How tight should the timing chain of a Firestorm/Superhawk be?

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shammi
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Joined: Mon Dec 27, 2021 5:29 am

How tight should the timing chain of a Firestorm/Superhawk be?

Post by shammi »

Hi, I own a '99 Honda VTR Firestorm (SuperHawk 996) and I would like to know how tight a timing chain should be. At the moment my bike has the automatic chain tensioner. We removed the head cover and had a poke at the timing chain with a finger and it felt super tight and had no slack at all. We recorded this and uploaded here:



Please do skip to 3:28 in the timestamp.

Does this mean the chain tension is correct or is it too tight? We removed the valve cover of our Toyota Corolla the other day and noticed it's timing chain had some slack and could be raised slightly with a finger. Was wondering if it should be like that in the bike as well.

Some info on this is greatly appreciated.
Thanks. :beer:
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fabiostar
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Re: How tight should the timing chain of a Firestorm/Superhawk be?

Post by fabiostar »

never mind how tight, change them to mccts or you will find one day its very loose and your front valves with get bend to death :thumbup: .
the older i get,the faster i was :lol:
shammi
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Re: How tight should the timing chain of a Firestorm/Superhawk be?

Post by shammi »

fabiostar wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 8:08 pm never mind how tight, change them to mccts or you will find one day its very loose and your front valves with get bend to death :thumbup: .
RIght. I will be changing them. Any idea how tight the chain should? Is it not supposed to even have a bit of slack where you can raise it with a finger?
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MacV2
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Re: How tight should the timing chain of a Firestorm/Superhawk be?

Post by MacV2 »

shammi wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 4:25 am
fabiostar wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 8:08 pm never mind how tight, change them to mccts or you will find one day its very loose and your front valves with get bend to death :thumbup: .
RIght. I will be changing them. Any idea how tight the chain should? Is it not supposed to even have a bit of slack where you can raise it with a finger?
read this sevaral times ... https://www.vtr1000.org/phpBB3/viewtopi ... 15#p264315
Making up since 2007, sometimes it's true...Honest...
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MacV2
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Re: How tight should the timing chain of a Firestorm/Superhawk be?

Post by MacV2 »

shammi wrote: Mon Jun 06, 2022 4:25 am
fabiostar wrote: Sun Jun 05, 2022 8:08 pm never mind how tight, change them to mccts or you will find one day its very loose and your front valves with get bend to death :thumbup: .
RIght. I will be changing them. Any idea how tight the chain should? Is it not supposed to even have a bit of slack where you can raise it with a finger?
Depends on where the cams are in the cycle of rotation...It needs to be measured between the sprockets so the guide plate needs to be off... @ TDC with manuals your looking at 7mm deflection max... thats 7mm total so 3.5 up 3.5 down...
Making up since 2007, sometimes it's true...Honest...
tony.mon
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Re: How tight should the timing chain of a Firestorm/Superhawk be?

Post by tony.mon »

Just to be clear there should be no slack with the dodgy standard ones fitted.
It's not falling off, it's an upgrade opportunity.
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