73 280SEL m117 crank slop/play

[All Volvo]

when rotating the crankshaft on my '73 280 4.5, with cams lined up well, there is ~10 degrees of rotational play until the camshafts turn with the crankshaft. to put another facet of perspective: the cam marks all lined up and crank pulley set at 0, i can rotate the crank 5 degrees clockwise or counter-clockwise until resistance is met and the cams start to rotate in tandem. normal? worn tensioner? no oil pressure to tensioner? tensioner should be bled? something else?

[Tomguy]

This may be perfectly normal. There is some slop in the system, even with fresh rails, tensioner and chain. The only accurate way to check chain stretch is to turn the engine clockwise until the right side cam (US / Euro passenger side, UK/JP/AU/SA driver's side; the same side as the tensioner) timing mark lines up (if you pass it, you will need to go around again). Then you read the indexed crank pulley to see what number it's on. It SOUNDS like you have about 2.5 to 5 degrees of stretch, which is still a fully serviceable timing system.