As you all know, I'm in the middle of fixing bent valves from a slipped mechanical tensioner on my Verde. I dug up the original hydraulic tensioner that I removed years ago to convert to the mechanical tensioner. Needless to say, it's going back on, no more fooling around with mechanical tensioners for me.
Much to my surprise, I discovered that the PO had welded the oil feed hole on the original mounting stud! I didn't even bother to check this when I removed it long ago, didn't know at the time that that was the way to bypass the oil feed. Anyway, I could not find anyone that had the hydraulic tensioner bearing in stock. IAP, Centerline, Vick's, Spruell, DiFatta, no one. Most said it would be months before they had any more. In my search, I came across the Alfa Import Center, http://www.alfaimportcenter.com/home.html . Never heard of these guys before. They had a rebuilt hydraulic tensioner unit with new bearing in stock, a rebuildable hydraulic tensioner in stock, rebuild kits for the tensioner in stock, and a tensioner bearing in stock. Of course, I snagged the bearing! Nice guys, gave me a bit of a lecture on why the original hydraulic tensioner should be left alone (by not bypassing the oil feed), but were very helpful nonetheless. Just wanted to give them a shout-out for helping where all the other usual suppliers could not. Did I mention the bearing was at least $15 cheaper from them than everyone else's published prices? -Lalo '88 Verde -- to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected]
