If you have it out, do yourself a favor and order a timing chain/guide kit. It's WAY easier with the engine out. Comes with everything needed except mounting hardware, you'll reuse yours. Better yet, might as well do the water pump and thermostat too. You can get the water pump with the kit. A genuine stat can be purchased locally.

- my 2 cents

I have 2 HHRS that I've recently built both with under 4000 miles. No issues with the stock one...too many to count on the SS

 

I see a box marked made in Taiwan , so how about opening the box and taking a picture of it.

X2 on Dan's suggestion, replace the timing chain kit!

 

Mine was an eBay or Amazon item straight out of China, even came with Chinese newspaper for packing! Cost me $150 or so. Worth every penny, I'd rather not imagine doing that job with the engine in the car. The trouble with only replacing the tensioner is you don't know that the guides are 100%. I changed only the tensioner in the wife's SS. This "might" have been the straw that broke the camels back. As they say.

Not trying to scare you, if you've done a swap before you know what you're getting into. In my opinion it's cheap insurance.

 

For some reason it only lets me post one photo at a time. Here is what is in the box. I am definetly going the route of cheap insurance. Other items I am considering replacing are the starter and alternator. Most because they are the original and after 286,xxx miles I cannot imagine there is much life left. I am also trying to save a few bucks though by doing it myself. Not as simple as the 350 in my old 69 but not too hard either. I will have to look back at the paperwork when I had the engine replaced last time. I think I did replace the water pump and for sure know I replaced the t-stat. I will have to make a list and head to the store.

So is the consensus to replace the guides and all now?

 

That is the new style tensioner, and yes chain guides and sprockets would be a great idea!

 

YES guides and chain!

There are a couple of links in my sig that are helpful.

 

I fitted the new style timing chain tensioner, and followed the procedure, lifting the cam cover to pop the tensioner out – it does do so clearly, and there was tension on the chain. Engine started and seemed to run well and quietly, but the CEL came on after a few seconds with the P0016 code. Lifted the cam cover, and the chain must have jumped probably the crank sprocket. Set it a second time and the same thing happened.
Couple of tips –
Tip 1 – you don’t need to dismantle the new style tensioner to reset it. There is enough friction between the housing and the back part of the ratchet mechanism that if you're patient you can get the pin to follow down the 'ceiling' of the staircase - push it too far back in too soon and you hit the steps on the other side of the groove that are there to limit retraction, and it wont go down. If you've got snap ring pliers to hand it probably is quicker for most.
Tip 2 - you don't need to remove the timing cover to re-time the chain, you can align the crank pulley to the mark on the cover at TDC, and set the INT and EXH marks on the can sprockets to the correct positions, with the correct number of links apart, the two marks are symmetrical at about 10 and 2 o'clock, which I think came to about 2 1/2 links above the face of the head, which is at the camshaft centerline. With the tensioner out it is easy to rotate the crank relative to the loose chain, but if it wasn't then this wouldn't have happened to begin with.
On the third time I got frustrated and screwed the tensioner in with the plunger already popped to get the initial position, but the chain didn't become overtight as I suspected it would as I screwed it in, seems that the tensioner winds itself back in as the housing is screwed into place, as described above.
I think the problem was that the tensioner wasn't pushing the guide out far enough under spring pressure alone to hold the chain in place before the oil pressure came up to set it properly. Fortunately I didn't have any valve contact, and I finally have a quiet running chain - seems that not only have I got rid of the startup rattle, it seems quieter running too.

 

Great news!

 

I wish I would have read this article sooner. 2 years ago at around 90,000 miles I had to replace my timing chain. It cost 970 dollars. It was making a rattling noise every time I started it. It sounded like a chain rattling. Well 30,000 miles later I started noticing a rattling again. I thought surley it wasn't the timing chain again. But it was a different rattling like a constant rattle. Before I only heard it when I started it. We thought maybe the alternative was going our like maybe the ball barring rattling. It was a different rattle,and surley the timing chain would last longer than 30,000 miles. Well my timing chain tensioner came completely out along with a lot or oil that spewed all over causing to smoke like I was on fire. It never ran hot I pulled over when the noise got crazy one night my coolant level never hot above 210. Luckily I found the timing chain tensioner laying on the frame of the car and then read this article. Now I am out another 900 bucks cause it was out of warranty. Debating on who to take it too. Definitely not who did the work last time. Thinking I need to take it to the dealership and make sure I get the newer tensioner put in. The next time I hear a rattle trust me replacing this part is very easy to get to and replace

 

New tensioner usually comes with the chain kit.

I'm guessing the tech did not torque the tensioner, they are usually very tight and not susceptible to coming out.

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