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So I’m putting together a LQ4 for boost. Block is line honed. Based on that, I ordered a Cloyes set which .005 shorter to compensate for shorter distance between crack and camshaft. I tried it today and it came out tightest I ever seen on these. I’ve seen some with 3/4” or so slack. This has maybe 1/8” slack. Now, while it feels great to see finally one came out with little to no slack, making me also wonder if it’s “too tight” and affects cam bearings or what exactly happens when motor gets hot. What you guys think…
Well, it depends on how much material is removed to get the main bores back to the correct size.
Typically a line hone doesn’t remove much material.
A line bore will depending on how far off things were.
I’m not sure I would have opted for the shorter chain unless the machine shop advised it.
I use the single roller hex adjust on my blocks, both alum and both align honed. The chains are pretty tight.
Although they don’t stay nice and tight after some miles.
Agree with Ron and PDX. A hone won’t really move the centers, especially on an iron block. A line hone really just “kisses” material, whereas a line bore will remove a significant amount. As said, I’d probably opt for the standard length timing set and return this one. Timing chain slack, or play, is needed to allow for thermal variances, harmonic transfer, and unwanted cam bearing wear. A double chain set won’t stretch as fast as a single chain, but will stretch eventually.
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Timing chain too tight? 
