Gottago, You are right. The cam tensioner is self adjusting, but you have to make sure that the chain is tight enough that it soesn't slap on startup, but not too tight where it breaks things. Take a look at this thread. Ubeterun has a good post that explains it all in this link.
Link

 

you guys make it sound like the only possiable way it could break was improper adjustment of the cam chain tensioner. i know it was installed correctly, i beleive it was a bad cast with the cam. the timing chain did not break. it is still in good shape although i will replace it with a new one. looking on these posts i can see where this has happened a few times. maybe some of them did happen because of the tensioner but i dont beleive that was the problem here but thanks for the advice.

 

If yours broke where I think it sounds like it did, it seems like it could only be caused by a couple things. 1 would be over tigthening the cam gear bolts, seems like it would have broken not long after you put it in. 2 would be a bad cam. And 3 would be just broke over time.

 

[QUOTE=ccgrady;1362591]you guys make it sound like the only possiable way it could break was improper adjustment of the cam chain tensioner. i know it was installed correctly, i beleive it was a bad cast with the cam. the timing chain did not break. it is still in good shape although i will replace it with a new one. looking on these posts i can see where this has happened a few times. maybe some of them did happen because of the tensioner but i dont beleive that was the problem here but thanks for the advice.
I'm with you!! Did you end up replacing the cam with no other damage? I'm looking at buying one that has this same exact problem. What do you think???