If it's the same as my 216, the timing cover has two fasteners at the bottom that are accessed by removing the oil pan (which it looks like you already have done).

Hi Tiny,

I'll look around in there tomorrow, probably need to do a little cleaning. There is enough sludge in that area to hide a fastener or three. I should have stated in initial post this is the four cylinder.

thanks for your reply!

Lou

Reading the shop manual, looks like i need to remove the engine from the truck, and remove the cam gear/shaft. Then adjust the bearing shims. And then the book mentions checking the oil level in the troughs in the oil pan, and the distance the splashers enter the oil in the troughs, but does not say what to do if it is out of spec. Not that i have the tool to check the level in the first place. Probably can invent my own tool.

another curiosity is the manual mentions removing the locking plate on the rod caps, but this engine has safety wire, which makes me wonder if I have the correct version of manual.

Anyways, I would appreciate any experienced input. I thought this was going to be an afternoon job.LOL

Thanks,

Lou

Here's a thread about the 216 bottom bolts from the old site. Again, I don't know if this applies to the older engines.

https://vccachat.org/ubbthreads.php/topics/308565/216-leaking-timing-cover.html

You don't have to take the engine out to get the front main bearing cap off, but there is a consequence to this procedure.

The front face of the main bearing cap (facing towards the radiator) is sealed by a gasket that goes under the back plate of the cam gear cover. If you take the front main bearing cap off, this seal gets messed up and will leak oil. Been there done that with Lurch's engine rebuild in 2017. At the time, I didn't want to bother with taking the camshaft and crankshaft cam gear off in order to clean up and replace the gasket that is behind the cam gear area, so I lived with the leak.

Here's the story of adjusting the bearing caps to eliminate the engine knocks: https://vccachat.org/ubbthreads.php/topics/404082/re-resurrecting-a-28-4-banger.html#Post404082

After I eliminated the engine knocks by adjusting the bearing cap clearances to the crankshaft, I smeared a bunch of Permatex #2 sealer around the absolute front of the front main bearing. That minimized the leak down to something around .8 teaspoon per mile. Here's what I did about the oil leak https://vccachat.org/ubbthreads.php/topics/426493/re-resurrecting-a-28-4-banger.html#Post426493

P.S. A couple of years of driving Lurch after the rebuild added road dirt to the blob of Permatex sealer, so the leak diminished somewhat but I didn't measure it. Lurch's engine still leaks oil when running and his new owners understand all this info. Since he's only driven around the Calaveras County fairgrounds and in parades, I suspect the new owners aren't going to put the effort in to fix the leak.

Cheers, Dean

Dean, Thanks for the reply! I have read your dissertation/saga of the rebuild of Lurch couple of times, and each time I do, I learn more! I've got the pan off, but the pucker factor reared its ugly head when I saw how tight the space is in there. I think I now have enough information to go forth and get in big trouble. Being of the lazy type, I think I will drop the cap, engine in truck and deal with the oil leak later.

Big thanks for all the info

Lou

@tiny 

Thanks Tiny, looks pretty similiar