Studebaker light six timing chain question

[Wobbly Dave]

Can someone post a photo of where the directional arrow on the timing chain is found? The service manual states that the arrow showing direction of travel should be on the front side, but I cannot find it. 1921 light six. Thanks everyone!

[studeboy]

It may be there and it may not. The 1924 light six motor I worked on had no directional arrow and there were no timing marks on the gears. We timed it using the valves and marks on the fly wheel. Made sure to keep the same side out as was out when we took it off. The same chains were used right up through the GL models.

[Wobbly Dave]

Thanks - the chain looks like it is the same either direction, so maybe it is a replacement. It certainly seemed to work fine before I took the motor out.

[Stude Light]

The early Morse chains had a directional arrow but the later replacement chains did away with the directional arrow. I know that the modern Morse chains are often directional and use a couple of different link profiles that are randomized throughout the chain to get rid of specific noise frequencies and spread the energy out in several different frequency ranges. I'm not sure if the company was that sophisticated back in the 1920s and maybe the arrow was just to keep it in the same direction for wear purposes. So, when the chain needed to be removed due to stretch, it would be reinstalled to run in the original direction. That seems more plausible.

 

Keep in mind though that two different chain types were used in the Light Six. I wrote about this in another post.

Scott

 

[Wobbly Dave]

Thanks for the additional info.  I will have to check, but pretty sure I have the earlier chain and sprocket.