Dropped a valve shim down the engine

[A.Town]

So I dropped a valve shim down in the engine. When I looked down in there with a flash light I couldn't find it so I spun the engine a few times by hand to see if I could hear it or see it moving. Nothing. So then I took off the cam shafts for a better view and looked again. Nothing! So I just decided to fish around blind with a magnet for a while, and not surprisingly, again I got nothing. Can I just give up on looking and leave it in there (I am hoping yes, but guessing no) or do I need to take off the head and just keep digging deeper until I find it. Thanks for your help.

[bombsquad83]

Drop the oil sump and have a look from the bottom.  You will need a new oil sump gasket.  It goes without saying, but I will say it.  Remember to stuff a rag down there next time before you start replacing shims.  Many of us, myself included, have done what you just did.

[burning1]

You probably won't see anything from the sump. There are splash guards below the crank.

If I recall correctly, there aren't any particularly large gaps around the cam chain for a shim to get through. I suspect the shim will be somewhere in the cam chain tunnel.

I would advise against leaving the shim in there. The GS engine is very tight. I could imagine all sorts of bad places it could get caught, causing all kinds of problems.

[Bluesmudge]

I would play with the magnet some more. I've dropped a few small items in there and was able to fish them out with pliers or magnets.

[A.Town]

I dropped the sump and fished around from the bottom for a while. It was a tough find, but I retrieved it. Thanks everyone.