Dowel broke in Spark Plug Hole, cannot set at TDC
 

So I'm changing my timing belt for the first time, everything had been going well until I went to set the engine at top dead center, which is a staple of pretty much every engine repair as I can see from the articles. I thought I had everything about set and removed the spark plug from the first cylinder as suggested by the article, setting a wooden dowel inside to eye when the cylinder reached the peak. Obviously I was wrong, and the thin dowel had slipped between the cylinder and the engine block, it snapped as I turned the wrench on the belt shaft, and now there's about a two inch sliver of wood inside the engine. I can see it from the spark plug hole, and I've tried using a shop vac and rubber tubing to suck it out. Unfortunately, I think it's too big to suck out unless I can somehow break it into chunks that can more easily slide through the spark plug hole. This puts a dent in my plans, but I'm confident I can pull down the exhaust manifold, fuel rail, and camshaft cover to remove the engine cover and pull it out. Unfortunately, the dowel is obstructing me from turning the crank pulley and setting the engine at top dead center. Does anyone have any advice on removing the dowel without tearing down the engine, or reaching some point to open up the engine block without setting the engine at top dead center? I'll try what I can, but I'm a rookie and definitely in over my head at the moment. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Can you reach the dowel with long needle nose pliers? Be careful not to mar up the spark plug port.
Since I can't see what you can, it might be a stupid suggestion.

If have to, you can remove the cam cover and the valve springs will close all the valves. Then you can rotate the crank enough to reach the dowel..maybe. That will be the hard way.

Hope someone has a better suggestion.

Good Luck

Try one of these....

https://www.jbtoolsales.com/s-e-tools-748-4bf-48-4-jaw-flexible-mechanical-finger/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwqM3VBRCwARIsAKcekb0ARXiVMC-h81D728KGn8sqL0fPSg9fqU4krvhMhjHZtX2sIHevFVIaAl3_E ALw_wcB

Thanks everyone for the advice, I ended up using a long toothpick skewer dabbed with superglue to pull the loose dowel bit out after about twenty tries. Pain in the ass but it saved me an engine teardown! Going to see about contacting someone about amending the Setting Top Dead Center article with some kind of warning, someone on another site mentioned this same thing happening to them. Hopefully there's not any superglue residue on the cylinder wall, going to see about trying to clean that as best I can tomorrow.

i did the same thing years ago...luckily was able to get the biggest chunks out.
some small slivers were too stuck though to get out...so i crossed my fingers and started the car.

that was 10 years ago, no issues lol

Why are you not just simply using the flywheel TDC mark, and the distributor rotor clocking to ensure #1 cylinder TDC?
The flywheel hash mark is clearly visible with a flashlight and looking down from on top of the engine, nothing to remove to see it. And the dizzy rotor position is a no brainer.
You can also see the cam gear timing mark by simply removing the little black plug on the front cover right next to the dizzy, to further verify TDC.

Mark

Phew! Congrats.