My engine I have been rebuilding is still on the engine stand. I am in the process of replacing the cam I originally put in it with one that is more street friendly so I have been working on that today. I've got everything off of the engine but the timing chain and cover. I have been trying to get the cover off but it is being stubborn. I've got the upper portion of the cover loose from the block but I can't get the bottom rail to separate from the oil pan (actually, a girdle) and yes, I have those two oil pan bolts removed. I tried running a razor blade between the bottom of the cover and the girdle but it doesn't help as it won't get in between the cover and the girdle very far and I don't want to try and pry it any further for fear of warping the cover. Is there a trick to getting the bottom of the cover to break loose? Maybe heat it with a heat gun? BTW, I originally used Parmatex black on the gaskets.

Probably will have to take the pan & girdle off

If you remove the oil pan &/or girdle it should come right off.

If you don't want to remove the oil pan, take a strong blade and cut right through the oil pan gasket or sealer against the girdle at the point where the TC/Pan/Block all come together.

Then concentrate your effort on prying/working the cover forward. At some point it usually seems the dowels are last thing holding it on + the reason why it's difficult to work back and forth.

loosen (1 to 2 full turns away from the pan rails, windage tray) all the oil pan bolts except the four on the rear and slide it off of the alignment pins

Yes, I was hoping to not have to remove the pan and girdle. I will try and do this. Thanks.

I use a ( stiff ) putty knife . It is a 2" stiffy . I cut a slice in the middle of the blade . Center the putty knife over the dowel from the side . It will pop right off . All the lower parts ( girdle , pan , windage tray is holding the cover against the dowels . Gary

Next time/if you have the oil pan/girdle removed, trial fit the timing cover with the block clean of old gasket/rtv. Make sure the lower surface of timing cover does not protrude lower than oil pan rail. Otherwise, the girdle/pan will be forcing timing cover up slightly into dowels. This may be your cause of difficulty?

Is it a BCR /SDC girdle? If so, the block shoukd have been milled with maincaps and timing cover simultaneously to avoid
Issues like this.

In a different situation, i had to have my Jesel beltdrive cover milled slightly on the bottom bc of this situation on my lowdeck.

Just an idea to checkout.

One approach I noticed (back when I used to receive used blocks that had been returned) is some builders will take the dowels completely out.

Then when the engine is assembled, the timing cover bolts are left loose until after the damper is installed (like alot of us would do with a small block), which kind of eliminates the need for the dowels.

i kind of do like Zippy, leave the bolts on the cover loose until the damper is installed.
however, i open the dowel holes one or two drill sizes on the cover, so the cover seal can float on the damper surface, and be able to exert equal sealing pressure the whole 360 degrees around the damper.
i tighten the cover, then the pan.

That's what I do also.

I don't actually do that, I just saw it on a returned block once and during my next talk with the customer I asked them why they didn't install the dowels.

[b][/b] Maybe I missed something, but did you remove the 2 bolts that come through the oil pan to the cover?