When you guys put your heads back on did you have to shave down your that one head bolt?

Also

Is it ok to leave that stupid timing belt cover off? As much of a bitch as it was to get off I'd like to just throw it away if I don't need it.

Thanks,

Dean.

I didn't shave it down, I just put a steel washer. So far I've had no problems with it.

Yeah that timing belt cover is a bitch... what I did was cut it in half and only put back the lower half. I threw away the top half and you can see my cam gears spinning... it's so cool to stare at. :P

The plus side is that you can view your timing belt's condition everytime you pop your hood. The down side is that I've read some tracks might not allow you to race with a missing timing belt cover.

i didn't have to deal with the bolts while putting the head back on since i invested in the ARP head studs. expensive at about $120 for the set of 8 bolts/nuts/washers/moly lube but well worth it. the craftmanship on them is absolutely perfect.

the timing belt cover is USELESS. OMG. it's only reason for being there is to make life a PITA to do a timing belt job. when i did my rebuild last February i had to remove the pulley first, then i just took off the camshafts to make life easer. the cams/gears all came off as 1 unit - very easy to do, just a few bearings to remove. after the cover was completely off, i threw it on the floor of my garage, stomped on it numerious times, then dremeled the fvck out of it, then it got an all-expense paid trip to the dumpster. i was so upset at it, i seriousally did all of that.

crap double post

I personally would put the lower half of the timing belt back on. It keeps crap from getting on the timing for external sources and from internal (oil leaks on the t-belt side of the block). I cut the outside cover in half and retained the whole inside cover. It literally takes about 5 minutes to take it off after removing whatever else you need to get off to do a t-belt replacement.

Leave at least the lower timing cover on. One piece of gravel in that timing belt will be expensive.

If you're not going to buy ARP studs, grind or install washers on the top right head bolt.