Rocker Covers off? need a favor

If any of you fine folks have the rocker covers off it would be great if you can do me a favour and check to see if the top tip of the left hand side  timing chain tensioner guide plate is right up against the wall of the casing.  pictures are difficult here but did the best I could...[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Reason I'm asking is the the guide on the other side seems to have plenty of clearance from the case wall.  I'm trying to find the source of a noise I'm hearing on the top end and need to know if this is normal.

much appreciated

I had my left wing off for my current project, so it wasn’t too difficult to whip off the valve cover.

The guide on mine is pressed up against the wall, so I doubt that’s the cause of your noise.


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No, that's normal.

Remember that the 'Mobile' tensioner blade is on the left on both cylinders as the drive, and therefore the cams, spin the same way and the slack in the chain is on the left hand side on both cylinders. The right hand side of the chains is under constant tension when the engine is running so there is simply a plastic guide plate to, well, guide it. That is inserted into a divot in the crankcase at the bottom and a slot in the top of the barrel at the top and is both close to the casting wall and immobile. The tensioner blades though pivot on a pin at the bottom and are pressed outwards towards the chain by the tensioner plungers. Hence the 'Gap' you can see between them and the casting.

I love this forum.

you have a question on your engine internals, less than an hour later, some guy opens his engine up to confirm your suspicions, then another fella chimes an in-depth factual explanation!!

hey, where else do you get that kind of service

You know it is truely is amazing the help I get on this site.
I  have to thank Mark and Pete here so much.

The "mobile" tensioner blades seemed to be in good working order. As I manually cranked the crank shaft they were moving up and down as the chain rotated. ( chain tension was inconsistent as was my cranking and I figure no oil pressure in the plungers so that's fine)

I'm taking this thing for a ride tomorrow any I'll monitor that noise.