- Garage 54 handles the wacky experiments that you rarely want to see happen to your own project cars.
- This video shows exactly how much damage can happen when you accidentally drop something inside of an engine.
- Garage 54 takes the engine apart after running it with debris to see how much damage everything caused.
If you’ve ever worked on an engine with the carburetor or throttle body uncovered, the intake manifold off, or a cylinder head open, you’ve likely been terrified of accidentally dropping, or leaving, a chunk of metal where it doesn’t belong. Well, that fear is reasonable because leaving any extra parts or pieces inside of an engine will cause catastrophic damage. Don’t believe me? The folks at Garage 54 put this theory to the test by adding some ball bearings to the cylinder of an engine. Spoiler: It goes exactly like you’d think it would go.
Putting a ball bearing inside of an engine will obviously cause damage. What’s surprising about this odd experiment is that it shows just how much damage a small piece of steel can cause as it bounces around inside of an engine’s cylinder. It also shows how engine shrapnel will sometimes jump around between cylinders, despite initially only causing damage to one cylinder.
Making sure to fully demolish this engine, the team at Garage 54 throws multiple ball bearings, fasteners, and pieces of spark plug into a cylinder. It should nearly go without saying that this combination of engine additives didn’t do this four-cylinder any favors. Though, you’ll have to watch the video above to see what kind of damage that chaotic cocktail causes.
Have you ever accidentally dropped a fastener inside of an engine? Tell us about it below.
