It's safe to take it off, but I would find a way to cover your exposed cams so that large debris does not get in your engine. If your gasket is new enough it can probably be reused. It just depends on the condition it's in. I reused mine 3 or 4 times without having to change it. When you take the current gasket off you will see where they used RTV. to seal the ends. just apply the new RTV in the same spot. Be sure if you reuse your gasket, to get rid of the old RTV befor you put the new stuff on