Bad to worse: dropped something in lifter valley

Fishfan

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I removed the intake manifold to change the gaskets (I have another thread about coolant in my oil after manifold swap on my 318 Poly). I was scraping some of the sealant off the head with my cheap hobo freight scraper (see picture) when I dropped the plastic cap/cover down the lifter valley. Initially I could see it. I tried retrieving it gingerly with some forceps and of course I dislodged to some place I can't see or access. Any advice? Where will it end up if I do nothing? Oil pan? Mangled by the crankshaft?

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Sounds like it's time to drop the oil pan to see if you can get to it from the bottom (and hope it's already in the oil pan).
 
The plus side of things is that is might not hurt to drop the pan and clean it out anyway. Then you know it's clean and has a new gasket on it, too. Check the FSM for the procedure to do it with the engine still in the car.

Your judgment call,
CBODY67
 
I removed the intake manifold to change the gaskets (I have another thread about coolant in my oil after manifold swap on my 318 Poly). I was scraping some of the sealant off the head with my cheap hobo freight scraper (see picture) when I dropped the plastic cap/cover down the lifter valley. Initially I could see it. I tried retrieving it gingerly with some forceps and of course I dislodged to some place I can't see or access. Any advice? Where will it end up if I do nothing? Oil pan? Mangled by the crankshaft?

View attachment 560780
Well that sucks. I'd finish the intake and then do the oil pan and pickup.

The same thing happened to me with a 1973 360. I put a crane/cherry picker on the front of the engine. I removed the two motor mount bolts at the stub frame. I removed the oil pan. I found the fallen item. I also saw that the oil pan pickup screen was 3/4 clogged. Cleaned that out on the bench. Reinstalled pump and pickup. I ended up glad for my mistake.
 
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