Didn't notice until re-assembly, but the new metal guides in my timing chain kit are opposite the factory ones. I need this weekend to get most of this project done on time so I'm pretty miffed, wondering if this is important or not and whether I can proceed or not.....




As you can see, the slotted hole on the factory guide is on the right (and yes, those are cracks all over my old guides....). On the new ones it's on the left. This means the one bolt holding this on, though it will be torqued down, is now in a slotted hole and not a fitted one. If you "flipped" the new guide to have the slotted hole up on the pin (or dowel if you prefer), like the factory one and as per instructions, the "back rail" is now towards the front of the car and not the back, and doesn't line up with the curved guide.

Does it matter that the torqued bolt is in the slotted hole? With the sized hole now on the pin / dowel the guide should not move. With this being totally different than what I took off I just want to be sure before I proceed. I can't believe with as many people there are who've done this, this hasn't come up before, or I haven't seen a post about it....

Thanks!

 

I know they are different, but try fitting them like my engine, here.

 

Do a search of my posts and you'll find my engine repair thread, lots of close up shots of the timing chain bits.

 

When I installed those in my XJ8 engine I was told they would work. It has been over a year now and they are doing fine.

 

Please see attached photo.

My car has been making some noise from this area. I removed both the super charger belt and the serpentine belt and it still made the noise, so I pulled the valve cover and had a peek at the primary tensioners. This is the photo of the top tensioner.

Please confirm or deny what I think I'm seeing which is that the orange nylon is completely missing from this top tensioner. I can see shiny marks on the chain where it must be polishing itself on this surface...I think.

Something that is strange to me is that it does not make noise when cold, but only after idling for 5 minutes or so it starts...

The bottom primary tensioner still has the nylon, but is cracked in some places.

 

Note, I had already changed the secondary tensioners (which was much easier)

I think the plan right now is going to be to pull everything off the front of the engine, expose the tensioners, and just change the tensioners, and leave the chains in place. The car only has 56K miles and has always had good synthetic oils since day one.

When I bought the car and pulled the valve covers to do the 2ndary tensioners, there was zero oil residue anywhere, so much so that my buddy Buck said "Wow, this guy changed his oil often!"

If the chains look questionable I will change them too, but they look near perfect in this photo.

Any advice of where to buy these primary tensionsers?