Chain Tensioner Damage Issue

[KVH]

I'm not sure I want to hear the answer, so please make it gentle:

I see that the front engine plate has been cut and marred over the years by the Timing Chain Tensioner. Not the timing cover, but the front engine plate. There's a 1/32 inch gouge. Actually two, about 1/2 apart.

To me it doesn't look materials because the tensioner, or a new one, shouldn't rub there anyway, and even if it did, the cover is going to keep the tensioner where it should be. I'm assuming that years ago someone left a washer off the tensioner and it had too much play. It just shouldn't bend toward the engine like that.

I may also be deluding myself into a state of euphoria so that I can put my car back to together and admire it before the next thing goes wrong.

Thoughts?

 

[70herald]

Why don't you post a picture, but if it is just the plate, and it isn't causing an oil leak then I would not be worried, just clean it up so there are no loose bits of metal and ignore it.

 

[sp53]

I have four of those bear plates at home and every one of them has those scares and 1/32 is not very much. You can drive it or fix it. I do not think it will make much difference. I fixed one by removing it and filling it with weld and grinding it off flat.

 

[TR3driver]

I agree, the groove in my front plate is deeper than 1/32" and it doesn't seem to cause any problems at all. Never really looked into why it rubs.

But I picked up one of Joe Alexander's alloy front plates for my 'someday' hotrod motor anyway, just cuz.

Here's a shot of the groove on one of the spare motors. Sorry it's not very good, but I was leaning over the jigsaw and shooting more-or-less blind.

 

[Don Elliott]

Randall - If it digs into a steel plate like that, what will it do the the aluminium plate from Joe. What does he have to say about this ?

 

[Tinkerman]

Since I had my front plate off, I had it fill welded and ground down, then I painted it and it was good as new.

Regards, Tinkerman

 

[rlandrum]

I noticed this in my recent rebuild. I assumed is was as-designed and opted to do nothing. I guess we'll see...

 

[Brosky]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]what will it do the the aluminum plate from Joe[/QUOTE]

I guess that we'll find out in a few years on my engine. Oddly, my TR6 original plate had very little if any wear on that area.

 

[Moseso]

My plate was similarly scarred, so I thought it would be a good idea to add a thin washer, between the spring and the plate, on the pivot pin where it attaches -- just to lift it off the plate a little bit. Time will tell if it did any good (or harm)...

 

[Brosky]

There was a tiny washer under mine. Interesting. I never thought about that, because I assumed that they all had them.

 

[TR3driver]

Randall - If it digs into a steel plate like that, what will it do the the aluminium plate from Joe. What does he have to say about this ?

Here are Joe's responses :

<span style="color: #000099">Glad it came up.....I have about 70 racers running them around the world.

Mine went on first and I have tracked it for distortion and wear. I have no wear at all. Can it be 4 years ago, already? Maybe 5.

I was careful in mounting the tensioner, but I was still a little surprised that I didnt get some amount of scraping.

I am pleased. These things are always done with some risk, but this is a success. Fully reviewed with Kastner, he applauds the efforts. Included in his books, too.

The six cylinder versions came under some comments with some engineering type dialogue. ("Where is your engineering data?") I told him (kindly) that the data was empirical. Kas did this routinely, in his day, and painted them black to avoid attention.

Share this as you wish. Thanks for the visibility to the Forum Discussion. These are legitimate questions. </span>

and also

<span style="color: #000099">Some things to consider.....pretty obvious stuff.

the condition of the chain.
the condition of the sprockets
the mounting of the tensioner.
aftermarket parts.........

I use OEM parts, when ever I can find original parts, even when they are used. </span>

 

[Moseso]

There was a tiny washer under mine. Interesting. I never thought about that, because I assumed that they all had them.

I'm going to guess that somebody else, who's been in there, had the same idea I had. I don't know from TR6s, but the TR3 literature makes no mention of this washer. Not the shop manual, not the parts catalog. Seems like a good idea, though. You'd think they might have made this change by TR6.

 

[foxtrapper]

The tensioners weren't exactly high tech and precisely made to begin with. The replacements are even worse. Some wear damage from them is unfortunately to be expected as a result. But it shouldn't be critical or particularly important.

One could theoretically mitigate the damage with a replaceable wear surface. One could also true the rubbing surfaces.

 

[angelfj1]

The parts catalog does not show a spacer between the tensioner and the engine front plate.