Unidentified Rubber Part in Oil Pan??

["John Dohrmann" <jdohrmann@domain.elided>]

It's me again.  the '86 Spider with the bad distributor and oil pump.  When
I dumped the last bit of oil from the lower oil pan to clean it, I found a
piece of hard rubber.  It is black and 55 mm long.  It's cross section is a
rectangle 19mm wide by 8 mm tall with a 7mm X 6mm rectangle centered on top.
It looks like a piece of wood trim, except that it is a hard rubber and I
found it in my engine.

At first I thought it might be some kind of chain guide but it could also be
a seal of some sort.  The 7X6 mm strip on the top could go in a groove?    I
of course would like to know if it is supposed to be up in the engine
somewhere doing important engine stuff!

Here is my poor attempt to draw in email.  From the side it is just
straight.  With a fair amount of force I can bent it 1/8" on each end.

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John D

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