New (to me) 16v Chrysler TC Maserati

[Guest red16v]

I just picked up a red 1989 16v Chrysler TC Maserati with 43k miles. The car is pretty clean overall but needs a little TLC (particularly maintenance - it has some driveability issues I need to sort out). I already bought one of the blue Chrysler shop manuals on Ebay to help me. I am going to work to restore the car to like new condition and I look forward to learning from and contributing to this forum. I also joined turbododge.com.

I got this car from my grandfather and I drove it from Alabama to Arizona earlier in the week. I think the original timing belt is on there (its completely dry rotted and pretty loose) and I didn't have time to change it before making the trip. I sprayed a bunch of belt conditioner on it and checked it every time I stopped for anything. The top layer started to chip off but it made it back!

I didn't appreciate how rare these cars are until I tried to buy a tensioner today. I went to Napa, O'Rielly, Autozone and the dealer and none of them could get one for me. Rick from, RDI Performance has a new OEM one for $285. I didn't realize it would be so much! I also heard that you can use the 2.2L SOHC tensioner with an 8mm shim between the block and tensioner. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with this issue!

Anyway, I posted a few quick pictures of the car that I took before I left for AZ.

- Mike

[TCParts]

Call Chris at Turbo's Unleashed. He sells parts for the 16v engine, including the tensioner pulley.

602-76BOOST

[89TC-16V]

the tensioner is the same as a sohc version with a shim. i have one in box that is a Rich Deego version, its a sohc one with the shim welded and ground to be pretty. all the 16V engine parts are expensive. the timing belt alone is extremely hard to come by, the chrysler depot is all out, i managed to get 2 before they all got bought up because i posted the link to who had them when i needed one.

[Guest red16v]

Call Chris at Turbo's Unleashed. He sells parts for the 16v engine, including the tensioner pulley.

602-76BOOST

Awesome, thank you! He is even local for me. I called and left a message.

[Guest red16v]

the tensioner is the same as a sohc version with a shim. i have one in box that is a Rich Deego version, its a sohc one with the shim welded and ground to be pretty. all the 16V engine parts are expensive. the timing belt alone is extremely hard to come by, the chrysler depot is all out, i managed to get 2 before they all got bought up because i posted the link to who had them when i needed one.

I heard that you can use the SOHC tensioner with a shim. But, I also heard that if you just stick a shim in there (I guess without welding it to the block or the tensioner), that won't work. Any thoughts on that?

I ordered a timing belt from O'Rielly Auto Parts. They said that they can have one in a week so I went ahead and bought it. Now, everyone is telling me that it won't end up being the right belt anyway. Does anyone have any idea how many teeth are on the belt? They had two different belts available, one with 124 teeth and one with 131.

[Guest red16v]

Call Chris at Turbo's Unleashed. He sells parts for the 16v engine, including the tensioner pulley.

602-76BOOST

I had a nice chat with Chris, he seems like a cool guy. Since we are both in the same area, we are gonna meet up sometime in the future and show eachother our cars. Unfortunately, he doesn't have parts of the 16v only the 8v right now. He said that he recently picked up a 16v TC and is working on reproducing parts on it. Ironically, he told me that I should speak with you (TCParts) because he thought that you had them!

[4 Peaks]

The 8v belt has 124 teeth.

[16v_guru]

Larry,

I don't believe Chris has tensioners for the 16v engine, unless he just started carrying them.

The tensioners I sell are a little more than "a sohc one with the shim welded and ground to be pretty". It's a custom "spacer" I turn down on a lathe, TIG weld on (carefully so you don't destroy the bearing in doing so) drill correctly, etc.. "a sohc one with the shim welded and ground to be pretty" sounds like something any 5 yr old can make with 10 minutes in his garage.

Several folks have tried to stack a bunch of washers between the tensioner and the block and each and every one of them (that I know of) has jumped time. Then of course the factory bolt is not the correct length, etc.. etc..

In any case, if you have the time, the tooling, and the inclination you can attempt to make one yourself. Back when you used to be able to order one from Chrysler they were well over $300. That part is now NS1. And the one Chrysler sold was a piece of crap because the bearing inside goes bad quickly. Ask any 16v owner.

[Guest red16v]

Larry,

I don't believe Chris has tensioners for the 16v engine, unless he just started carrying them.

The tensioners I sell are a little more than "a sohc one with the shim welded and ground to be pretty". It's a custom "spacer" I turn down on a lathe, TIG weld on (carefully so you don't destroy the bearing in doing so) drill correctly, etc.. "a sohc one with the shim welded and ground to be pretty" sounds like something any 5 yr old can make with 10 minutes in his garage.

Several folks have tried to stack a bunch of washers between the tensioner and the block and each and every one of them (that I know of) has jumped time. Then of course the factory bolt is not the correct length, etc.. etc..

In any case, if you have the time, the tooling, and the inclination you can attempt to make one yourself. Back when you used to be able to order one from Chrysler they were well over $300. That part is now NS1. And the one Chrysler sold was a piece of crap because the bearing inside goes bad quickly. Ask any 16v owner.

Chris does not carry that for the 16v right now, I spoke with him on the phone.

I am sure that your tensioners are quality parts and I don't think anyone is trying to dispute that. However, I also have been posting on turbododge.com and have heard a similar idea with the tensioner/washer. Supposedly, you can get a tensioner from any 84-88 FWD Mopar car with a 2.2, weld an 8mm washer to it and redrill the hole in the proper place. I believe that many people have done this without issue. With that being said, I am only going off of what other people have told me. However, I am going to try this to see if it will work. It seems worth the risk of wasting the time and the $25 on this tensioner, instead of spending over ten times that on another one (it would be the same situation if you could still get it from Chrysler for over $300). If I find that it has issues, I can always change it later.

Edited December 10, 2012 by red16v
spelling error (see edit history)

[16v_guru]

By the way...regarding my original reply: only the first line was directed at Larry. The rest was a general statement about the tensioners I modify to work on the 16v engine versus the ones you used to be able to purchase from Chrysler. Larry can attest to the quality of my workmanship and he (of all people) knows you get what you pay for.