I did the same thing of my 84 spider. Took me 3 hours to fish it out. I used a piece of a fridge magnet. wrapped the magnet with a bread twist wire onto a piece of coat hanger. It was wedged by the oil pump gear. Good luck.
And how long would it have taken to just unbolt the oil pan, extract the piece, and reinstall the oil pan? I'm going to guess 30 minutes if you do everything carefully.I did the same thing of my 84 spider. Took me 3 hours to fish it out.
Oh, how many times have I said the same thing in my short relationship with Alfa's!It was the last step......that so far has gone well ... and then I did it
I did do it carefully, and it took longer than 30 minutes -- but this was a good prompting. I already knew I'd likely have to drop the pan. However, a guy really hates to undo work -- especially when it could mean ordering a new gasket. I lucked out on the gasket. It stayed in decent shape after the pan came off ... and there it was, way down in the bottom of the engine -- the little wayward "fish."And how long would it have taken to just unbolt the oil pan, extract the piece, and reinstall the oil pan? I'm going to guess 30 minutes if you do everything carefully.
In the future, you could install the chain and time the cams before installing the pan - that way, if there's an accident, it's easy to remedy.