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Dropped the oil pan on the 327 in the '51 300.
This was embedded in the sludge at the bottom.

Anyone know what this is?

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At first I thought it was a fragment from valve keeper that were commonly dropped into the pan by fat-fingered grease monkeys. But they don't look like the ones I found in my pan.

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It's difficult to gauge the size, but are you missing the splash guard from the bottom of your oil filler tube?

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with JD, looks like the metal flap at the bottom of the filler tube.

At first I thought it was a fragment from valve keeper that were commonly dropped into the pan by fat-fingered grease monkeys. But they don't look like the ones I found in my pan.

You don't have to be "fat fingered" to drop one or more, many of us (myself included) have done it, especially on the two center valves on an engine with the 4-bbl carburetor - pretty close quarters in there if you're doing it with the manifolds mounted.

Good lesson for folks contemplating their first valve job with the oil pan still installed - use small corks or rags to plug the oil return holes so you can't loose them into the pan. Also installing the springs/keepers on the two extreme end and center valves first gives you a bit more room to work.

Sure looks like JD in KC has identified the item in the crankcase. Not certain but I'd bet that if you mount the tube 180 degrees turned from the way it should be, you could run into clearance problems with a crank counterweight which could have broken it off.

IT strikes me as odd that the flapper is hanging OUTside of the tube! Should it not be to the INside of the tube????

If it was originaly designed to go outside then i think it would be prudent modification to bend it to the INside of the tube even if it required some trimming of the flapper.

Mite make adding oil to engine a bit slow but much safer to avoid breakage of the flapper.

If designed by the factory to hang OUTside then it was a very poor eng'ring decision.

It looks to me like one of those little lids that you lift to add a drop of oil to the generator bearings.

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The filler tube on my '41 is mounted backwards. I just noticed it yesterday. I will be dropping the pan later this spring and we'll see...

On models where the oil filler cap is indexed to the tube and uses the cap with the fresh air inlet slot, mounting it backwards really inhibits the action of the crankcase ventilation system - not good for the engine in the long run.

UPDATE: Though it's incorrect on this 23rd series Custom 8, the air draft tube shows why the cap slot is intended to face forward. It (draft tube) was added 41 thru 47 (seniors only) to insure air flow thru the crankcase ventilation system even while the car was idling. It was added shortly after the 356 engine came out in 1940 when evidence showed the short oil fill tube, blocked by the oil filter, inhibited crankcase ventilation. Longer fill tube, new cap, and draft tube was a running change. It was not used after the 21st series.

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I agree with the item being the flap at the end of the filler tube. Let me know if you need another tube - I have a spare on the shelf.