What's your opinion on the slack in this 318 timing chain?

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67CBodyGuy said:
The spec distance seems to be 6.125 inches. Cloyes has race billet sets for 6.120 and 6.115. I don't need a race billet with adjustable sprocket, but I would entertain an affordable set for 6.120 just to buy and try. But who makes them? Who sells them?

Are belt kits available for the 318?
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You're not going to get a custom length chain for cheap. How sure are you that you even need that?
 
I dunno, my old 340 ran better and better at top end as the chain wore. 'course, it got to the point that advancing the timing was the only way it would start. so, every nine months, it got a new chain.
 
abdywgn said:
I dunno, my old 340 ran better and better at top end as the chain wore. 'course, it got to the point that advancing the timing was the only way it would start. so, every nine months, it got a new chain.
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Well yeah, it kept on retarding the timing. As you retard timing, it increases top end power. To a point. lol
 
It depends if you are going to put the miles on it replace it if its a strip car how many more runs till ya tear it down etc. If one is really worried about timing accuracy go to a gear drive. The chains work and worked well for years...they aren't supposed to be zero slack tight either...that causes other problems.
 
roll dice and let it ride or throw $100 at it as cheap insurance.

are you a gambling man? is it a performance oriented application?

if this is just bread and butter 2bbl or a no juice 4bbl cruiser i'd button that up and ship it. that $100 is better spent on dancing girls and opium.
 
My opinion.... my experience ..... under normal conditions, double roller chains and no nylon sprockets equals couple hundred thousand miles without issues with good, clean oil.
:)
 
junkyardhero said:
roll dice and let it ride or throw $100 at it as cheap insurance.

are you a gambling man? is it a performance oriented application?

if this is just bread and butter 2bbl or a no juice 4bbl cruiser i'd button that up and ship it. that $100 is better spent on dancing girls and opium.
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I guess you didn't get the memo. Inflation.
 
I measured it (not by degrees). With a straight-edge against the sprockets I can push the middle of the chain 0.318 inches (yes - it was 318 I swear!). That's 5/16 inch (5.1 / 16 to be exact). So it's not the 1/2 inch that's supposed to be the rule of thumb for replacement.

There's a lot of things you can replace "just because you're there" that's cheap and you're reasonably sure you're not taking a step backwards (like thermostat, water pump, this or that bushing or tie rod end). I'm not convinced that a timing set is one of those, not in my case.

What's tight, for a new chain? 1/16 inch? 1/4 inch? 0/16 (barely able to put it on) ? My experience is with timing belts on the LH-era 3.5L so I don't know what to expect here. I only have read that new chains are not necessarily tight.

Since I'm in Kanada and the local prices can be krazy, I end up buying from Rockauto, and in this case I'm seeing timing sets from EnginTech, FVP, Cloyes, Melling, Ultra-power, with prices that range from $26 to $190 (that's CAD). The $190 is a Cloyes race billet undersized by .010 with 9-Keyway crank sprocket. The "heavy duty" Melling or Cloyes (double rollers) are $50.

Probably at some point I'll notice one of those on wholesaler discount and buy it next time I'm getting something from RA, but for now like I said I'm going to leave this chain on.....
 
67CBodyGuy said:
I measured it (not by degrees). With a straight-edge against the sprockets I can push the middle of the chain 0.318 inches (yes - it was 318 I swear!). That's 5/16 inch (5.1 / 16 to be exact). So it's not the 1/2 inch that's supposed to be the rule of thumb for replacement.

There's a lot of things you can replace "just because you're there" that's cheap and you're reasonably sure you're not taking a step backwards (like thermostat, water pump, this or that bushing or tie rod end). I'm not convinced that a timing set is one of those, not in my case.

What's tight, for a new chain? 1/16 inch? 1/4 inch? 0/16 (barely able to put it on) ? My experience is with timing belts on the LH-era 3.5L so I don't know what to expect here. I only have read that new chains are not necessarily tight.

Since I'm in Kanada and the local prices can be krazy, I end up buying from Rockauto, and in this case I'm seeing timing sets from EnginTech, FVP, Cloyes, Melling, Ultra-power, with prices that range from $26 to $190 (that's CAD). The $190 is a Cloyes race billet undersized by .010 with 9-Keyway crank sprocket. The "heavy duty" Melling or Cloyes (double rollers) are $50.

Probably at some point I'll notice one of those on wholesaler discount and buy it next time I'm getting something from RA, but for now like I said I'm going to leave this chain on.....
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Wise decision in my humble opinion. I still believe what you already have is better than the junk that's forced on us. Even names such as moog, BF Goodrich, timkin, etc etc that were once associated with quality are now compromised and produced off shore in the name of profit. If your timing chain had 100,000 miles on it ok yeah change it out but not with minimal slack and 10,000 miles. Again just my thoughts, others may disagree.
 
67CBodyGuy said:
I measured it (not by degrees). With a straight-edge against the sprockets I can push the middle of the chain 0.318 inches (yes - it was 318 I swear!). That's 5/16 inch (5.1 / 16 to be exact). So it's not the 1/2 inch that's supposed to be the rule of thumb for replacement.

There's a lot of things you can replace "just because you're there" that's cheap and you're reasonably sure you're not taking a step backwards (like thermostat, water pump, this or that bushing or tie rod end). I'm not convinced that a timing set is one of those, not in my case.

What's tight, for a new chain? 1/16 inch? 1/4 inch? 0/16 (barely able to put it on) ? My experience is with timing belts on the LH-era 3.5L so I don't know what to expect here. I only have read that new chains are not necessarily tight.

Since I'm in Kanada and the local prices can be krazy, I end up buying from Rockauto, and in this case I'm seeing timing sets from EnginTech, FVP, Cloyes, Melling, Ultra-power, with prices that range from $26 to $190 (that's CAD). The $190 is a Cloyes race billet undersized by .010 with 9-Keyway crank sprocket. The "heavy duty" Melling or Cloyes (double rollers) are $50.

Probably at some point I'll notice one of those on wholesaler discount and buy it next time I'm getting something from RA, but for now like I said I'm going to leave this chain on.....
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Well, you made a decision at least. In my mind how long will it be before that 5/16 is 1/2 or more? Probably not long. Good luck!
 
Just one more data point here. I put a 1.25 inch wrench (16 inches long) on the crank bolt and measured as best I could how much I can move the end of the wrench to take up the chain slack. It was 1 inch. By my math, that's 3.6 crank degrees.
 
Bennoel 10 said:
Wise decision in my humble opinion. I still believe what you already have is better than the junk that's forced on us. Even names such as moog, BF Goodrich, timkin, etc etc that were once associated with quality are now compromised and produced off shore in the name of profit. If your timing chain had 100,000 miles on it ok yeah change it out but not with minimal slack and 10,000 miles. Again just my thoughts, others may disagree.
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I have a belief that they will continue to produce junk parts until people stop repairing old vehicles...as long as people pay they will still sell us junk till we give up.
 
I was thinking that chain when spinning in the proper direction the slack is on the left side or back side like when you measure it shouldn't effect much at all its sorta like the drive/coast side of rear gears one side id driving the other side isn't in the chain it when the chain stretches so bad that the timing loss is on the drive side that you'd be concerned like the correlation between the cam and crank gear actually changes that is the significance of the 1/2 inch measurement being the no go point I'm thinking. I tend to ioverthink but the engineers knew what they were doing with their specs etc. LOL!
 
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