Dropped Distributor spring

[RossM96]

Hi everyone, I dropped the distributor so we spring in the hole on the sidewall of the distributor drive shaft cylinder. I don’t believe it went straight down. Is there any way to possibly find the spring without disassembling the engine? Also where does the side hole go and is a loose spring an actual issue?

Thanks!
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1972 Baywindow
2000cc

[Glenn]

[RossM96]

Yes TYpe 4, sorry.
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1972 Baywindow
2000cc

[busdaddy]

Best not to leave it in there, the cam gear well is somewhat enclosed and may direct it into the gear. Time to go fishing with a magnet on a bendy stick, you may also reach it via the taco plate.
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[RossM96]

A magnet and wire have been what I’ve been trying,no luck so far but I’ll keep trying. What is the taco plate?
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1972 Baywindow
2000cc

[busdaddy]

~3" diameter disc on the bottom of the sump at the right rear, it's attached with 2 10mm headed bolts.
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Please don't PM technical questions, ask your problem in public so everyone can play along. If you think it's too stupid post it here
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[RossM96]

I Was looking at that. I’ll give it a try!
_________________
1972 Baywindow
2000cc

[busdaddy]

Drain the oil first
_________________
Rust NEVER sleeps and stock never goes out of style.

Please don't PM technical questions, ask your problem in public so everyone can play along. If you think it's too stupid post it here
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[RossM96]

No luck in the taco plate. I’m going to keep trying.
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1972 Baywindow
2000cc

[KentABQ]

Don't over torque the bolt installing the taco plate.
Only 9 ft-lb.
Or you'll be buying a new engine block.
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-Kent-
1976 Riviera, 1.8l FI chrome yellow VAN - "Chloe"

"I must say, how can you be in a bad mood driving this vehicle full of vibrant color.
Cars of today are so bland in comparison. It's like driving a celebration!" ---WildIdea

Bus ownership via emoticons:
---williamM

[busdaddy]

That applies to the strainer plate that's in the middle and further forward. The M6 bolts on the taco are 5' lb (60" lb).

Here's an idea of where you are exploring in case your X-ray vision is failing

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Rust NEVER sleeps and stock never goes out of style.

Please don't PM technical questions, ask your problem in public so everyone can play along. If you think it's too stupid post it here
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[RossM96]

Thanks for the specs, the bolts are back in now. No spring found.
_________________
1972 Baywindow
2000cc

[RossM96]

After about 8 hours of fishing through the hole, the taco plate, around the strainer, and the case relief plate (plug next to the oil filter, a bit bigger than a quarter), I still don’t have that spring. Is it possible to remove the oil pump without dropping the motor?

This spring is little and nothing like losing a washer in the case, is it certain death to my motor if it isn’t found/removed? I want to do it right, especially if it’s absolutely critical but the labor alone of splitting/rebuilding my case will be huge.

I’m being loaned some sort of borescope this week, maybe I’ll get lucky. I’ll be trying a smaller magnetic stick too.
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1972 Baywindow
2000cc

[RossM96]

Also for what it’s worth, this morning before round 2 of fishing I rotated the engine by hand one pulley revolution in each direction several times hoping to get the spring to fall off the cam gear and onto the sump plate if it were resting on the gear. No good there either, and no binding or indication of the spring being on the gear.

Are there resting places for the spring to be below the gears but above the sump?
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1972 Baywindow
2000cc

[curtp07]

Oh man! This has always been a fear of mine...hope you get it!
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Subaru

[SGKent]

time for a video camera with a small camera head.
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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[tommu]

Something like this might work:
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Industrial-Scientific-Endoscopes/zgbs/industrial/8297406011

There will be some useful pictures on this here forum, like this:

Do you have a compressor? If all else fails you could try blowing some air in there to move the spring. It's light and everything around the gears and case is so goopy it can hang out anywhere in the vicinity. you could always wash some oil down there in the hope it'll take the spring with it to the sump.

If the spring has reached the sump I'd expect it to get washed to the oil strainer. You could try filling that with oil too to see if it washes down?

You can, in theory, remove the pump without splitting the case. It might not want to move so be careful not to break an ear off it with a pry bar!

Good luck.

(Edit: better photo of Mr Kent's fine engine)
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[SGKent]

I haven't had the distributor out in awhile but I don't recall a relief where the spring can fall in, as long as the gear is in. Did this happen when the gear was out? Is it possible it went somewhere else?

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“Most people don’t know what they’re doing, and a lot of them are really good at it.” - George Carlin

[SGKent]

[RossM96]

Tommu, an air compressor and passing oil through are other things I tried, but no luck! Nice to know someone else is thinking of the same ideas though, thanks for offering advice! I’ll probably try again next weekend when I’m back with my bus, it’s all I can do until I give in and split the case.

SGKent, the hole would be in the 12 o’clock position on your distributor hole photo. The gear was in when I lost the spring. I was having trouble getting the distributor shaft to mate up with the drive gear so I used a magnet to lift the driveshaft and spring out of the motor to make sure it even fit my new distributor. I then put the shaft back in the hole, then was putting the spring back onto the driveshaft but it kept falling sideways. When I was trying to reorient it the spring went into the hole on the sidewall, about the size of a dime with its lower edge about flush with the top of the distributor drive shaft.
Thanks for your help!
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1972 Baywindow
2000cc