I have an '87 944S and I am looking to replace the chain tensioner pads and the chain itself. I have looked at clarks garage but I want some more opinions on how difficult it is. You have to remove the timing belts and the cams.
thanks

 

You have to pull out the cams to change the chain which adds alot of extra work resealing, re-timing the cams to each other with dial gauges and possible rounded out cheesehead bolts on the cam bolts. If I had it to do again I probably would cross my fingers and just change out the tensioner or the pads and skip changing the chain. Skipping the chain also means you do not have to take the timing belt off and deal with all that. That saves about a day of work in my opinion. The chain should be replaced though, and if the chain sprockets are wearing, that is a stretching chain causing it.

 

You can change everything but the chain without disturbing time. On the big scheme of things, I'd rank it below most 951-specific jobs.

I'm not looking forward to reinstalling the cams on my car (top end teardown as PM).

 

I thought the link below will help you out. Take a look see.

http://boerger.golden-tech.com/image...eplacement.htm

Cheers,
Larry

 

My chain looks ok and the car has only 68K miles on it. The pads are toast though. I might just replace the pads

 

you should really replace the chain,but it is alot of extra work.Also withy only 68k on the clock you might get away with just the pads, however be warned that if your chain is even slightly worn it could damage you cams or in extreme cases break the chain.

 

When I changed my S2 tensioner top pad recently, I had a look at the cam teeth, and there were no signs of wear (at least none I could see), so I decided not to do the chain. I'm not even going to bother changing the bottom pad (very expensive compared to the top pad for some reason) because the wear on the top pad was so light.

My tensioner had about 60K miles on it -- surprises me when you say your pads were "toast" after that mileage.

 

I just did this on my S2 cab but did not replace the chain. With the mileage you have I would not recommend replacing the chain - you will be fine with just swapping out the pads.

 

Dillon,

I did mine at 120k on my 89 S2. I saw no signs of wear on the sprockets, but changed the chain anyhow due to the mileage. You have only 68k miles on your S, so I think you would be safe to leave the chain alone this time around. There are lots of different opinions on changing the chain. Listen to others experiences then do what you feel comfortable with.

Joe M.

1989 944S2