On the inside where it is silver it has all these little cracks. Is that okay to work with or should i go ahead and buy a used or new one?

I will try to get a picture later

 

could be from overheating? Should I get a new timing cover?

 

on the inside where it is silver? it's aluminum, the whole dang thing is silver. put up a pic.

 

If you are talking about the front cover where the CAS is installed. There are sometimes little casting defects that may look like cracks. The best thing to do is to inspect it by cleaning it thoroughly. the chances there is a crack is slim as they never really go bad, unless the car was in an accident.