Well, as the title states, while pulling the engine and transmission, I found a part laying on the ground. The car is a 1996 Toyota Celica ST, 1.8L 7A-FE, 5-speed transmission. The part was found after the engine was removed (with transmission still attached), directly after separating the transmission from the engine on the engine lift. I cannot for the life of me figure out where this came from. It appears to be a valve of some sort, it has a screen in one end, and a spring inside. Anyone have any insight? Thanks!

Pictures of part:
http://imgur.com/a/1YVJs

throw it away. looks like a piston, of some sort. maybe master brake. if your car runs, without it you should be ok

Weight reduction bro

Did the clutch slave cylinder come apart?

i have done 7A rebuilds, im not familiar with that part

The slave cylinder 'did' come apart, but I have all parts. All that came off it was the rubber boot, where it is split, and the pin appears to just 'sit' in there sandwiched between it and the release fork. I plan to replace it. I was guessing master/slave cylinder too and it appears to be for neither. It's nothing in the transmission is it? C52, I believe it would be.

I am not sure if it still works fine without it. I have not gotten it together yet, I'm really trying to do it 'right'. I took the whole core support off to replace it (spot weld drilling sucks), painted the whole bay, just got done disassembling and reassembling the transmission (replacing the input shaft seal and ensuring everything looks to be in good order, plus cleaning off that big magnet of any metal). It was definitely out of wherever it was from before the transmission came apart, I just did that yesterday.

It doesn't look like a familiar part.
Keep in mind that its totally possible that its a part from a different car that might have been left behind in your engine bay at some point. Stuff that falls into the engine bay tends to get stuck on top of the trans all the time.

These are all fair/valid points. However, the thing that strikes me as odd is, it still had oil in it, no dirt to speak of, and no surface rust. I do accept the 'it might be from something else' explanation for now, though, as there have been many other projects in the general area I am working, in the past. I'm still concerned it goes to the transmission, or somewhere to the accessories (thinking AC maybe?) but rationalize it can't be -too- hard to take back apart if absolutely necessary, and if I don't notice it I don't need it.

Honestly it looks like a spool valve for an automatic trans or a hydraulic system. Also, bad bad bad bad idea to work on your car barefoot, only takes a couple pounds of impact force to break the small bones on the to of your feet, dropping a ratchet from 2 feet can do it. Not to mention stepping on things, slipping on fluids, or something falling and slicing your foot open.

>

I've actually done the ratchet thing. It sucked. I do definitely appreciate the advice -- it's some pretty good advice - but I only have no shoes because I came out to grab the part and take pictures, after I was done for the day (was hoping I could find the part online somewhere or in one of my books). I always work with shoes for the exact reason of fear of smashing my feet. The 'stepping on things' does still hold true though regardless.