Timing Chain advice

87GNcospg

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Jun 23, 2003
I am going to be replacing the timing chain on my 87 in the next few weeks as preventative maintenance. After some research i discovered this thread http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/threads/timing-chain.381378/page-2

part number is TA V1522B link to TA performance http://www.taperformance.com/proddetail.asp?prod=TA_V1522B

My goals are to have a car putting down close to 500 hp in the next year so everything i am doing needs to support this goal. Is this my best option for a timing chain setup or should i look at getting a double roller and ditch the tensioner? Any other parts or suggestions i should do to the car while im tackling the timing chain/water pump job would help as well.
 
Yep. Thats the one. Though I haven't tried the TA I have run a double roller with no issues for several years.
 
Is there more room for failure with a double roller? I feel like without a tensioner then there is nothing to dampen the slack in the chains when you let off the throttle from high rpms. Am i over thinking this?
 
Is there more room for failure with a double roller? I feel like without a tensioner then there is nothing to dampen the slack in the chains when you let off the throttle from high rpms. Am i over thinking this?

Yes, there IS more room for a failure with a double roller? You are absolutely correct about the slack in the chain being an issue. :)

Many have run a double roller for years and had no issues, but MANY higher HP owners have had lots issues with the double roller chains and the gears.

Some of the posts here have no clue about the real need for a tensioner on our V-6 with its uneven firing pulses? Why did Buick put them on the V-6 engines, but not on the V-8's?:confused:

Also, the double roller chain itself is not nearly as strong as a link chain since it has less than 1/2 the number of links as in a double roller chain.

Only Rollmaster and Avon have double roller chain sets for the V-6 Buick with a billet cam gear, and the rest have a cast gear. It will only take a few 1000 miles for a cast gear to wear, and the chain becomes slack.

Most of the broken chains I have experienced, and the many more I know of others having failures`are higher HP and RPM engines, and lots have broken coming out of a burnout where letting off the throttle lets the chain "whip" as there is no tensioner. :(

Now that a link set is available with billet steel gears, I have trashed my double roller sets, and do not have to replace roller chains after every 40 passes.

As a final note, there has been some recent engines built with the link set that have 2 tensioners installed, one on each side. :D
 
Yes, there IS more room for a failure with a double roller? You are absolutely correct about the slack in the chain being an issue. :)

Many have run a double roller for years and had no issues, but MANY higher HP owners have had lots issues with the double roller chains and the gears.

Some of the posts here have no clue about the real need for a tensioner on our V-6 with its uneven firing pulses? Why did Buick put them on the V-6 engines, but not on the V-8's?:confused:

Also, the double roller chain itself is not nearly as strong as a link chain since it has less than 1/2 the number of links as in a double roller chain.

Only Rollmaster and Avon have double roller chain sets for the V-6 Buick with a billet cam gear, and the rest have a cast gear. It will only take a few 1000 miles for a cast gear to wear, and the chain becomes slack.

Most of the broken chains I have experienced, and the many more I know of others having failures`are higher HP and RPM engines, and lots have broken coming out of a burnout where letting off the throttle lets the chain "whip" as there is no tensioner. :(

Now that a link set is available with billet steel gears, I have trashed my double roller sets, and do not have to replace roller chains after every 40 passes.

As a final note, there has been some recent engines built with the link set that have 2 tensioners installed, one on each side. :D

Thanks for the information. I'll be ordering the previously mentioned timing set once TA Performance gets back from vacation.
Is there anything else i should look at replacing/upgrading while I am doing the timing chain, front cover, and water pump?
 
If you're running a small off the shelf cam with weak springs you can have a lot of things wrong and still not have failure regardless of power level. Id run the correct slack double roller or a stock style with billet cam gear and tensioner. If your block has been line bored it's nice to have a few extra cam gears or sets laying around in .002 increments so you're not waiting for parts which may be out of stock. ive seen very sloppy chains and worn out cam gears and the engines ran fine. If you were running high spring pressure and a lot of rpm the room for error is a lot less
 
I've had pretty good luck with the Cloyes billet set.


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A side note, I like to drill a small hole (.020) in the gallery plug to feed extra oil to the chain and cam gear. Without it that area doesn't get adequate oiling and will contribute to gear wear and chain stretch. Also helps to get oil to the cam sensor.
 
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