Timing chain virgin.

[stonedrive]

Hi everyone, slowly ticking off jobs on the stag. Had a go at the timing chains today for the first time with new chains, guides and tensioners, I had Hans (rimmers) and ROM helping me along the way. Posted some photos to see what you think. Everything seemed to go to plan but your views would be appreciated. Cheers Steve IMG_0569.jpg IMG_0567.jpg

[sujitroy]

I would reduce the gap in the tensioner to a minimum.

[stonedrive]

Hi Sujitroy, how do I do that because that’s where they wanted to settle and there is no slack chain. Many thanks Steve

[sujitroy]

take the tensioner off. be careful as they will now spring open and the spring inside will fly across the floor. you will need to reset the tensioner. the book should say to put a thin piece of card between tensioner body and foot. to reset the tensioner, take off, separate and rotate the back part back in until it clicks into the back of the foot. the gap ideally should only be a few millimeters

[NeilR]

If they were new tensioners, they should have come with plastic spacers.
They will need reseting now as mentioned above, refit with plastic spacers in, adjust guides so no play in chain, then remove plastic spacers. Gap should be 3-4 millimeters max.

[stonedrive]

Many thanks, the gap is 8mm so too much then. I will give it a go tomorrow and try to readjust. Cheers Steve

[NeilR]

3-4 is absolute max, aim for 2mm.

8mm is like they have done 20,000 miles already.

[stonedrive]

Hi Neil I’m way over then. Thanks for your advice much appreciated. Steve

[richardthestag]

hats off to you for getting stuck into this stuff

My only gotcha on chains is that the short RH / driver side chain can easily go in one link off.

use a straight edge, even a standard steel rule will do the job. drop the edge into the slots on cam cap #1 and alight the rest of the edge along the middle of the other caps. You can easily see if the cam is aligned.

What I generally have to do is use a suitable spanner on the back end of the RH cam and counter rotate it a few degrees to allow the chain to line up. then when the spanner tension is released it is perfick.

Others above have mentioned about tensioners, but wind the tensioner right in so that the spring is locked into the base. then a nice big old penny washer probably 2mm thick but cut into a horseshoe can sit between the tensioner body and the back of the tensioner shoe. this means that you can set the chain guides right but without the tensioner interfering. When happy, remove the washer and push the tensioner shoe into it's housing, this should engage the tensioner mechanism so that it is now tensioning under the spring and ratchet mechanism. if not sure there is no harm in unbolting the tensioner to see if the shoe is free from the end cap. then reset it, and bolt it back up again and then push the thing back into the housing assured that the tensioner will be set up correctly

[jbuckl]

It’s worth checking, at this stage, that the l.h. Head long straight guide is not giving hard (uneven ) chain contact at the top…. Quite a few were poorly made and only contacted at the top.

Fettling required to adjust this…. Slots and material removal

[richardthestag]

I understand what you mean Julian and no disrespect to other forum members but maybe a little more detail would help folk understand.. btw, never seen this issue

[jbuckl]

I understand what you mean Julian and no disrespect to other forum members but maybe a little more detail would help folk understand.. btw, never seen this issue

Sorry I don’t have photos of the hard contact as installed… but armed with this info, it’s easy to see / observe from upstairs so to speak.

its this corner iirc

it’s always possible the issue has been resolved…. But definitely worth checking.

IMG_4517.jpg

[dasadrew]

Yes, my old guides rubber was worn away completely in that area. Didn't take a photo though.

2012 - 12 - 007 mod.jpg

[richardthestag]

Cheers Julian and Drew, all this collective detail helps

[jbuckl]

Yes, my old guides rubber was worn away completely in that area. Didn't take a photo though.

2012 - 12 - 007 mod.jpg

Chain is on incorrect side… for clarification, not being critical .