Hi all. I recently started my reman AMC 360. After breaking in the cam I realized I never installed the oil slinger on the crankshaft 111!!!

I took the timing cover off last night and everything looked ok except the upper timing gear. Below is a picture of my old AMC 304 and the reman AMC 360.

Old AMC 304:

New (reman) AMC 360 after 20 min run time.

The upper timing gear of the amc 360 looks rusted or burnt....it was nice and new before i started it. I used shell rotella and a bottle of GM EOS in it, primed it, and broke it in at 2,000RPM for 20min. Is something wrong? I also noticed there is a plug behind the upper timing gear. Does that need removed? It wasn't removed on my old 304 so I left it in.

Here's a better shot of the plug I'm talking about:

I also inspected the water pump passages and found some grime:

I also changed the oil:

I'm hoping that the grime in the water pump passage is just crud that I couldn't get out of the radiator. In the cup of the oil that I drained I don't see any water floating on top so can I assume it's ok?[/img][/url]

When I put the timing cover on before I just put gasket sealer on both sides of the gasket and put it on.....didn't leak when I started it. Do you all do the same or do you use RTV on the gasket also?