Is there enough room to install hydra-stops

[sailchef]

First off I’m a newbe to pelican forum. Ive been reading the tech articles for years, I have Bently’s , Haynes, Waynes, and several other fix-it books on porsche and have always been able to figure things out. When I was a kid I toyed with 4cyl VW engines and have always been in awe of German engineering. I bought my first Porsche 6 years ago and when Im not driving it, Im working on it. Its not a race car, Its my quiet time, you know, “Cardboard on Concrete”.
My question:
I have a 1980 911 SC with120,000 miles on it. I removed the engine to fix some pesky oil leaks. While its out I decided to take a look at the chain tensioners. I purchased the hydra-stops a while ago. The instructions with the stop say to allow .120” space, the thickness of two pennies, between the bottom of the hydra-stop and the top edge of the tensioner body. I rotated the engine clockwise several times to allow the piston to extend as far as it would go before installing the stops. When I fit the stop in place the suggested .120” clearance isn’t there. It would be hard to stick a worn out dime in there let alone two new pennies. The piston doesn’t seem to extended far enough. Could this tensioner just be in better shape than I thought? With 120,000 miles I expected to see a lot more shaft sticking out with plenty of room below the stop. As it is if I install the stop they would be resting directly on the tensioner housing with no allowance for the .120” gap. Is the gap necessary. I’ve read of guys installing stops with new tensioners and everything fits. When I check, everything feels tight, the chains are tight and the piston doesn’t push back into the housing, theres no sloppy feel at all. I also expect that these are the original tensioners. Id hate for the hydra-stops to interfere with perfectly good tensioners if they don’t fit properly. Before I opened the covers I had no reason to expect anything, the car ran fine and is a fairly quiet running motor when you baffle the exhaust. Any thoughts on this. Your input is greatly appreciated. Ive only opened the right side cover as I normally go slow and go into a holding pattern when I find something I don’t understand. Thanks in advance. Im including photos of the tensioner.

[barney911rs]

It would be a better decision to upgrade to the oil fed Carrera chain tensioners. Do a search, I'm sure you will find lots of info on that upgrade on the forum.

[wowzer911]

The object, as you know, is to keep the chain sprocket up high enough to keep enough tension on the chain in the event that the tensioner piston fails and drops too far down in the tensioner. As long as there is enough clearance to install the collars, you'll be fine.
When your engine is hot, it expands and forces the chain to put extra tension on the tensioner piston and likely pushing in down farther in to the tensioner somewhat. Place the stop up as high as you can leaving as much clearance as you can.

[sailchef]

Thanks for the response. I think I'm going to install the oil-fed tensioners and the stops. I have both.