Hey,

Ever since I got the 383 motor from my buddy there is a question that he is not been able to answer for me. The cam that is in the motor he cant remeber the numbers. So I have the motor out a need to do some other work on it. My question is, I am running a milodon gear drive and I need to pull it to get to the cam. Do I need to losen the oil pan to do this? Is this going to be a major task? Any info. would help. Thanks Andy

you will need to loosen the oil pan to take the timing cover off

they make special timing covers for this case though

if you already have the engine out,it shouldnt be much of a hassle to drop the pan, and even replace the gasket

Yes, you need to loosen the pan for the timing chain cover. It's been awhile for me, but seems I only loosened about the front half of the pan. I'm someone here has done it recently that will chime in.

Major task, no,...PITA, yes

Upon reassembly of my timing chain cover, after checking the gear drive, I did not loosen any oil pan bolts!.....I merely lined up the timing cover with the dowel pins (one on each side) and used the bolts, near the dowel pins, to draw the cover to the engine block.....It worked out excellent with no oil leakage!