Hey I've been lurking around this site for quite sometime and it has provided me with a wealth of information! Hoping I can squeeze some more out.

I have a Ppumped 12 valve swapped Chevy I just finished building. Went through the entire motor, replaced all the seals and gaskets, tuned the AFC, bumped timing to 17*, 60# springs and 4K GSK. I have been babying it for about 2 months now and finally got on it the other day. The next day I noticed a leak around the bellhousing. The rear main has less then 3k on it and I did not install a new cam plug when I went through the motor. I am almost certain the cam plug is whats leaking after I "got on it".

I pulled the oil fill tube and fished an endoscope down there and can see the cam gear teeth about 1/16-1/8 inch in front of the timing gear. When I installed the factory cam after resealing the gear case, I noted that all the gears lined up and meshed properly. I would assume my cam gear is walking off slightly.

I want to put a retainer on it and was wondering if anyone has experience with drilling and tapping while its installed in the truck? I have plenty of room to get a right angle drilll in there, the only thing I worry about is not being able to drill a perfectly true hole with a drill opposed to taking it out and machining, which I would love to avoid.

Thanks for any insight!

 

Here's a picture from the oil fill tube in reference to the timing gear and one before the motor was in the truck.