[avernet]

I was looking at my timing chain trying to determine if I needed to tighten it. I brought #1 to TDC and I tried to find the marks described in the haynes manual I found what I think are the marks. The "notch" appears to be a u shaped groove right behind the gear and the "groove" seems to be alot longer than it looks in the picture. The illustration in the book shows that with the chain at proper tension that the right edge of the groove should be just inside of the left side of the notch. This is how mine appears yet when I rotate the engine the loose side of the chain (the side that isn't pulling) seems to deflect anywhere from 1/16" to 1/8". This seems loose to me. Is this an acceptable amount of tension or do I need to tighten the chain?

Thanks

 

[DylanZ]

The chain should be kept tight with the tensioner, it's not really an adjustable thing, because you can't move the crank down, or the cam up (you can move the cam, but not necessary unless you've planed the head). If there is more slack than the tensioner can handle, you've gotta get new chain and sprockets. Check the teeth on the sprocket, if there is any differences between the front and back face of the tooth, change the set. If there is slack from side to side in the chain, change the set. With this stuff, you can't put a new chain on old sprockets or vice versa, it will be just as worn after a thousand miles as the old one you threw out.

Dylan

 

[avernet]

Ok wait a min. then I think the lights are finally coming on. So what the book describes about moving the gear to a different position is to compensate for the slackness in the chain not retention it. I couldn't figure out how on earth that would tighten the chain.

 

[SleeperZ]

The tension is put into the chain with oil pressure through the tensioner, so the chain will be somewhat slack until it runs and builds oil pressure. Just make sure when you check the cam timing you rotate the motor CW only.

 

[johnh240]

Read what sleeper has to say below. I'll add to that, that the adjustment doesn't change the TENSION it changes the TIMING of the cam to compensate for STRETCH of the chain and wear on the cam gear. You WILL see some slack in the chain on the non pulling side. This is normal. As Sleeper said the tensioner works on oil pressure so you will see some slack when just turning it over by hand. If your cam timing marks are as in the manual, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. They are difficult to see, sometimes a little carb cleaner makes them a little more visible.

 

[ckillerh3]

Hey SleeperZ,

What if you DO rotate the engine Counter Clock Wise when checking the cam timing? ? Does it just mess up the reading, or will it damage the engine?