Morris Minor Owners Club

ello

when i took the timing stuff off the van there were no tensioners in place on the camshaft gear wheel.

Do i need them?

I've fitted a duplex kit, if that makes a difference

wibble

AFAIK the Minor never had one

should not need them with the duplex kit

Ginger, I think the rubber tensioner rings were missing!

they are listed in the parts list and all that, but my engine ain't gonna have 'em

thanks for the advice, guys

Willie wrote:Ginger, I think the rubber tensioner rings were missing!

I've seen them mentioned before, but never seen them (and yes, I'm thick), but what rubber tensioner rings?

Where do they fit, then?

over the teeth

Well - just to the side of the teeth actually - in grooves at the side of the teeth. And yes - duplex gears don't have them - only the early single row (simplex) gear. Later simplex on the Mini etc used a 'proper' tensioner system with a rubber pad and a spring blade. It works - the early tensioner rings system doesn't last long!!

How much effort to fit the Mini set up?
I assume it does quieten down the front end a bit.

You need to use the Mini timing case cover and gasket - and you need to drill one small blind hole into the front plate - this then is the pivot point for the tensioner mech. V easy to do - just gather all the bits together. Although some have used this setup with duplex - when I tried that the rubber pad fell off and disintegrated after a very short time - nasty mess, and nasty noise as the metal spring rattled against the chain!

I bought a single chain kit but it didn't have any tensioners so I swapped it for a duplex kit. Still no tensioners but shouldn't be a problem. The engine now is very quiet with duplex chain.

On a sort of related topic, I replaced the timing cover gasket to stop an oil leak. I didn't touch the chain at all, put it all back together no worries. Now the timing chain is rattling against the timing cover and making a hell of a racket. How is this possible, is there some sort of magic smoke that escapes when you remove the cover? Do I need to pull the cover off again and do some sort of jiggery pokery with the chain?

Maybe the cover has been knocked inwards slightly and is touching the rotating sprocket ? Is the 'oil thrower' on correctly - right way round ? You will certainly have to take it off to sort out the problem.