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,....I went ahead and ordered the APE manual tensioner. waiting on it's arrival via UPS..tony

Good call, dont put too much pressure on it when you tighten the lock nut.

Apparently the one I just bought had bent valves through the cam adjuster shitting itself and because of inpatient owner it happened the second time before the engine had time to get hot(he didn't get far)
Maybe the previous owner of your bike had problems checked the timing and set it right thinking he found problem but didn't realise he bent the valves so gave up on it when she wouldn't fire up.Done it myself once on a dt250 Even though I reckon the young bloke tried to start it whilst I was at work

I installed a zx11 tensioner - Ratchet type. The part number is 12048-1113 and cut +/- 12mm off (based on feedback on this site) the spring before I installed it. All is smooth and quiet. Bought it off ebay