Morris Minor Owners Club

A friend of mine, certainly not me, managed to drop the rocker cover bolt and washer down the back of the engine. He, not me, has found the bolt, but the washer is nowhere to be found. What I suspect is it's fallen down the hole on the top of the clutch housing.
My question is, do we (by that I mean him, not me) need to strip it down to retrieve the washer, or is it safe to run with potentially an inch wide washer rattling around in there?
If it does need to be retrieved does anyone have a miracle way of getting it out of there?

It MAY not have fallen in, but I figured it was a question worth asking.

Thanks in advance (from him)

Russ

Take the blanking plug out of the L/H drive clutch release lever aperture and with a small flexible mirror see if the washer is in the bottom of the bell housing. If it is get a piece of welding wire and worm/drag the washer back towards the aperture and with a flexible magnet pick it up and retrieve.
The top blanking grommet in the bell housing does serve a purpose.
Tell your friend to be more careful next time
Phil

Well, my mate reckons your mate must not run the engine until the washer is found. If it has gone inside somewhere it don't belong the damage caused might not be welcome. You, I mean you mate could try turning the engine over by hand slowly to see if the errant part is where you, I mean your mate thinks it might be but it might not have got to a place of destruction yet until you or your mate runs the engine and then it's a bit late. Unless you can find it it looks like engine out I'm afraid but do have a good look first

Phil
My friend's very grateful (and so am I).
Many thanks indeed

Russ

Thank you both for your thoughts.
I certainly will not run it until my friend is happy it's not where it shouldn't be.

Russ (and soon to be ex-friend*)


* unless he finds that washer

If you see it but can't catch it - use a hole saw to make a hole (obviously... ) in the base of the bellhousing to make retrieval easier. If you can't see it - stop worrying about it - it's a thin washer and even if caught up by the flywheel it won't last long in there!

Washer successfully retrieved. It hadn't made it down to the bottom of the housing, so I'm glad I didn't ignore it.