Well Today cruisin around and comin up to speed after a stop light... I hear a really loud ticking noise... Valve Lash! The worst ever! Well Come home pull the valve cover off and the one of the intake valve adjustment screw lock nut is missing with the screw backed out... well i am almost certain that nut went down into the oil pan it did not drain out either... so right now im screwed cuz i dont wanna drive it with a chunck of metal floatin around in there... any suggestions other than the obvious pull off the oil pan?

 

the safe way is to drop the oil pan, may find some other suprises in there, you never know. you could try to stick a magnet pen through the drain hole, i doubt it will work though. or get a piece of magnet, stick it on the oil pan and slide it around until you grab it and pull it through the drain. just trying to be creative like you said.

 

you can try going around with a telescopic magnet to pick it up, thats what i do in school when we working on a motor and some metal piece falls in.

 

is the bottom of the oil pain flat or is there different cavities in there that it can get stuck in? I can go pick up a magnet cuz that one i have would not fit through the drain hole.

 

i think the stock one is flat

 

Another question is where else could it have gone? The drains in the head all lead to the oil pan? Am I right?