rielcrazy

Hi we just swapped a timing chain on my buddies 98 t/a. it had slack and was clacking. when we opened it up we found that it had been replaced with a double roller. We replaced it with an ls2 chain and sprockets. We did not reinstall the spacers that were behind the oil pump.

When we start it now it clacks like crazy . Any input?

chevybayboy

iTrader: (6)

Take the timing cover back off make sure everything right I do believe if you change to the ls2 timing set you need some sort of spacer

badazz81z28

iTrader: (6)

There should not be spacers on the oil pump with the LS2 chain. Did you rotate it by hand and made sure the clearence was ok (not hitting anything)? Did you forget to torque the bolts? Were the cam retaining bolts backed out? Hitting the sprocket?

chevybayboy

iTrader: (6)

Not a spacer on the oil pump, bit on the retainer sprocket or in that area... Another member on here ran into that problem, from changing to ls2 sprocket set

I missed the part where he said they had spacer behind oil pump my bad

badazz81z28

iTrader: (6)

Oh...I see...What ever came of that? I know many people run them just like stock and have zero issues. My LS1 Crate came from GM with the LS2 chain and no spacer installed.

chevybayboy

iTrader: (6)

I run ls2 timing chain alone with ls1 timing gear and sprocket and have no issue but I think if you switch to the ls2 timing gear its suppose to be thicker and needs a shim or somthing

rielcrazy

thanks for the replies, I double checked torque on all bolts and he went behind me and did the same. He purchased a "kit" from a gm dealer with both sprockets and the chain, it didn't have any spacers or shims and was the direct replacement part for the ls1 according to the parts guy (claimed the ls1 chain part # had been replaced by this pn which is the ls2 chain).

The ONLY thing I noticed was when putting on the cam timing gear was that the dowel did not really come all the way through the cam gear though it did line up and it did hang from it, all the bolts torqued up fine and as best as we could tell everything appeared lined up super straight (the chain running from cam to crank i mean appeared lined up).

Anyone know if the double roller has some sort of spacer behind the cam gear as well as the oil pump??? I didn't see one that I recall and havn't seen any kits that come with one.....

OH, one other thing.... We pulled the ignition relay and just cranked the motor with the starter and it makes NO clanking noises that we can hear. Only makes the noise when it starts..... when it does start it idles for a second and dies. we didn't want to keep running it so we only did that twice.

to be more specific, the noise literally sounds like a dropped valve, loud hammering clanking (no way it can be a dropped valve i'm just trying to give some reference).

weird right?

chevybayboy

iTrader: (6)

The ls1 chain was replaced with the ls2 by gm .. for the double roller I know you have to do something for clearence ... Take timing cover back off make sure everything is good when you lined the cam and crank gear did you line up dot to dot with cylinder 1 on compression stroke?

Camaroo1

Are you sure you don't have it off time and the valves are hitting the pistons?

rielcrazy

We arranged the sprockets dot to dot prior to removal and then removed and reinstalled the new sprockets again lining up dot to dot. The cam gear could only go on one way (lined up with the dowel) and the crank gear has a woodruff key slot which only allows it to go on one way as well which resulted as we expected in the gears being dot to dot after the reinstall as well (since cam wasn't removed and nothing moved the dots should not come out of alignment which was what we expected and what we found). So we are 100% certain that the cam and crank gears are in precisly the same alignment as they were prior to this swap.

The reason for the removal if I didn't mention before was a loose chain.... I don't suppose the car could have jumped a sprocket because it wasn't making this ticking noise when we drove it into the bay (was making a chain slap noise but nothing this violent I mean this thing is loud).

anyone who has had a timing chain aignment issue that can comment on the volume of the noise assosciated???? I can't imagine how it could be out of alignment but we didn't do the original build and I don't know if it's an aftermarket oil pump or if the cam was ground with a double roller in mind or what.

whats more we didn't take anything else apart so it almost certainly has to be the chain i'm guessing just can't figure out why.

chevybayboy

iTrader: (6)

Ok when you lined up dot to dot the crank key should be at 1:30 on compression stroke dot to dot if so then its aligned right your going to have to take the cover off dude

rielcrazy

yeah, crank key was at 1:30 so I'm guessing alignment is fine. I suppose it will have to come apart again just wish I knew where to look, hate to pull it apart, find nothing, and be stumped.

chevybayboy

iTrader: (6)

When you guys put everything back on did you rotate the engine by hand to make sure everything was ok?? Did they give you the right chain?

87caprice318

iTrader: (1)

When you put the chain back one with the cover off and the dots are lined up "dot to dot" and everything is bolted back together, does the chain still have slack/looseness in it? Are the bolts on the cam sprocket torqued? before you go about and put the cover back on, spin the motor and pay close attention in there to see if its hitting on some and that everything is back together RIGHT. Also, is your timing cover smashed in?