Disclaimer - all my mods/ideas will kill you and cause athletes foot fungus.
I've seen posts talking about the inherent guessing "how tight is tight enough" about setting the initial tension on the Cam Chain Tensioners (CCT). Manual tensioners seem to have a bias in the instructions suggesting you "adjust till it makes contact with CCT guide then tighten X more turns". We can do better than this type of instruction from vendors like APE.
Here is a technique I use (below, copied from my valve adjust tutorial)
Now we are going to do the initial tightening of the tensioner arm against the cam chain (to remove the remaining cam chain slack). Follow the CCT instructions up to the point where it says to tighten the cam chain tensioner until it makes contact. Now do this below instead of following the manual.
Turn the CCT screw clockwise to the point where the arm makes contact, then snug the cam chain tensioner with some low-to-medium force - don't gorilla it and definitely don't follow the Service Manual (I think it says "turn it an additional half turn" - a great way to over tighten it imo). Just snug the cam chain tensioner up moderately against the cam chain guide with the special tool.
Then take your thumb only, and press hard on the cam chain where it shows in the drawing below, between the two cam gears, and then release. You will see the deflection of the chain when your thumb is pressing down.
Now try to tighten the special tool that was already snugged with low-to-medium force. It will probably be easier to turn again for a small distance because you freed up some chain slack, so go ahead and repeat the tightening with the special tool. Snug the cam chain tensioner up with low-to-medium force again.
Then repeat - use your thumb again, and press hard again on chain between cams, then release. You will see the deflection of the chain when your thumb is pressing down, but it will probably be less deflection than that first press. Now try to tighten the special tool again - it will probably be easier to turn again, so go ahead and repeat the tightening of adjuster screw. Snug the cam chain tensioner up with low-to-medium force again.
Each time you press on the cam chain with your thumb (and you see deflection in the chain), there is more chain slack remaining that you free up, and then remove by tightening the adjusting screw again. But it will probably only need 2 presses & tightening. By the 3rd press, you may see very little or no deflection when pressing down on the cam chain. When that happens you are done "pumping" the cam chain for slack. But always check one last time to see if the special tool has been tightened "snug" against the cam chain guide with low-to-medium force.
If you are more comfortable following the Service Manual, please do. You should always follow the Service Manual.
I've seen posts talking about the inherent guessing "how tight is tight enough" about setting the initial tension on the Cam Chain Tensioners (CCT). Manual tensioners seem to have a bias in the instructions suggesting you "adjust till it makes contact with CCT guide then tighten X more turns". We can do better than this type of instruction from vendors like APE.
I expect some fails are the startup CCT tension adjustment just didn't cut it. We want to know we have set the tension correctly
Here is a technique I use (below, copied from my valve adjust tutorial)
Now we are going to do the initial tightening of the tensioner arm against the cam chain (to remove the remaining cam chain slack). Follow the CCT instructions up to the point where it says to tighten the cam chain tensioner until it makes contact. Now do this below instead of following the manual.
Turn the CCT screw clockwise to the point where the arm makes contact, then snug the cam chain tensioner with some low-to-medium force - don't gorilla it and definitely don't follow the Service Manual (I think it says "turn it an additional half turn" - a great way to over tighten it imo). Just snug the cam chain tensioner up moderately against the cam chain guide with the special tool.
Then take your thumb only, and press hard on the cam chain where it shows in the drawing below, between the two cam gears, and then release. You will see the deflection of the chain when your thumb is pressing down.
Now try to tighten the special tool that was already snugged with low-to-medium force. It will probably be easier to turn again for a small distance because you freed up some chain slack, so go ahead and repeat the tightening with the special tool. Snug the cam chain tensioner up with low-to-medium force again.
Then repeat - use your thumb again, and press hard again on chain between cams, then release. You will see the deflection of the chain when your thumb is pressing down, but it will probably be less deflection than that first press. Now try to tighten the special tool again - it will probably be easier to turn again, so go ahead and repeat the tightening of adjuster screw. Snug the cam chain tensioner up with low-to-medium force again.
Each time you press on the cam chain with your thumb (and you see deflection in the chain), there is more chain slack remaining that you free up, and then remove by tightening the adjusting screw again. But it will probably only need 2 presses & tightening. By the 3rd press, you may see very little or no deflection when pressing down on the cam chain. When that happens you are done "pumping" the cam chain for slack. But always check one last time to see if the special tool has been tightened "snug" against the cam chain guide with low-to-medium force.
If you are more comfortable following the Service Manual, please do. You should always follow the Service Manual.
