Found this in my oil pan

[blykins]

The strips look like they have formed a tube at some point....is that the way you see it? And the tube looks to be ~1/8" in diameter????

I can't think of anything that it would be. If it's got good oil pressure, breathers aren't pushing smoke out (I've seen some engines with bearing issues push smoke out, not from blow-by but from heat), and there wasn't flakes in the pleats of the filter, then I'd drive it for a bit and recheck it.

[dcdoug]

Originally Posted by blykins

The strips look like they have formed a tube at some point....is that the way you see it? And the tube looks to be ~1/8" in diameter????

I can't think of anything that it would be. If it's got good oil pressure, breathers aren't pushing smoke out (I've seen some engines with bearing issues push smoke out, not from blow-by but from heat), and there wasn't flakes in the pleats of the filter, then I'd drive it for a bit and recheck it.

Either a tube (could be wider diameter than 1/8" potentially - hard to tell from the pieces) or maybe some sort of "shaving" that ended up with a but of a curve to it?

I only have a breather on the oil fill tube (closed valve covers and road draft tube off oil vapor separator tank). I haven't noticed any smoke from it, but will check again if I end up checking the main bearings/thrust bearing.

I'm sort of leaning towards doing that and then driving it for 50 miles or so then checking the pan and filter again.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by dcdoug

I'm sort of leaning towards doing that and then driving it for 50 miles or so then checking the pan and filter again.

... and remember, the harder you thrash it, the greater your sense of comfort will be when you don't put a window in through the side of the block.

[dcdoug]

Originally Posted by patrickt

... and remember, the harder you thrash it, the greater your sense of comfort will be when you don't put a window in through the side of the block.

Will not be driven hard IF I inspect the bearings and then give this a try. I'll probably send the oil in for analysis too. I should of done all of this last Oct...lesson learned.

Or I could just drive it 500 miles to Lykins Motorsport in Kentucky

[RodKnock]

Originally Posted by dcdoug

Will not be driven hard IF I inspect the bearings and then give this a try. I'll probably send the oil in for analysis too. I should of done all of this last Oct...lesson learned.

Or I could just drive it 500 miles to Lykins Motorsport in Kentucky

I'm no expert, but I assume something will go wrong at idle almost as much as DumbDumb's comment of 6,000 RPM. You seem to know what you're doing. Follow the advice of checking everything you can, both under the valve cover and with the oil pan removed. And as Brent said, assuming all looks good and tight, change the oil and filter and drive it. Slowly at first and as your confidence grows after a whole lot of miles, then increase the RPMs.

Hopefully, everything is OK and the known remains an unknown. Or as Patrick's idol once said:

"As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know."

I think these particles in the oil were "unknown unknowns" and now are "known unknowns."