Unknown part...any ideas?

[fredmo1947]

Dear Porsche tensioner upgrade graduates, I am about half way through my first shot at this upgrade. Wayne's book, the tech articles, the forum's assistance through this process has made the whole experience rather enjoyable. No real problems to speak of...up to this afternoon.

I had done all the appropriate prep work, set the dist. to #1, the crank to z1, took off the smog pump and hoses, removed the plastic air tube and other necessary tubing. I did need to remove a few shims from the pully on the fan to tighten the belt enough to turn the crank. I removed the distributor, tied back the cap to keep it out of the way, removed the muffler and engine tin.

Then as I was cleaning up to prepare to remove the chain covers I found this.... a small arced piece of metal, about 2.5". long and maybe an 1/8" wide. It seemed to have fallen off when I removed the tin, but I really don't know when it came out or what it is for. Any ideas?

[Gogar]

My guess:

Its one of the 'straps' that holds pairs of cooling tin together, but the 90degree "nub" at each end has broken off.

Just a guess! I'm not sure if you could see the TOP of each jug where these straps should be unless you take the shroud off.

[fredmo1947]

Thanks for the info and the pic's! From what engine are the cooling tins? Mine is a 3.0L and the keepers for the tins look like the one's depicted in illustration #11 pg. 51 of Wayne's 101 Projects book. (Perhaps it was somehow "left over" from the 2.7 swap several years ago?)
However, I closely examined the piece I found. It appears not to have had anything broken off so although it looks to be about the same size of the keepers you pictured, the likelihood that both 90's would have broken is remote.
Also, it is for sure some type of spring steel, it reshapes to the arch immediately. There also appears to be some possible pressure marking on the top and bottom side about in the upper 1/4 quadrant in the picture above.
So, bottom line, I still don't know what this is and any further assistance would be greatly appreciated!