I am about halfway through replacing the front cover due to some broken oil pump gears . I used some sandpaper to clean up the cover and the oil gear cover and I’m concerned that the gears don’t have enough space to rotate. in another post a forum member suggested there is a specification used to check to the clearance with a feeler gauge but I can’t find any details in rave. does anyone know?

 

The feeler gage goes between the gear and housing.
The gears have plenty of room, and they actually wear away the aluminum on the inner cover where they contact, so the clearance gets bigger, not smaller(impossible).
That's why you check the gear to cover clearance, to see if the gap has worn to a size that's out of spec, which can cause lower oil pressure.
The only fix for that is a new cover.
If your cover had no real visible wear, and when you started sanding, it cleaned up quickly(no low spots, gouges or scoring to remove), then the odds are it's ok.
I'll find the gap tolerance and come back and post it.

 

My memory says it's .007" clearance, but I'm not certain and still looking, it's been a while since I checked my original cover.

 

There was no significant scoring or gouging and it cleaned up quickly. When i put it together all lubed up and rotate it by hand it feels fairly stiff but can still rotate by hand

 

It will have some resistance to it, but that's normal.
As far as the tolerance/clearance goes, it's kinda an is what it is situation, as all you can do worst case is replace the cover($400).
I'de just pack the gears, loctite and torque the posi drive screws on the cover, and put the rest back together(with new o-ring on the pick up tube(put some oil or vaseline on the o-ring too).

 

Very good. Any reason not to run the engine for a minute with no water pump or radiator attached to make sure I have good oil pressure and it all sounds ok?

 

No, put it all back together, you already know it's installed correctly and not binding.
You can pull the fuel pump relay and crank it to build oil pressure before you actually start it if you want to.
The vaseoline and/or assembly lube packed in the gears is so you will have some pressure and lubrication on first start anyway.

 

well...I did sand out a nick from someone who removed the last front crank seal with a screwdriver...

 

But that would be in the hole the seal goes in, or more so on the edge of it, correct?

 

But that would be in the hole the seal goes in, or more so on the edge of it, correct?