[Doug Rodrigues]

Buy a new filter and save all the potential grief. It doesn't take much to ruin a bearing.

**Afterthought: Your rod and main bearings run with about .0005 (half a thousands of an inch to one thousands of an inch) with the .001" thickness of clearance all the way around the journals being the worn-out value. Measuring the journal and comparing it to the inside diameter of the bearing, that would be .001 to .002 (one thousands of an inch to two thousands of an inch) clearance. In a small engine, two thousands would be at it's worn-out limit. Feel the thickness of a .001" feeler gauge. If a particle of grit that size entered your engine, it would probably be smashed into the babbit material which covers the bearing of where ever it lodged. Another comparison: The thickness of the average piece of writing paper is about .004. If any debris thicker than .001" got into the center of your oil filter, that crud is probably stuck in the crank or cam bearings or hydraulic lifters now. You should never have taken a chance using any filter that dropped into debris. Your engine will probably run okay because any damage that could have been done has already occurred. To late to do anything about it now.