RB Timing Cover R&R - Cork Gasket

My son's doing a cam swap on a 440, in vehicle. It's certainly not rocket science but looking for tip involving the cork section included in the timing gasket set.

Tried gluing the cork section to the oil pan lip but found we could not compress it enough to get the timing cover over the dowel pins in the block without fubering the dowel pin holes in the timing cover. We don't want to have to loosen the oil pan either. Any tricks to getting the cover in place, short of ditching the cork piece and running a bead of gasket maker in its place? Don't want leaks and that would be a fair void to fill.

I remember dealing with that many years ago.
It’s really a bandaid situation in that it’s much better to do an oil pan gasket as a single unit AFTER the timing cover is in place......but that’s not in the cards at this point.

Cleanliness of the oil pan area is really important....degrease the corners really well. Install the cork piece with a little rtv where it meets the old gasket. Install the forward oil pan bolts first and tighten them down——this will pull the timing cover down to the oil pan so the bolt holes line up. Then attach the timing cover bolts.

If I was doing a BB timing cover onlyagain I think I would ditch the cork piece and use just rtv.

Thanks. Yeah, we might just suck it up and pull the pan. We actually used the front pan bolts to pull it down (cocked at an angle because of the dowels) and tapped it over the pins. Looked like it worked and everything might be sealed okay until we started her up and it began leaking in one corner. We've since pulled it apart again and saw how the holes in the cover got buggered - worse on the side that leaked. So, not wanting to go down that road again, decided to solicit tips. It was leak-free before starting the swap..

hi
rtv only thing you need , use fresh good quality and throw away the cork pieces !

^^^ agreed & leave the pan in place

the best solution i have found, is to drill the dowel pin holes oversize, then, temporarily install the damper. this aligns the front seal, preventing leaks there.
snug up the upper bolts, remove the damper, then see what you need to do with the lower pan to cover.
address that issue, then continue to the final install with the gasket[s] and sealer of your choice.
this still means you need to temporarily install the damper, snug the upper bolts, remove the damper, install the lower cover and pan bolts, tighten everything, then finally, install the damper for good.
i know this sounds i overly complicated this issue, but it will ensure you a leak proof damper seal.
just my way of doing this, your mileage will vary.

All good suggestions, thanks. It’s a truck and we just decided to go ahead and drop the pan.Toughest part was breaking seal after the bolts were out. I think it was worth it in the end. All back together and waiting for a couple of dabs of RTV to fully cure.