Has anyone ever swapped the cam gear without completely removing the timing cover? I'm hoping I can just take it loose and rotate it to the side to swap the gear. Trying to avoid taking the pulley off as I don't have a pulley puller or installer immediately available.

 

I doubt there is enough room to get to the bolts and remove the gear. More importantly you don't want to be at a weird angle when taking the bolts out as you don't want to risk dropping the bolts down into the oil pan.

 

Fair enough. Didn't think about the bolts falling into the pan.

 

I wouldn't try it, just rent a puller from the auto parts store

 

You cant pull it far enough forward with the pulley on to rotate it, because the oil pan flange prevents you from doing so. Buy a 2 pc cover if you want to do it easy in the future.

 

I have an extra timing cover lying around. I was actually wondering if I could just cut it in half. I wonder what it would take to seal it?