That bolt also holds the tensioner pin in place ,there should also be a soft washer to prevent any oil seepage between the head and the bracket. Just snug it up tight,no need to torque it up.

More progress today - checked the chain, it has just over 10 degrees of stretch on the series of numbers closest to the block on the crank pulley. Tension picked right up when I started turning the motor. The replacement will have to wait until everything else is sorted out.

Replaced the rear compensator over the weekend with the spring. Car sits properly and looks fantastic. I had the rear brakes off at the same time as everything was past its due, so it didn't have the chance to roll and settle on the new spring. There's a bit of negative camber on the PS rear wheel, the DS looks good. Can't wait for the calipers to come back from the rebuilder to finish the rear axle.

While waiting on those, I decided to tackle the sloppy shifter. I managed to take out the vertical lever from the horizontal one coming from the tranny without peeling back glued carpet. The plastic bushing exploded when I pulled it out. The shift rod is really loose wherever it attaches, so it looks like I have to dig deeper. Are the transmission end bushings accessed from under the car or do I have to peel back the sound deadening and remove the panel held by 8 mm bolts?

Wish me luck tomorrow, I'm rebuilding the carbs.

You sure about that stretch reading? You cannot go backwards when measuring stretch - if you pass the cam timing marks you need to go around again. That's "Fairly worn V8 right bank" reading, not inline-6 reading!

__________________
Current:
2021 Charger Scat Pack Widebody "Sinabee"
2018 Durango R/T

Previous:
1972 280SE 4.5
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited "Hefe", 1992 Jeep Cherokee Laredo "Jeepy", 2006 Charger R/T "Hemi"
1999 Chrysler 300M - RIP @ 221k

Somewhat sure. Turned motor clockwise, missed the mark once, went around again. The pulley marks are very corroded and hard to see, but fairly sure I was to the right of the 10 and not 0 mark. So it's either 2 or 12 degrees if the motor spins clockwise.

More progress. Carbs are rebuilt and installed. Rear brakes and lines are redone and shiny new. Compensator spring is installed and she sits perfectly. I am really excited as I need a runner by next weekend and I'm almost there!

I've read thru the links to the German sites about setting up the carbs and I wanted to double check the procedure. The Google translation is a little funky

1) install fresh cap, plugs, wires and rotor
2) preset idle screws at 2 turns out from full stop
3) set little spring loaded rod linking choke and accelerator linkage to no tension + one turn to open throttle on both carbs. To adjust, do I turn knurled knob in the middle or the cup heads?
4) fire up motor, further adjust little rod to attain 7-800 rpm idle once warm
5) adjust idle screws to lean best idle
6) connect vacuum gauges to bottom ports and adjust little rod to get matching vacuum signals
7) readjust lean best idle
8) connect rod between carbs at no tension, rev to 1500 and adjust length as necessary to match vacuum draw

Crack open beer and celebrate. I also noticed in the pics that people pointed the blowby hose at the carbs as adjusting. I left my port open. There was minimal blowby when hot, but the oil started leaking again from the bottom area, so I assume I should've had some pull on that hose to draw the fumes?