Piece found laying in transmission.

Could be several issues.
1. the two piece main crank pulley could be separating: replace it.
2. The transmission could be loose: check the four bolts that secure it to the engine. A loose transmission causes lots of vibration and hard changes because the main shaft misalignment,.Sometimes transmission bolts actually vibrate out.
3. The clutch is failing and will need to be replaced.

beetles always have something breaking, the junkyards have a lot of them, you should be able to find a whole complete top for a decent price and go after the "reputable" shop to reimburse you.
if you want to just get the plastic part that is possible too from the junkyard, what i do with my beetle is look at the junkyard car so i know how to put it together once i get the part home.

Ohmygosh! Yes it could, and probably is. I bet if you took it to a mechanic he would identify it as part of your gear or clutch pack. Save that piece and show it to a transmission shop. I'm afraid you may need a rebuild or replacement transmission.
BTW, its not the magnet in the pan, is it? If it is, then you may be O>K>

did you replace the pressure plate too?

I just bought a 96 transport with that same problem on both front doors they would open from the inside but not the outside. They have a design flaw, basically when you pull the handle it pushes a piece that pivots and in turn pushes a linkage rod downward that actuates the door latch, well that pivot point is the weak spot, the pin that it hinges on is too small and will break, (I found the pivot piece and the linkage rod laying in the bottom of the door)
If you pull the door panel off their are 2 nuts holding the door handle on, take those off and the door handle will come off, the pivot pin is on then inside of the door handle, what I did was to drill a hole and put a small self tapping screw in to replace the pivot pin, and hold the pivot piece and linkage in place then put it all back through the door handle hole in the door, and set the linkage down in it's hole in the door latch assembly. The screw I used was not exactly the same size as the original pin was so the pivot piece had some play in it and did not quite push the down far enough to unlatch the door so I put two small nuts to act as washers on the bottom of the linkage rod so it would push down a little more, now it works like a charm, on the other door the linkage rod had just come out of it's hole in the door latch assembly, all I had to do was pull the inside door handle, which lowered the door latch piece and guided the rod back into its hole as I released the inside door handle and now it works too, took about an hour for both doors, a fairly easy fix, hope this helps.

i have a p0733 error code on my tranny after repair,wat can do this error thanks

Please clarify which dowel pins you are looking for. There are dowel pins that align the head to the block, and dowel pins that align the transmission case to the engine block. I hope this helps you.

look at your replacement transmission. straight thru holes are bolts on the trandmission side toward motor threaded are toward transmission. check each mounting hole and compare it to the trans in the car. if all are out it could be a dowel pin that is corroded. I have had to pry out transmissions off the dowel pins before. hopes this helps mike

yeah it can be replaced try a junkyard first.you might be able to get away cheap.i had the same problem in a 93 accord got mine from junkyard worked great after that

did you shatter the disk