Manual cam chain tensioner?

[terry]

G'Day Guys, well I'm doing an el-cheapo top end rebuild on my spare GS1000E engine so I'll be able to ride my bike (summer almost here in Oz) while I collect some new parts for my GS1000S engine restification, anyway, when turning the engine over by hand with the cam chain tensioner correctly fitted/adjusted, I was a bit surprised to see the cam chain slapping up and down between the cams as it got tight then loose then tight again as the valves opened and closed.

I'm only running stock cams, and the chain might be a bit stretched after 50K miles, but I'm a bit perturbed that the auto cam chain adjuster is not maintaining the tension that I'd expect. The cam chain wasn't noisy with the engine running, however it doesn't inspire confidence, so I'm thinking, why not a manual tensioner? Any discussion?

Has anyone got any pics of manual tensioners that I can um, pliagerise? I've already made a "prototype" that works very well as I turn the engine over on the bench with a 19mm spanner, but because I've pulled this design out of my butt basically, I want to make sure that it will hold up under stress before I give it a big handful of revs? I'll post some pics shortly, so you can all tell me where I went wrong, ha ha! Cheers, Terry. :twisted:

[Anonymous]

This post might help: http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...ic.php?t=21832

And here's a picture of an APE manual camchain tensioner: http://www.gszone.biz/sprockets.html

[Mobetter]

Biker66 is a member of this site.
Check out his website an click on modifications
and read what he did for a manual cam chain adj.
I just made one myself but I just used one long 5 1/2"
3/8" bolt.
Mo

http://medlem.spray.se/biker66/index.html

[oldschoolGS]

I made my own years ago- it has stood up to about 25,000 miles of hard use running .350 lift cams. Simply took the stock adjuster and removed the spring mechanism and had the angled part of the body drilled and tapped by a machine shop. I still us the stock push rod with the taper on the end-it bears the load. The threaded rod I added merely exerts pressure on the tapered part of the push rod at a 90 degree angle preventing the push rod from moving backward. The threaded rod has a lock washer and nut on it to keep it from backing out.

http://groups.msn.com/SuzukiGSGarage/gs750edbacktolife.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=4417

Good Luck, Ed
1983 GS750ED

[terry]

Thanks Guys, I finished the manual cam chain adjuster yesterday and it works really well too, I was surprised at how quiet the engine now is with only minimal cam chain deflection. I spoke to my cousin on Saturday about it, he's an ex-factory Suzy mechanic, and he said he'd fitted quite a few manual adjusters for hi-po GS musclebikes back in the '70's and '80's, as there was a lot riding on what was considered a fairly weak spring.

My "El-Cheapo" top end rebuild worked great too, considering I just ran my flex hone hone thru some standard original 50,000 mile cylinders, (re-using another old set of pistons and cylinders, as mine are ready for the coke can factory) and even re-used the head and base gaskets (albeit with careful cleaning and torqueing) so I was surprised to see a genuine 220 Kmh (137.5 Mph) at around 10,000 RPM in 5th gear with standard gearing yesterday on a nice quiet stretch of road, magic! I tried a rather unconventional method of breaking the rings in, and was surprised at how well it all worked.

I also found a small "high flow" fuel tap at the swap meet I went to on Saturday, the screw spacing is all wrong though, so I'll have to make an adapter, so more on that later. Cheers, Terry. :twisted: