The DS has been a little sluggish every since i put in the 11.5 piston, i actually lost power. (i suspected the timing was off) And since it was installed i have heard excessive clatter coming from the left side of the motor where the timing chain is. so today i took off the valve cover and checked the timing chain and it is extremely loose. Would it be normal for it to be loose when off but when run the tensioner picks up the slack or what? or if it is loose is there anything i can besides buying a new tensioner? thanks.

 

Make sure both chain sliders are in on each side of the chain. Also make sure that the center slider is on, between the two cam sprockets. Then check your tensioner, if you dont have to push it in when you screw the bolt in, its bad, replace it.

 

alright i was just out there checking a few more things and i looked in my shop manual.....and i looked at the marks and they lined up perfectly. and the slack came outta the chain when i cranked it around once. now i am extremely confused though....the lobes are facing each other when the marks line up.... how in the world did that happen?

 

This may be a dumb question but are you locked at TDC?

 

lol after i posted that i went to go see if i could figure out what was going on....the piston was down. so i locked it at TDC and the lobes face away. this is what i dont understand...at TDC the chain is loose so the cam sprocket can move a little before the other one starts to. but when the piston is down the chain is completely tight.....do you guys think that the chain being like this is the cause for my loss of performance...because i lost like 4-6 lengths in 600ft.....

 

It sounds as if your off one tooth. With the piston at tdc on compression stroke, the lobes will be face away from each other, and the marks should line up. If one is completely straight and the other is up, you may be off a tooth. Most I have seen have the marks slightly down in the middle, if you were to put a flat blade across them. There should be almost no slack in the chain at that point. Then check everything else I mentioned.

 

alrighty ill work on it tomorrow and see what needs to be done thanks for the help

 

Take your tensioner out and look at it. Make sure its not stuck in. Does it make noise all the time or just at idle? If its all the time its most likely the tensioner is stuck. If its just at idle....raise your idle up some. If you have other problems like a wrist pin snap ring that fell out......bad news. But dont ignore it and grenade it, if its a serious problem it will get worse. I say if its not the tensioner.....tear it down before it gets worse.

Also if you put a higher compression piston in, you may be out of tune on your carb now. Mine went from a 160 jet to a 165 jet in my TM45. It actually would die when I would go wide open on the 160 jet. I had a little head work done so most of my jetting may be from that change.