
2011 Blade manual cam chain tensioner
The bike has been owned from new by the same person, ridden like its meant to be but looked after very well. Its been noisy for a little while but has got much worse before being dropped off to me!!
When the old tensioner was removed, there is a bolt capping off where you use the "special Honda fitting tool" (its a flat blade screwdriver!!!) to bring the tensioner all of the way in while fitting it, this was the swarf in there. This isn't in the engine at all, but is from the mechanism that keeps the correct tension on the chain while not allowing it to back off, it'll be the reason that its not doing its job right! Putting the stock tensioner in the vice, at fully extended there was no give in it but in the middle of the travel with no effort at all you could push the plunger in a mm or so meaning thats what was happening with the bike running (I did try to video it, but I was moving that much you couldn't see anything).

Now if you read Ape's fitting instructions its a case of putting the new tensioner in and tightening by feel. Some people even do it running the engine and tightening until the rattle is gone.......

Given this one had been going for a while the cam cover came off, I checked the timing was still good and set the slack so it was just right on the chain as being too tight is just as bad as too loose in the long run.
Sounds perfect once all buttoned back together and at the same time valve clearances were checked, so a job off the list as well

Give me a call if you'd like to know more