TOPIC:

Hi Tyler,

I have a spare engine in the shop. I took the cam cover off and carefully measured the distance between the cam chain and the top runner. I found that the runner doesn't contact the chain unless the chain is bouncing. I'm confident that when I decided to check the adjustment of my manual tensioner with the cam cover removed, I got a good adjustment.
I went a bit further and checked a KZ550 engine upon which I'm doing a top end refresh. I found that the top runner on that engine does contact the chain all the time. By my measurement that top runner pushes the cam chain down by about 1/8" between the cam sprockets. From there I went to the Clymers manual I have for that bike and it clearly states that the automatic adjuster must be relaxed before the cam cover is reinstalled. My point is that if the cam cover is part of the tensioning system the manuals I have either state that the cam chain cannot be adjusted with the cam cover removed or if the bike has an automatic adjuster it must be reset before the cam cover is reinstalled.
Fortunately, the cam cover is NOT part of the tensioning system on a 1300.
Bill

Seemed to me that there was no ware what so ever on the top plastic guide in the cam cover, so that supports exactly what you just verified. Also the manual says absolutely nothing about the valve cover being an issue, and if you follow the procedure for installing cams, after bolting the intake cam down and torqueing them, the next step is installing the tensioner, the valve cover is still off at this point.