Blade Style Timing Chain Tensioner On '04 EV Hydro. Not Fitting. Solved.

[Tom H]

So I finally got my parts today. New oil pump, new tensioner. Thought great, I'll have the engine buttoned up today. Wrong!

The oil pump went well. But the tensioner did not.

I'm trying to install one of these



So it will look like this



The tensioner mount will not fit. It hits a casting in the case so that it will not sit level / flush on the bearing flange as you can see in the first pic with the bolts holding it level to the block.

EDIT: Second pic is the casting. Third pic is the bearing flange height to the casting height.

 

Do I have the wrong tensioner? Or do I just have a weird block? If I can't fit the blade style, I may have to get a stock tensioner since my tensioner looks like this

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated!!
Tom

[Kiwi_Roy]

You seem to have all the right parts.
Here's a picture of mine in a VII Sport
Note part of the bracket for the original on the top 2 bolts, for some reason I couldnt get the bolts tight without the spacer. - The Parts

Original in Place, can you see the casting: Perhaps you could chew it away with a drill.

Blade Style

Mine seems to have plenty of clearance around the pivot bolt but the spring contacts the casting for the cover bolts

[Tom H]

Looks like I have the right part, but the wrong case. In the first of the 3 pics with the bolts in the new tensioner, the gap from the tensioner to the bearing flange is the problem The tensioner PIVOT is sitting on a shelf in the casting as shown in pic 2 of the three.

Thanks for the thoughts on this,
Tom

[guzzisteve]

The pivot is on that flat area?  If it was the the mount plate you could nip a bit off on a grinder to slide in next to it.

[80CX100]

Hey Tom, My memory is a little fuzzy on this job,,, but I seemed to remember something funky about the holes in the case and lining them up with the holes in the mounting bracket,,, so I checked the files I had gathered when I did the job,,,, cc'd below fyi 
 
"Helpful tips: Unit mounts to the front main bearing retaining bolts, a third hand is helpful, upper end of blade rests against inside of timing chest, tighten the lock washer, there is no need to plug the holes left by the original device. Known examples have performed reliably in excess of 100,000 miles"

 Are you trying to mount it onto the 2 original mounting holes?,,, I think the base plate only uses one of the original mounting holes and then uses  another existing hole close by,,,, lay the plate in there and rotate it around to see if the holes will lineup with another hole.

fwiw

Kelly

[Tom H]

The pivot is on that flat area?  If it was the the mount plate you could nip a bit off on a grinder to slide in next to it.

I  will quadruple check in the morning. I do believe the pivot of the blade tensioner is centered on the flat raised area.

80CX100,

I'm using the two holes that the new mount lines up with. The pic of the case with the chain installed was from a post here. It's what my engine should look like if the new tensioner would fit.

Maybe I just have a weird engine block?? It would figure with all the problems I've had with this bike. This should have just bolted in.

Thanks again,
Tom

[guzzisteve]

Well, went and looked at my NOS 01 Cali block and it doesn't have that raised flat area. Casting side goes right down to the rounded spot for cover bolt & locating pin.  It must be a Hydro thing.  I have done a bunch of the recalls for warranty but have not put that tensioner in one.   

[Tom H]

Well, went and looked at my NOS 01 Cali block and it doesn't have that raised flat area. Casting side goes right down to the rounded spot for cover bolt & locating pin.  It must be a Hydro thing.  I have done a bunch of the recalls for warranty but have not put that tensioner in one.

If you look at the middle pic, click it and zoom in on the raised area. On the flat top you see the oval oil mark, look below and you'll see a half moon looking cut out. That half moon is about level with the bearing flange.

I'm starting to think that Luigi or one of his buddies forgot to tell the mill to cut all the way to the wall and the mill stopped with just the half moon cut????

If the raised area was not there, the new tensioner would fit.

Unless some new thoughts come up, other than a tear down to mill the block, I guess I'm stuck with the original tensioner. I think it needs to be replaced though. Less than 20K miles on that one.

Thanks again,
Tom

[Kiwi_Roy]

I recently bought a blade tensioner for my 100,000 mile California II but I found the small brass tensioner was still working great and left it in place, it looks the same, I don't know why they should work so well in one bike and so poorly in another.

[guzzisteve]

There may be a reason for it, look on the inside of the front cover to see if anything mates to that spot.  If nothing then you could take it off w/dremmel. Cover & tape up all in there for the bits flying off tool. Clean & flush off the front.

On my Cali2 I removed the adjuster and replaced w/stock spring adjuster w/ they came out in 93 and the chain. That was at 35Kmi and still working nice at 130Kmi. The LM3 I moved the adjuster all the way over at 15Kmi and was making noise again for a few years before the crash at 50Kmi. The 98EV I have to pull and change oil seal on crank so I'll see it at 65Kmi.

[Tom H]

I decided to just buy a new stock tensioner, the rubbing block on the old one has some grooving. It figures...The rubbing block itself has a P/N, but is no longer available. You have to buy the tensioner complete. Oh well

Here are better pics of the tensioner and the raised  area. The tensioner looks worn at the back side of the pivot and the raised area shows wear as well. The grooves the chain wore into the rubbing block look parallel to the edges of the block like you see in the original post. So it's not sitting at an angle.





Thanks again for all the help!!
Tom