Oil Seal Found In My Oil Pan

Hello all. I recently bought an 85 VF500F that wasn't very well taken care of by the previous owner. I am in the process of going through everything before I get her running again. The drain plug was stripped out at one point and the prior owner JB welded a nut/bolt fix to the oil pan as a fix. I proceeded to find a good used oil pan to replace the cobbled up one with. I pulled the old oil pan off and found a seal lying in the bottom of it. I would like to find out what it is for. It looks like the same brand as the other seals I've seen on the bike...AL'S (??). The part number on the seal is SD 12287 1. Can anyone tell me what this seal is for in the engine? I would like to find out if the engine is legitimately missing this seal or if the prior owner 'accidentally' dropped it in there. Thanks for the help.

 

You got a picture of this thing?

 

Here is a pic of the seal I found.

 

Looks like a shifter or starter seal but regardless these things seal shafts and are generally held captive by the shaft and the levers attached to them so I can't see how one would come loose, work its way down the shaft and fall in the pan. You have a real poser there!

I looked to see if Ron Ayres had a micro fiche of the engine so we could search the drawings and parts lists but they don't. Perhaps a member with a hard copy shop manual can look it up.


I did find this,
http://www.cmsnl.com/honda-vf500f-500-interceptor-1984-usa_model1110/partslist/?model_q=vf500

 

Clutch push rod seal??? A stripped out drain plug? Wow.