Thread: ZZ3 Gm crate motor

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my Gm crate motor ZZ3 has a plastic timing chain cover.Have any of you chucked the cover and replaced it with a standard steel one? I would like to chrome one for it....thnx.......brian

you can buy a crome cover for about $15 off the shelf at just about any parts store

Plastic timing cover.....now that's "Professional Grade" sheesh....and I am a GM kinda guy.

at least its cheap to replace and easy to do so as well unlike my fords

Originally posted by thesals
at least its cheap to replace and easy to do so as well unlike my fords

Tell me about it. I had to buy one for the new Pontiac block a while back and there wasn't anything cheap about it. I had already had one for a '68 but with the new balancer I got, I had to use one from '69 on. Being used to buying them for chevys, I didn't think anything about it. Then I found out that you can either buy used ones off ebay or you can call around to the different Pontiac restoation companies and "Inquire". So after "inquiring", I finally found a decent used one on ebay and went that route. Many times during the build-up I have thought that I may have been better off just to go with a BBC. But I guess in the end, when I pop the hood, it'll be the correct motor sitting in there.

You probably cant just use an "el cheapo" chromie from the auto supply. The plastic cover mates with the one-piece pan gasket so the lower lip is wider. Also, the plastic cover has a hole for the crank trigger sensor (although it isnt used on a ZZ4) and the plastic cover has the formed-in-place gasket that seals really well. The ZZ4 is sealed really well....much better than the older engines.