A friend is putting a 69 340 in his truck and wants to put a later timing cover on it so the timing marks are on the driver side. If he changes the cover would it be as simple as putting the harmonic balancer on it from the later engine? Thanks, Dan

Yup. You can use a newer style water pump, timing cover and dampener from a 318

. I'm assuming his radiator has a pass side lower nipple so he wants a later alum pump with the hose on that pass side & the timing cover marks on the DR side so he can easily time it. Other options would be to use the 340 timing cover & dampener he has now & make a sturdy pointer mounted on the DR side & find exact TDC then make a paint mark across the dampener like the OE slit there but at the new pointer on the DR side. If swapping timing covers Be sure to draw the dampener on partway to "center" the timing cover (the crank snout centered in the seal) before you snug the timing cover down all the way. EDIT I have ran the marks and the hose on the same side & you have to aim the light just right but it is easily doable (you have enough of the dampener width left to see your marks if you paint new marks on the dampener & highlight the zero (TDC) on the timing cover cast in marks) & 5 marks on the dampener (TDC 10-15-20-(35 for a SB)BTDC works for me

Either style of water pump will work on either style of timing chain cover.

thanks for the answers everyone, I will pass along the info! Hope you all are having a Merry Christmas, Dan