slack in timing chain

[cenok is family]

i just assembled my motor last night. most parts are either new or have been machined so everything went smoothly. when i put my timing chain on, i noticed there is a pretty good amount of slack in it. if i'm correct, there's supposed to be a little bit, right? i can grab the chain on either side between the sprockets and move it 1/4" to 1/2". does it sound like i need a new chain? thanks guys!

 

[Busted07]

Did you buy the summit brand chain? The reason im asking is thats what i bought, and it had ALOT of slack in it. I think at most it was supposed to have 1/2" of deflection, and mine was right there.

I didnt want to start a new motor with a loose chain, so i bought the FRPP chain (45-50 bucks i think) and it fit perfectly.

I took a picture just in case anyone ever asked...

Here is the slack in the summit chain.

and...

how it should look..

I didnt get a picture with the FRPP piece on it because we slapped the timing cover on right after we installed it. but the frpp one looked tight like the bottom picture. In the instructions, it stated that you are supposed to turn the motor over, and that load will put a little tension on the chain, however, even with doing that, mine was loose as hell. I think if you have 1/2" of deflection right now, i would get another one. once your chain stretches even a little bit, it will be out of the maximum allowable limit

 

[cenok is family]

yeah mine looks about like that top pic. i'm not sure which chain it is, it was on the motor before though. i'll get some pics up tonight. when i was rotating the motor to adjust my rockers, tension was put on one side of the chain and the other side was left with slack. i didn't like that at all. thanks for the heads up and info, i appreciate it. also, where did you get the frpp piece? i'll order if i have to but i'd rather get locally so i can get my motor together asap. also, i'm checking some out on ebay, summit, etc, and i've found ones that say .250" diameter and .200", which one would i need or does it matter? thanks again!

 

[Busted07]

yeah mine looks about like that top pic. i'm not sure which chain it is, it was on the motor before though. i'll get some pics up tonight. when i was rotating the motor to adjust my rockers, tension was put on one side of the chain and the other side was left with slack. i didn't like that at all. thanks for the heads up and info, i appreciate it. also, where did you get the frpp piece? i'll order if i have to but i'd rather get locally so i can get my motor together asap. also, i'm checking some out on ebay, summit, etc, and i've found ones that say .250" diameter and .200", which one would i need or does it matter? thanks again!

No problem man ! I believe that when you rotate the motor, one side of the chain is supposed to be tighter than the other. They tell ya in the instructions to do that (get the tension on 1 side) then measure the defelction on the loose side.

This is the one i got... http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=FMS-M-6268-A302&autoview=sku

And for our cars, the only other one i see is the steel version here... http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=FMS-M-6268-B302&autoview=sku

and actually, i didnt see the steel one when i got mine, although i dont really know the difference besides maybe the steel one weighs a little less.

 

[Modular2v]

its suppose to have about a 1/4 inch worth of slack in it

 

[Busted07]

its suppose to have about a 1/4 inch worth of slack in it

Right, but if he starts off with a chain that already has the maximum allowable amount of slack, IMO, he should replace that thing asap

 

[Modular2v]

agreed

 

[smr]

if you have had the block align bored you may need to get undersized chain as well. ling boring can move the cam center to crank center distance a hair. I am running a .005 under chain.

 

[cenok is family]

i went ahead and bought a new one. there's pretty much no slack in the new chain i got. i just went to oreilly's and got a cloyes "HO" one. seems to be a pretty good piece. thanks for all the help guys!

 

[Sicarius428]

I got one of the summit brand ones and it had very little slack. Guess i got lucky.
Kevin