had bent at least 2 push rods.

I was lucky that was all that was broke, after replacing the rods, it purrs like a tiger again.

 

OUCH.
That's too bad

 

One reason I still work on these old rust buckets is I believe in reincarnation and the cycle of karma. Apparently working on these old trucks is a way to cleanse some bad karma left over from previous lives. It is either that or everything gets worn out after 50 or so years. I have noticed things like the bent push rods wears on my sense of humor more than most failed parts.