What's all this junk in my oil sump?

[Jon Pike <jhpike@domain.elided>]

Well,  as I mentioned in another post,  I've pulled my lower sump,  to 
see what I would see.. (and clean it out)

Part of my continuing "find as much out about this motor as I can,  
before I invest in tearing it down" adventure,  I drained and pulled the 
sump..  and found about a half tablespoon of hard black bits,  that seem 
to be the excessively applied gasket sealer..  only a moderate amount of 
sludge.. really not all that bad, considering how poorly the engine 
seemed to be maintained before I got it.

Luckily,  no crank plugs,  or journal nuts..  
There was a fair amount of reddish orange rubbery bits,  some kind of 
silicone gasket sealer?  Most of those were halfway thru the oil pump 
pickup screen..

There were other things there as well.. some pieces that seemed to be 
hard black plastic,  with smooth surfaces,  (possibly some kind of seal 
backing?)  some black coal like bits, (really baked plastic?) one about 
a half inch by one quarter..  slightly magnetic (?! possibly with a tiny 
ferrous piece embedded in the plastic piece?)  some small magnetic black 
bits..  and some shiny flakes  (biggest about 1/4") that would bend 
easily and scratch with a fingernail,  non magnetic..  that have to be 
bearing materiel.. (!!!)  
How bad is finding some bearing materiel in the sump?  Even just a 
couple of pieces just a few mm thick and long like mine?

And the final mystery:   a twisted little piece of thin metal sheet 
about 1/4" across, shiny,  that is highly magnetic, and has orange color 
on the back side,  with clear green dye spelling  "SOL" which probably 
describes my current state..  There is a vertical bar after the L, which 
could be an I, part of an E or several other letters.. and the SOL might 
be in the middle of a word.

Any ideas?  Name printed on back of a bearing?  Some other fragmented, 
but extremely critical part?
Some part of the Spica that got flushed thru when I did the DiMatteo 
flush the other night?

Somebody put my overactive imagination to rest..  or something...  ;-)

Jon

77 Spider  ("Xrays revealed Angilina has been eating strange things again")
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