[PICS] How much slack should the timing chain have?

[AdamP]

Basically, at idle and momentarily at low accelerating RPMs the motor would make a sound like the chain was hitting the guide so that's why I pulled the valve cover. It wasn't a continuous noise, just on idle and these various instances.

Upon inspection, the top guide was perfectly mounted on there. It was not loose at all. I took the top guide off and it had some minor abrasions in the top from the chain.

The timing chain has a little bit of slack in it (granted the tensioner is operated on oil pressure). I took a screwdriver and I poked around on the chain down on the bottom tensioner and it was pretty tight. From the pics, do you think the chain should look like that?

(SR20DET)

From what I can tell there doesn't seem to be any slack anywhere else. The tensioners job is to get rid off the slack between the intake gear and the bottom gear? Right? So even if that would be working, it wouldn't really matter on that slack between the two upper gears.

The car seemed to run fine as well. No bogging or funny timing related issues I think.

As a side question, I wiped down the mating surfaces so that they are free of silicone. Should I use a degreaser as well or is this fine. Basically I just took a rag and wiped off the residue so they may be a bit greasy. Lastly, what is the procedure in applying the RTV sealer to the half-moon cam seals and valve cover, valve gasket?

[180fan]

you apply the RTV on the moon plugs where it meets up to the head. no need for the rtv elsewhere. I'd probably leave the little bit of rtv that pokes out.

that chain looks good. That's almost none and it'll clear up the slack even more when you start it up. the mating surfaces should be free of oil and stuff. so yeah you should just wipe it down with a rag and some brake cleaner and then apply the rtv between those mating surfaces.