Hey guys,

Putting my LA 360 back together and im reusing my old timing set. Its a Cloyes true street roller, and even when it was brand new the chain felt kinda sloppy...I re installed it the other day and im not sure im too happy with how it feels and was thinking of using a tensioner on the chain to take up the slack.

My worry is the reliability of these pieces (All I know of is the MP one...are there other brands?). I have read of some using them with great success and others saying that they get eaten up. My car sees upward of 3000 miles on the street every year, and lots of very hard driving on and off the track. Rpms will be under 7k. Not sure if any of this has a bearing on whether the tensioner will work ok in my application.

Is there any special install guidelines that anyone recommends when using them? special lube? effects on cam degreeing (already degreed the cam but can be done again if I should).

Just looking for some opinions on whether these are a good piece or if I should stay away from them and any tricks or things to watch out for when running them

Thanks
Matthew

I managed to get one when we were doing these all the time in the dealership. Seems like a good idea---but I can tell what happened to mine. I was mocking up my 360 and put the chain on by itself. Motor turned over effortlessly (just crank, cam, and chain). I then put the tensioner on and the struggled to turn the enging over with a 3/8 ratchet. I pulled it right off in the trash it went. I just couldn't see putting the added drag---a significant amount--- on the engine. Not worth it in my opinion at all just for that reason alone, let alone any wear issues tha my occur on the wear pads.

As long as you buy a good double roller, thats about the best your going to do short of going to the Milidon gear drive. Which I eventully did and had rock steady timing.

My motor from Ryan J has one. I beleive he likes them on all his chains.

they work great and my 416 was no harder to turn over with it or with out.

I have run one on my 408 since it was built, I think the benifit of keeping the chain tight out weight's the added drag of the tensioner.

My w-2 & w-5 motors both have them. I plan on using one on my big 360-1 indy motor also.

They were using them in production engines... that
should say something.... I have one on my 416

thanks for the responses so far guys!

As far as making the engine hard to turn over, I don't think I would have that problem since my chain already has quite a bit of slop

For those who are using them, are you lubing them up a certain way before start up?

I guess im just concerned about the pads wearing as that is some of the bad stuff that I hear about. I don't want this motor to have a failure again because of something this small.

They were an "add on" piece for a noisy chain in a 3.9 V6 when I was wrenching at the dealerships. We would put them on only because the TSB and warrenty said to. Good idea, but I took one appart that had 75000 ish miles on it, and its wear pads were down to paper thin almost gone, didnt like seeing that. And that was with a stock baby spring tension. For the guys running solid rollers with more spring pressure that would in my mind put more pressure against a loose chain wearing the pads faster.

I didnt put one on my 408, I have a billet rollmaster chain, and didnt feel the need I guess.

I guess its just personal preferance, and I dont feel the need to run one.

I asked Ryan this when I was ordering parts for my new bullet. He said to run one, so I am. We'll see how it holds up to all the street driving and passes I put on in a year.

They are sold on the aftermarket by Cloyes and I think somebody else. I got mine from Rock Auto.
R.

When you see how much the nylon wears in such a short time, and it's all in the oil/oil pan you'll never run one again!!
Gimmick if you ask me. Buy a good timing set and be done.

I agree,,,,never liked them, never will...dont think you need one. No way of telling from a computer screen what your dealing with as far as "loose", but it could be the align hone if there was one, a cheaper timing set with a chain that stretched easily, sprockets wearing faster than they should, or lack of oil supply to the timing set.

Use a tensioner. The benefits of no slop om the chain far outway not using one. I have taken apart 140k mile smallblocks and the tensioner was not that bad. I would rather have my timing spot on.

I just pulled my motor apart due to a wiped cam after a few thousand miles. When I built it, I installed a Cloyes tensioner.

There is visible wear on the pads. Wish I had pictures handy, but the chain “bars” have worn grooves in the pad. Looks like it wore in until the rollers started hitting the pad, and then stopped. With the effective bearing surface increased, the wear will probably stop.

Before I re-assemble though, I’d like to hear some other tensioner wear stories.

doesnt matter if you put in the most expensive of all timing sets, there will be slop just after a little while.
I use tensioners on all my builds and never have one failed.

I agree here, but its a total crap shoot, and personal preferance. Will one make or break an engine, doubt it, will I run one, NO, do I care if someone else runs one, NO. All part of the Hot rod game. Some people LOVE header wrap, some HATE it, same thing here.

Kasey

I run them in both of my motors

I want the timming spot on Seeing I spray my car