Timing set woes

middleagecrisis said
What is the brand of that T/C? I've seen the cheaper TRW double roller chains develop stretch like that after not very many miles. I'd put a new Cloyes double roller on and not worry about it. Too much slop in my opinion.

This was the top of the line Cloyes ($120) 10-years ago

nm9stheham said
Safe to use? Yes. Not a ton of slop there so maybe a couple of degrees of cam variation; put the damper on and see how much you can turn the crank back and forth 'til the slop is taken up one way and then the other. Then check to see how much the movement on the damper mark equates to degrees on the timing cover marks. If this was a low performance engine, I would use it.

And if the block mains were align honed, then any chain will have a bit of slop in it.

Im assuming something with the cam to crank centerline, I put it on the 273 and the slack became less... It didnt go away but its significantly less. The brand new parts store stocker I had is on the 318 and it still has a decent amount of slop.