Glad luck was on your side!
Back in 1988 or so I was reinstalling the 383 after being freshened up in this thing:
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Mid summer on a concrete slab behind the hobby shop at Travis AFB right next to the exhaust blower for the wood shop.. only about 102 that day.. good times for me and my buddies getting cooked and dusted simultaneously. We get the long block back from the builder and spend a long afternoon getting it in and attached to the 727. Suns going down and we are onto the short strokes, accessories radiator, exhaust, etc. I'm getting ready to install the intake. I set the intake gasket (if you've never seen one it looks like a cookie sheet) in place and set the 6 small bolts for the front and rear on it. Turn to grab the intake, with intake in hand as I turn back around one of my buddies lifts the intake gasket to re position it... we both watch in horror as the 6 little bolts roll down that gasket and disappear into the open cam galley. I felt a bit ill...lol. We were able to retrieve 3 from the oil pan. The other 3 were not to be found.
Long /short. The motor had to come back out the next day and be rotated on an engine stand for a few minutes until the other 3 fell out.
I'll take your kind of luck any day of the week. :thumbsup: