i was wondering how everyone took theres out when doing the secret cam swap. my friend unscrewed the bolts, pulled his out, and left the shoe in there and now he has timing chain noise. i dont want that happening to me when i do mine, so i was wondering how everyone took theirs out, and if i should just buy a new tensioner and shoe? and also, how do you get the shoe out?

Before you put everything together you need to reset the tensioner or you will have to take it all back apart to do so and you will have the noise if you dont. You do this by pushing the tensioner in until it clicks and pops back out, you have to push really hard.

really? thats it?! wow... guess i am helping my buddy rip his apart again!

Compress it completely before you put it in and then when everything is back together use a flat bladed tool to finish compressing it and then let it snap out.

thanks! now i cant wait to do mine!

depends on what style you have...

the one mr michigan doctor 774 was referring to that you use a screwdriver to release is the one piece style. the older 2.4's used a two piece one where you need to make a little clip to hold it together with. basically just a tiny piece of close hanger wire is what ive always used.



I'm tired of wasting my time... now I'm breakin' free.

yeah i had the two piece style i just used a zip tie after i compressed it. it worked fine, but thats how they come new anyway, so i figured it was the best way to do it


if it can't win a race it better win a show

z yaaaa wrote:mr michigan doctor 774 .

Haha, nice Brad.

Personally I have never seen the other design so I always forget about it.

i dont understand. im going to be putting my motor back together here very shortly and i wanna know how to do this. my timing chain tensioner is 2 pieces. 1 piece is the cylinder and the other is the actual housing that bolts to the timing chain housing....


01' Z24 5 speed
422whp/400wtq
T4 Turbocharged
Built LD9
HP Tuners

so my friend and i just took his tensionor out again and compressed it and it came back out with ALOT of tension, and we put it back together and the timing chain still makes some noise sometimes... could it be the guides?

Did you replace the tensioner or reuse the stock one?

If you took the chain off and then replaced it turned around the other way, the wear patterns won't match... thus the noise. Turn the chain back around or install new kit. Also, a couple of taps on the back side of the tensioner will also release it. I found out accidently when I dropped my new one and it popped out.

I had the same issue when running 100lb valve springs in my ecotec, I converted it to a manual chain tensioner and this was the only thing that would fix my problem.