Mystery piece ID and general advice needed.

[misak1914]

Greetings all,

I have an 84' Bronco II with a 2.8L engine. I decided to pull the engine and among other things replace the oil pan gasket. During this process, I found a piece of a gear in the oil pan. The gear is non metalic and I can not see where this would have come from. I am assuming it may be a piece of the timing chain assembly. Can someone tell me what this went to?

Also, I pulled the intake manifold and cleaned this area. Here's my question: The intake manifold gasket is in three sections. I'm assuming I can discard the middle section. Is this true? Lastly, can someone offer advise on how to properly seal the intake manifold when I put it back together?

Thanks.

[UndeadBronco]

Could you get a picture of the mystery piece? Are you going to replace the oil pump while you got the pan off, might as well since you in there already? The piece could be a part of the oil pump shaft retainer. Even if your not going to replace the pump you can easily pull it off to have a look at the retainer and then put it back on without having to buy anything.

[drofman]

It’s probably from an old timing gear that came apart (stock was fiber). As for the middle gasket, why leave it out? It’s there for a reason. When you put the intake on, put a dab of silicone on the 4 corners (at head and block where they meet) and tighten from the middle out in a circular pattern then do it again. also, when you put your valve cover on, put a dab of silicone where the intake and head meet. oil pump retainer? haven't seen one that look like a gear unless it's a very small gear. just messing with you misak

[misak1914]

Thanks for the info. I didn't include the picture before because I was having issues with resizing it for the site and I was pressed for time. But here it is. Since this is made of a non-metallic material, could this be from the original timing gear?

[drofman]

yep

[RakerBill60]

That does look like a piece of the timing gear.
In my experience of sealing intake manifolds, I never use the front and rear gaskets. I put a bead of high temp silicone across the block from head to head. Not too thick as it could squeeze out, and get into the oil pump strainer. I put down a bead just a little thicker than the gasket itself, and let it set up for a bit before putting the manifold back on.
That way if you accidentally move the manifold as I have in the past, it won't knock the gasket off and be prone to leaking.
Hope this helps ya.