Spare car...although I should get a spare motor.

__________________
I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him. -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer (1564-1642)

Ouch, I always dreaded that. I just looked at my spare 3.0 head just to see where the part might go. Look in the spark plug recesses - don't remove the plugs until you're sure it's not in there, for obvious reasons. Only other place it could go would be down the little oil drain holes near each exhaust valve spring. These are pretty straight, and it would probably drop right thru to the pan. but it might hang on an edge of the head gasket, might see it down in there if it did. Maybe run a small magnet down each hole, or even run a hose or something down each hole to be sure they are clear. if it got thru, then the odds are very very great it will fall to the bottom and cause no harm. As stated above, maybe turn the motor over by hand to be sure. I once dropped a small piece of plastic chain guide down in the motor, and 10 years later when I took the pan off, there it was right below the chain sitting on the pan, never even moved from where it landed. No worries.

DG

Thanks...its what I thought. From now on I will forever plug up the holes with lint free cloth as soon as I open the valve area.

__________________
I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him. -Galileo Galilei, physicist and astronomer (1564-1642)