Picked up a 56 F100 last year but haven't been able to work on the old girl as much as I would like to. Had to replace the wiring harness before I even thought about trying to start her up. Once that was done she fired right up and ran well considering she hadn't run for a number of years. Didn't get much opportunity to work on her this winter but when I did get a chance to fire her up again  I noticed a miss but didn't give it too much thought.
Warmed her up today and popped the valve covers off to set the valve lash and discovered the pushrod for #2 exhaust valve missing. This is my first Y block, so digging into the manual but thought I wold put it out here also.
Is it possible for the pushrod to drop into the valley between the heads or even into the oil pan ? Broken pushrod ?
What would be the best course of action- pull the intake and valley cover or the oil pan ? Ran a magnet down the lifter hole but didn't snag anything.
Researching this further as I post this but thought everyone else's' greater knowledge could give me some suggestions as to my next actions'
Thanks guys
Russ

If it did end up in the Valley it won't hurt anything. The only way to find out is take the Intake off and see if that's where it went.. Not unusual to find One when tearing down an old Y Block. 

  

Your not the first one this happened to. Check the valve and make sure it moves free, a hammer will do then use a pry bar by moving over the rocker arm if you can. Make sure the rocker moves freely too. My push rod wasn't even bent.
Good luck...

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.