Stock belly pan bolts are 1/4-20 X 1". You should get new bolts with the aluminum belly pan but if not, you can reuse the stock ones. With the aluminum belly pan you'll need the bolts to be 1" long.

No help on the timing chain...sorry.

 

It's the nipple or whatever it's called on the end of the bolt that is the problem, if reusing the stock bolts and pan. Not a problem with the replacement pan, only the steel pan.

 

On motors withOUT the tensioner...... You would just turn the crank to TDC, note where the distributor rotor was, and see how far you could turn the crank before the rotor started to move..... I think anything over 8 degrees was considered 'replacement territory'..... With the tensioner though.... I don't think that method would work.

 

gotcha.

To my non-expert eyes the chain seems good and tighht..not sure how it could get much tighter. I've already shelled out the dough for the double roller so she's going in there anyway. Any notable performance difference in the double vs. the stock design?...or is it just a longevity thing?

 

factory plenum bolts are 1/16" too long for factory plate (unless they have been changed out already) Some people just use washers when reusing the stock plate and save the $100. (or whatever the aluminum plate costs these days) the aluminum plate works better because its thicker and will work with longer bolts. the whole dissimilar metal having radically different expansion and contraction rates causing the failure in this case does not really hold water... If it did most of the automotive engineering we see today would not hold up at all... The aftermarket plate is a good example of great marketing more than anything... I wonder did Hughes even produce any documentation explaining WHY their plate is superior in performance?

Just my (and dodge's) opinion though... but while I'm on my soapbox..

I guess what bugs me and gets me going on the subject is almost everytime someone mentions the FACTS about the long bolts being the only real proven issue the comment gets swept under the rug or criticized by those who already purchased the plate and are still trying to justify it to themselves...Its like Logic no longer applies and all sorts of "better safe than sorry" and "why chance it" with rolled eyes comments come out to scare or intimidate the person questioning the purchase...like its some kind of performance gaining vo doo magic and all trucks are broken untill its installed.
Might as well have the truck blessed while your at it and dont forget the royal purple and $100 spark plugs and k&n filter and throttle body spacer and red shock boots...... "why chance it" you'll be sorry if you dont spend all the extra money now on your old truck to fight off the evil spirits... And of course the trucks going to run better with the plate...you fixed the blown gasket while installing it!

 

You have some valid points. You are correct in that the primary failure is due to the longer bolts though. Simply replacing the bolts when doing the gasket might be adequate to the task, we don't have any empirical evidence one way or the other though.... We DO have evidence that replacing the stock steel plate, and bolts.... works. I got the plate for many reasons, chief of which was, it's significantly stiffer than the thin stamped steel that came from the factory.

 

Yeah, but who wants to do all that work just to replace some bolts and gasket? It makes us feel better replacing the pan even if it's not the source of the problem because we don't know any better...

I ordered the Hughes kit, I wouldn't want to do all that work just to replace the gasket and bolts...

That's like replacing the timing cover gasket and not the gears and chain...

 

Now I can except that... especially if someone takes pride in their ride and is doing it as much for cosmetic reasons and when everything else is being beefed up around it... like fancy cmc machined fuel runners and such.
But so much emphasis here goes toward the steel plate being inferior that mentioning the whole bolt length thing seems taboo here sometimes...
In any case I'll lay off I guess I'm just wound up because I'm still having overdrive issues with my truck I've not been able to track down yet...
sorry for the rant..

 

ah but would you replace the cam or crank? the gasket kits are like $20 to fix it just as well? why drop $100 for no real logical reason in most situations? Lets face it thier are people here who suspect their is blown but justify not replacing it because they dont have the extra $80-$100 to replace a non wearing fixed plate to make them feel better? and 90% are thinking they need it from reading here...

Let me ask the OP?
Tparkin, Did you get the Hughes plate because you were lead to believe it was superior to an inadequate defective stock plate design and the only way to permanently fix a blown plenum issue (which it turns out you didnt even have) ? Or did you get it because you wanted to invest in aftermarket cosmetic parts? or have one able to handle way more abuse than you'll ever put it through? I get the feeling you want the truck fixed right but are not the position where you would buy "additional performance unless you were to gain something from it?

 

I would dispute the 'non-wearing' part...... granted, it would prolly be a LOT of miles before metal fatigue played a role in the failure..... but.... the aluminum plate distributes the clamping force FAR better around the gasket surface than the stamped steel feller.