Forgive me if this is a stupid question but I’ve not torn into a ecotec before and I’ve tried searching but didn’t find what I was looking for. New owner of a lsj car and it pushed a head gasket. Timing set was done not too long before this issue. Can I pull the head and support the chain and not worry about it moving on the crank gear? Or do I have to pull the front cover?

 

Better off just pulling the front cover

 

This.

 

That’s what I figured, thank you for the replies!

 

You'd need to keep tension, see the jack screw chain hooks here: https://www.otctools.com/sites/defau...32208_revb.pdf

So it could be done in theory if you hold tension at the right angle while removing the head with a wacky process to get the head out, but it would be way more challenging than pulling the front cover to ensure you don't have to pull the front cover anyway if it doesn't work out rigging something up to hold the chain.