Sorry about that, it's been a while with that engine but that was an Arrow aftermarket front cover for an R3 block and they are milled flat on the sides. Looking at an OE front cover they are rounded on the sides and not a lot of meat there so probably wouldn't work the same.
..............OK you are tapping into the cover for a temp probe? ............Gotcha. The op though, has a B/RB. Many guys use aftermarket stat spacers which have tappings in "horizontally"
