can someone tell me what's the use of this tab? I'm painting my covers so I wanted to know if I can grind off this tab before painting

In the second pic you can see there an indent for the tab on the opposite side of the cover

 

bump

 

Its the timing mark.

 

So does that mean i shouldn't remove it?

 

No you should leave it, if you ever had to time your motor you would need to align it to the mark.

 

It serves no purpose, you time the car with the covers off anyway. Mine has has the timing set about 4 times now and this cover was no part of the process.

The only purpose I see it serving is when you put the covers on it may point to the key way on your crank, by then our timing is already set. I have never used it for anything. That being said I wouldn't remove it because if you sand it off you will end up with a hole do to the indent on the other side.

 

In reference to the factory service manual the tab on cover is for timing. Whether you have used it or not thats what its for.