Reply to "Call for help 1 hour North of the SanFrancisco Bay Area (Santa Rosa)"

That piece could be from anywhere.

A magnet in the oil pan and one on the bottom of the oil filter would be a cheap solution.

Proportion is difficult to judge from the picture but it does resemble what the tip of the spurs on a gear sychro look like.

The distributor drive gear here is bronze, the roller camshafts are usually steel, but the timing gears are more often than not cast iron.

The tips of the timing gears are the only thing it resembles.

I would look at the distributor drive gears on the camshaft as well just to be safe.

It could be the tip of a tooth on the timing gear BUT you need to find out honestly if this engine had any broken parts in it that were replaced before you bought the car.

It COULD be a "crumb" from a shattered super hardened push rod. When they break, they shatter in pieces into the top of the cylinder head.

The spring rate needed for a mechanical roller camshaft almost guarantees there is that type of push rod in the engine.

When mine broke, it broke on both the rocker arm end and the lifter end. I was fortunate to get all of the pieces before something like this happened.

As I said, with an engine of this nature, it would be a very very good idea to epoxy screens over the drain back holes in the heads.

That will keep them from winding up in the oil pan quickly. You can't do anything about the push rod holes in the heads but that would drop into the lifter gallery so you need to screen those drain back holes too.

IF you are going to do that, get some help on it. You can do way more damage to the engine if one of those screens comes loose.

Epoxy is a ticklish thing long term in an engine.