How much free play should new timing chain have?

[Marcohotrod]

the S.P. KT3-160S and C-3028 Cloyes is a stock 340 double roller replacement, small .200" diameter "rollers", not a true roller chain, should be fine. It would be very rare to spend $ to line hone a 318. return the S.P. and try a cloyes C-3028X. my 340 was lightly align honed and did not need a shorter chain

 

[sireland67]

I got a comp chain setup with my cam kit and it was loose.Put a Mopar Performace one on and all good and tight.Never looked into it tho

Same thing happened to me, the comp chain was super loose, looked in my parts stash and found a new MP one in the original package, it must have been from the 80's, forgot I had it but it was nice and tight.

Recently I bought a summit brand chain, and it was also tight.

Summit Racing® True Roller Timing Sets SUM-G6603R-9

 

[grimreaper]

I've had that happen too. I had a Comp timing chain for a very mild build and when I put it on there was way more slack than I thought it should have so I dug through my stuff and found a used Cloyes Tru-Roller and installed it. It is still running strong. Some of the new replacement chains are just poorly made.

 

[RustyRatRod]

I've run three different tensioners on three different engines all with double rollers and never had the wear problems people talk about. I've also seen tensioners on factory 3.9s WITH double rollers right from the factory. I have one I modified to work on my 331 Hemi. Maybe one of these days I'll get to hear it run.