I was doing the head gasket on my 76 280z. I had wedge the timing tensioner with a wooden block i made and when I popped off the cam sprocket i realized that my wedge was to long so the sprocket would just sit on the wedge I made and I could not take it off. so i decided to put the sprocket back on to trim the wedge some more and it wouldn't go back on. I used a screw driver to pry it up some but it just would not go up no matter how much force i put into it! so i thought damn i think I lost the tension.. I asked my cousin to help me put it back on and he dropped the washer down the timing area and into the block.. Now what? how can i get it out and what is my next step to tackle this headache of a head gasket job? is there a link to a similar problem because i've tried searching and came up with nothing!

Any help is greatly appreciated. thank you

I did the same thing on an engine I took apart (still apart). The details are fuzzy but I think that I could see the washer from above, and I bent a small hook on to the end of a long piece of wire and was able to fish it out. One of those antenna shaped magnetic pickers might work also.

You might have lost the orientation of the cam to the crankshaft by a small amount. I've read of using a large adjustable wrench on the cam shaft to wiggle the cam back and forth while trying to get the sprocket aligned.

I've also read accounts of using a long screwdriver to get the tensioner back in its hole, if that's what happened to you.

Good luck.

Thanks zed head, the antenna with the magnet at the end is an excellent idea and iill look for one. and i'll try again with the sprocket and get back with you guys. but i'm pretty sure i lost my tension so i guess i just have to take off the entire front cover..

If you can look down there, check the tensioner. If it's still in it's housing, you may be bale to push it back in to get your wedge back in there. If not, the front cover has to come off. Be careful when you take the oil pan bolts off so you don't tear the oil pan gasket. The timing cover uses the oil pan gasket a the bottom.

I had a similar problem, in the long run it was just easier to pull the front cover, makes the whole job a lot less frustrating, but my engine was out and on a stand.