Is your dip stick intact...no missing end pieces etc?

http://europarts4export.com/wp-conte...07/DSC0073.jpg

He is referring to the Upper oil pan, not the lower one. The upper is a pain in the ass. The differential is bolted to the side and the axles run through. Dropping the oil pan entails dropping the front driveshaft, differential, suspension, and subframe. I've done three, and getting pretty good at them. Haha

Upper = pita, agree. I just did lower pan on mine to see what crud was in there.

Dropping the lower pan may also be a good idea - won't give access to the rod bearings, but it's pretty quick and would let you check for any bigger chunks you might be able to identify. Also lets you inspect the oil pump intake screen to make sure it's not clogged with this stuff.

Definitely looks a lot like the dipstick.

Excellent prospect.

I would not remove the valve covers until you are doing so to verify a highly probable source. Neither take special tools or are difficult but both take a fair amount of time especially the valve covers that I wouldn't invest until I had a much better idea of the source of the pieces. Are the orange pieces in the picture actually that color, which looks like brass or copper, or is it because of the light source? Are the orange pieces the metal you reference? And, can you take a picture with something in it that provides a size perspective--like a penny?

If those are rod bearing pieces I would think you would be hearing more than a ticking noise. Generally rod bearing noise gets louder when you rev the engine because of the load. When trouble shooting method is remove the spark from one cylinder at a time. The bad cylinder will get quieter when there is no spark to it. Ticking sound is often valve train noise. Rod knock is more of a hammering sound.

Another prospect is that someone is really angry with you.