Found the piece I'll post a pic in a bit. It found a nice corner to rest had i left it.

However I broke a head bolt...

 

Uh... head bolt or valve cover bolt?

 

Valve cover bolt. A fastener I think is the correct term? Phone is charging waiting to reboot. Pics will be inbound

 

First Pic is the piece after I pulled it out. It was right in the corner buried where the oil cap is.. I didn't take a picture of it opened up. But I think it would have been fine living wedged where it was the rest of its life. However, im happy it is out as you can see its quite large. 40 caliber bullet for reference, it's pretty much the entire cap seal.

The other pics are of the broken fastener bolt. Now the car is down for a while but I'm happy the initial and hidden problem is solved. A broken bolt is visible and won't keep me up at night wondering what could happen.

 

Cool! Replacing the valve cover bolt is much less headache, than finding a loose foil in the crank area.

 

As cool as a broken bolt can be I guess haha

 

This chart may help from snapping bolts in the future. The valve cover is held by 6 x 12 bolts. 6mm in diameter and prolly no greater than Class 8.8. So per chart, I wouldn't go above 8 ft-lbs of torque --- with a clean & un-stretched bolt into a clean nut or threaded surface.

http://www.fastenal.com/content/feds...0Fasteners.pdf

 

Nice chart

I'm going to replace that whole assembly rather than use a drill & tap.
Getting the oem torque spec for the flute/bolt piece on Tuesday when I can go get the two pieces.