Re: [2cylinderhondas] Alan's quest for a 600

[dealadayray]

Hi Wally and Alan;
The cam chain and the hydraulic tensioner are really misunderstood when
owners rebuild their engines. The Blue book (early Honda shop manual)
speaks of how to measure a cam chain when it is out of the engine. Most
owners need to know this before they remove the chain rather than after they
take the engine apart. This is an easy way to check your cam chain while
it is in the engine. Now this is not exact, but every chain I have used
this on had significant wear including stretched almost the length of half a
link. Add this with wear on the sprockets (both cam and crank shafts) and
your looking at chains jumping teeth and braking when the misfires because
the cam no longer is in time.
So if your car has seen 45 thousand miles or better, rotate the timing
mark to the "T" on the side of the case. Then with the oil filler cap off,
use a 17mm open end wrench and move the timing mark backward toward the "F"
on the case while you watch the cam. If the cam does not move by the time
you reach the "F" mark then your cam chain has stretched enough to cause
damage to your engine very soon. I have seen some chains last up to 85
Thousand miles, others no more than 40 Thousand. If you drive aggressively
(hitting the red line or shift mark with every shift) then your looking at
40 to 45 thousand miles to a cam chain. Lighter feet will give you longer
lasting cam chains. But aside from that a well running engine can have a
cam chain change without removing the engine or even doing more than just
pulling the cam. Go to the Files section of the ANZ group page and there
are instructions on how to do it in a few hours start to finish.
You were also speaking of the hydraulic tensioner, it is really an easy
fix if you think it is causing you problems. Some wear beyond cleaning as
it states in the Big Blue book (page 4-20) and they do come apart like it
shows in the illustrations. But it just gets cruded-up and ultimately
causes the check valve to stop working. Cleaning is a must, new "O" rings
also must be used, and put everything back together because there are no
extra parts. What does wear is the Push Rod See the attached page. And
your right, Honda does not sell tensioner push rods. But most owners have
a couple, I know I have more than a few extra.
I hope this helps, because the only real fix for a cam chain is a new
chain, and cleaning the tensioner is a must.
Bill