Yes I know slop is fine , however I have a 5.3 lm7 and put a stage 2 turbo cam in and haven’t taken the rotating assembly out or anything. Installed the timing gear and chain and the left side does have a little slack , actually seems tighter than most “slop” but the right side of the chain seems really tight ..

how tight are some of your chains and is this of any concern before I put the crank pulley back on and send it ?

 

You can put an aftermarket tensioner on it if you're concerned. Nothing will change it will just tighten the slack side of the chain.

I usually turn the crank clockwise until the dots line up. If the chain is too loose the dots won't line up. I do this even if it has a tensioner.

 

The right side of the chain is always going to be tight, since it's the "driven" side due to the rotation of the motor. If you're concerned about the slack side, brian tooley sells a tensioner/damper that'll fit the bolts above the crank sprocket (assuming your block is already drilled/tapped in that location).

 

And if it's not (probably not), it's a piece o cake to drill & tap it.

 

Or you could just bolt on the Trick Flow damper kit.

 

Would be nice if someone made a drill fixture.

 

Yeah but I get the feeling the un-tapped LS1s are so few and far between that it's not worth it.

 

I don't think they started drilling them until the Gen 4's, around 2007. Not sure. But there are a ton of truck engines out there that are undrilled. Whether or not someone wants a tensioner is the question.
As far as a fixture goes, all is needed is a drill block or any factory machined part with a hole. And very precise measurements. Could probably make a locator out of a modified Trick Flow tensioner.

And that leads to the question, why not just use the Trick Flow tensioner....

 

You can retro Gen4 LS3 style damper to earlier engines if you’re precise with your drilling. Ive done this to LQ Blocks using a transfer punch and carefully placing and spacing the damper block. Tap holes with M8x1.25, use a shop vac to remove debris. I don’t recommend it with pan on assembled engine though.

 

Yup, very very eeeeeeezy to drill & tap. Extreme precision is not required. And that style is much more secure than the TF thing, which is kinda a Band-Aid.

 

The LS1 that was in my 2002 camaro was drilled for holes. They don't line up with the gen 4 block holes, but they were definitely there on my gen 3. Why I have no idea since I don't think any gen 3 came with a tensioner/damper from the factory.

 

Mine is gen 3 block with gen 4 rods but has the 2 bolt holes drilled for a tensioner. I’m not concerned with the slack on the left I was more concerned with the super tightness on the right side but I guess it’s normal lol thanks guys

 

If you want to loosen the right side just turn it counterclockwise a little. But it runs with that side tight.

 

Tension on the driver's side of the engine (the right, viewed from the front) is COMPLETELY normal.

The crank drives the cam by way of the chain. That's the side it pulls on. Whatever resistance to turning the cam offers, such as the valve springs, takes effort to turn it. That tightens the chain on that side.

No tensioner of any kind will lessen that.