Engine What’s that?

[PonyGTrider]

Hi all, can anyone guess what is this I found at the bottom of my 306 oil pan? It seems like a piece of lathe cutter but who knows…. And how it got there? The block was machined out about 16 - 17 years ago

 

[Noobz347]

It looks like what is left of a woodruff key.

Is it ferrous? Will it stick to a magnet?

 

[PonyGTrider]

It looks like what is left of a woodruff key.

Is it ferrous? Will it stick to a magnet?

It is not a woodruff key. It is carbide but what is it doing in there?

 

[DadLife0724]

This has me curious, i thought woodruff key also, but you don't seem to think so. I asked Google out of curiosity, got a bunch of stangnet posts, but it gave me this too......

 

[PonyGTrider]

This has me curious, i thought woodruff key also, but you don't seem to think so. I asked Google out of curiosity, got a bunch of stangnet posts, but it gave me this too......

That definitely is not a woodruff key, it is a completely hardened material and looks extremely brittle like carbide. I don’t see it as apart of the engine, my timing set is a Cloyes kit has nothing like that. My oil pump failed sometime ago causing some scratches two on the crank so I took it to the shop to be polished, installed a new oil pump and reassembled everything and that piece wasn’t there. I don’t think I saw anything like that inside an oil pump, or is it???