yeah, I saw that once too.
a guy I knew left about 4 red shop rags under the intake manifold of a V-6 engine ..
in that valley between the heads.

a few weeks later...it gets towed in...
shreds of red rag everywhere !  lol.
in the oil filter, jammed in the oil pump etc.

they don't get very good fuel milage operated that way.

A waterboxer isn't bad about many opportunites to drop things into the sump.
with the heads off, the barrels are still seated,
and the valve lifters are still in, so nothing big can get past those.
And if you managed to tilt the engine over on the flywheel side, then drop something in the oil filler tube hole...
then you deserve what ya get ! 
That would sure be a major boo-boo..
and there is nothing so awful as working on an engine half apart, and a small part is missing ...
if you know it's lost on the floor somewhere, that's no so bad ..but it might be inside the engine ...
hate it when that happens !
scott 
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Don Hanson 
  To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans 
  Cc: vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com 
  Sent: Friday, June 04, 2010 2:26 PM
  Subject: Re: What's wrong with my 1.9 WBX engine?

    If the problem appeared right after that headwork, you might want to look at the oil pickup and see if it may be clogged or partially blocked by something 'lost' during that headwork.  Especially if the work was done while the motor was in the van..The 'Wrenchs' probably used something to block the openings to the lower end while they had the heads off and sometimes one 'loses' stuff into the sump.  I know this because I sucked a shop rag through my motor once during a cam change and could not for the life of me find why it was losing OP after a short running period until I finally decided to 'fish around' in the sump with a piece of bent welding rod, through the drain plug hole, and found some shreds of shop rag.....
    I pulled the motor and remove the pan to find the screen on the oil intake tube to  wrapped by the rag.

    I learned the good guy mechanics write down the number of rags they start a job with and count them when done...
    Worth considering, I guess.
    Don Hanson

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of

    M. Jade
    Sent: Monday, May 31, 2010 6:56 PM
    To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM

    Subject: What's wrong with my 1.9 WBX engine?

    My engine recently developed a problem I can not fix. It is a 85 Vanagon
    with a 1.9 WBX engine with 140k miles. There was work done to the cylinder
    head gasket about 10 years ago. It runs very well still. I made a 200 miles
    trip yesterday and everything appeared OK except this problem.

    Every time I got off a freeway and came to a red light the oil light would
    either blink or turn on steadily. Continue to drive a few blocks the symptom
    would go away. A few times one or more of hydraulic lifters would collapse
    and make clapping noise. They would recover if continued driving for a a
    minute. Temp gauge showed normal. There was no coolant leak or anything. It
    ran absolutely no problem if drove back on to freeway. In fact it ran very
    well with plenty of power yesterday during the 200 mile trip.

    Is it developing a serious problem now? I am running 10w40 oil. But changing
    to 20w50 made no difference. I have had two oil filter changes already. No
    change. I am not ready to give up this engine at only 140k miles. I don't
    think it is an oil pressure sensor issue. At one time I was in a stop and go
    situation for a while the oil light came on. So it does not have to be
    driven on the freeway to have the problem.

    This engine has been very reliable with no problems for the past 10 years. I
    don't drive it much but do occasionally took it to trips of a couple of
    hundred miles. Am I dealing with an engine that is ready to quit? Thanks for
    any suggestions.