Hello I have a quick question and thank anyone in advance that might be able to help you out. I was just curious on how tight the timing chain should be. Everything seems to be good and it's in time after quite a few checks however the top chain guard had to be slightly forced onto the chain in order to bolt in. I just want to know if this is normal or if the situation should be addressed before going through the trouble of reinstalling. I am not new to mechanics or anything however this is the first mini that I've rebuilt and want to cover my bases.

 

I think you can find something on youtube about this

 

Pretty sure you’re supposed to get all the guides in place, then fit the tensioner. I would expect it to be sort of tight fit…

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...nsioner-2.html

This talks about the pretention.

 

The top guide is installed before there is tension on the chain, right before installing the pretensioner, before you have torqued the cam sprocket bolts.

You put in the new cassette/chain/sprocket, hand tighten new crank bolt with hub on and cam gears, put in the chain guide bolts and torque to spec, then install top chain guide and torque to spec, then install pretensioner tool. After installing the pretensioner you can torque to yield cam gears, and then torque to yield crank bolt. After that you remove the pretensioner tool and put in the real tensioner and torque to spec.