Small stuff is big stuff

By some miracle, the original timing cover, tab and bolts are still with the car, but the cover and tab are beat. The top of the cover is nearly rusted through and the bottom is dented from pulling the engine in and out of this car.

Instead of trying to restore the timing tab, a NOS one was found and purchased since the original is damaged. A reproduction timing cover is available and it's a very faithful copy.

I see folks using the word 'restoration' to describe a car or truck that has been painted and fixed, but to this guy a restoration is putting the car back to its original condition.

The original cover bears a mysterious stamping of '-35' just above the oil seal for the harmonic balancer. Not sure what it means.

This car was among the first to receive this new design for a timing cover. The previous design bears a date stamping of month and year here, but none of that really matters because the water pump and harmonic balancer will cover this spot up.

Despite this, this stamp was recreated onto the new part to make it as much like the original as possible.

Turned out really well.