PART ID HELP!!! found UFO [Unidentified Found Object]

[2 Fast 4 U]

This is what I found lying on the bottom in the valve compartment intake/exhaust side between the 3rd & 4th cylinder, when I wanted to adjust the valves
I've looked every where but can't see where it's from .
Does anybody have an idea what it is and where it came from?????
Lucky it stayed in that spot, I don't want to think what could have happened if it fell down some where

[guyopel]

Need Photos !!

[yellaopelgt]

It certainly doesnt look like any internal engine piece I've ever seen. Maybe a piece from the carb or linkage? Have you removed the carb recently, could have fallen down into the intake at that time? Or...possibly a part from a tool that was accidentlly dropped during a routine expidition? You are very lucky it doesnt show signs of being chewed up, that would have been costly!! This kind of reminds me of the days when I ran a solex, every time I'd dig into that thing there would be new parts sitting in the bowl!
Joe

[2 Fast 4 U]

That is the funny part of it I haven't been working on the engine or anything else since the last time I adjusted the valves, and I can't recall seeing it there the last time.
And the measurements I took are rather funny, it doesn't seem to be a metric size M4 or M4.5 do not have those diameters

[Phoenix]

Does it have a philips head?

[rowdygt]

Are All The Oil Galley Plugs In Place? Perhaps Modified To Accept A Screw At Some Point?

[2 Fast 4 U]

Originally Posted by Phoenix Does it have a philips head?

no, not one kind of grove to turn it, it has some locking groves just under the head, as you can see in the photo's

[GTJIM]

That bolt is a high-end of maket, specialised fastener ... so probably does not belong to an Opel ...

It looks like it is designed to press into a hole and be prevented from rotating by the engagement of the knurled splines under the head ... maybe so the nut can be tightened without the bolt turning.

At 4.30mm (0.169") it is certainly 'non-standard' as it also falls in between inch sizes ... 3/16" (0.1875") and 5/32" (0.15625") ... so it is a very unusual bolt.

Somewhere, there is a red faced mechanic still looking for it!

[jeff denton]

The closest thing to a logical guess I can come up with is, maybe it was part of an oil breather/cap that came loose, and made it through the valve cover baffle and landed where you found it.
Other than that it got there by means of mischief. Funny things happen...

[opelwasp]

Just be glad it didn't completely destroy your engine.

About 10 years ago when I got my 1st Opel, the illustrious OpelWasp, I had the engine rebuilt by a local shop. I had said shop do the "works" on it, long block style. OK, 4 weeks later and my wallet $2700 lighter, I get the engine back and put it in. Three days later, I think what the hell, I'll drive it to the Bay Area to my in-laws with the wife and baby (I installed a seatbelt in the rear to strap the kiddie seat to). I get almost the whole way there and on the Martinez Toll Bridge the motor lets go. End up getting pushed off the freeway and have to get towed to the in-laws. Cost me $300 in towing fees to get it there and then back home 2 hours away.
Come to find out the shop used a Torq bit to install the cam bolts, stripped them out and never achieved proper torque. The bolts worked themselves loose at about 3500 RPM and the brand new timing chain snapped. Two bolts stayed in the cam and one fell into the timing cover then the oil pan.
I take it back to the shop and I am pissed. They repair the engine and tell me to get screwed about the towing charges. The big kicker is when years later when I decide to rebuild the engine myself, what do I find in the oil pan? The freaking chewed up cam bolt! Now I trash that shop whenever anyone asks about them or where to get any motor work done.

[sbarc]

It looks like a part from a tool....such as an adjustable wrench or something like that. But this is just my first impression guess.

Steve B

[Mike Preble]

I am thinking along the same line as you, Steve. Looks like the pivot pin on something like a vice grips or like that.

Mike

[baz]

only screw or bolt on vice grips is the adjuster so that would be one small set of vice grips

whats above where you found it in the cover erick , is there anything up there it could have come from ? (filter for oil scrubber in cover !!)

do you have any feeler gauge sets with a missing bolt /rivet at one end missing from last time you did the valves ?? it looks awful like the end pivot bolt from "snap on" hex key sets or feeler gauge set

[jeff denton]

Ahh, there you go, baz, that's what it is, from the feeler gage set!
Where's the nut that fell off first?
Look around under the cam. There's more UA (Navy term meaning, among other things, Unauthorized Article) in there.

[namba209]

Originally Posted by jeff denton Ahh, there you go, baz, that's what it is, from the feeler gage set! Where's the nut that fell off first? Look around under the cam. There's more UA (Navy term meaning, among other things, Unauthorized Article) in there.

If I coulld have equated the metric system to the length/diamter of the screw/bolt with the very coarse threads, yeah, I could've figured that out, sure.

I thought UA was the same as AWOL, after all my years as a legal officer for the Navy. Oh well. USAF terminology for that bolt/screw would be FO as in Foreign Object.

[jeff denton]

Yes Ron, UA most commonly meant Unauthorized Absence, but in the Engineering Department aboard ship (fancy term for us enginemen, boilermen, bilge rats) UA also was a noun, it meant unauthorized article, such as improper tool or part being used to icky-rig something. Also for something that was in the engineroom that wasn't allowed, such as food. Or forbidden things like unapproved electrical appliances especially boomboxes in certain spaces.
Funny how things drilled into a young mind almost thirty years ago cannot be erased...

[namba209]

Originally Posted by jeff denton Funny how things drilled into a young mind almost thirty years ago cannot be erased...

Much longer ago on that for me, Jeff. Dumb things, like using the TO, Technical Order, otherwise know as the maintenance manual. Doing it by the book, using torque wrenches, safety first, and all those other nusances that made you do things the right way, the first time. And heaven help you if you were caught not doing it IAW, "In Accordance With". I think we've kinda sorta stayed on topic, using the acronyms, similar to the original thread subject line.

[2 Fast 4 U]

Originally Posted by GTJIM It looks like it is designed to press into a hole and be prevented from rotating by the engagement of the knurled splines under the head ... maybe so the nut can be tightened without the bolt turning.

That it is, there is no way to turn in to something, it has to be ticked into a hole, that is the way it stays put, so you can tighten a nut without the screw/bolt turning.
I looked at a spare valve cover I have, there is nothing remotely looking like that screw/bolt in there also looked at all my tools nothing missing there either.
I think I'm very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very lucky it was in that spot and didn't move else where