cct's quick question
 

what are the signs and symptoms that they are going bad? are there any noises or vibrations i shold be on the lookout for? i just hit 30k and dont have the money to rebuild a motor so if i can fix it before its a problem that would be great.

The only sign is the god-awful noise of the cam chain losing all tension right after it happens.
My advice? Go get APE ccts

there aren't many signs in all likelihood. If you are worried, replace them. Remembering that on this site at least there have probably been equal number of heads needing rebuild due to botching the changing CCTs as there are from failed CCTs. Just follow the instructions on this site is a good description and get help if you have any questions. If you know what you are doing you won't have any trouble. I replaced mine with the stock designs - I like the maintenance free aspect.

Never had a problem after 10 years and 56,000 miles of riding my '98 VTR.

I'm in the process of adjusting the valve clearances (waiting now nearly a month for the back-ordered correct size shims to arrive :rolleyes:) and I will replace the CCT lifters (terminology used in the Honda service manual, the cam chain tensioner is the plastic thing that the lifter pushes against to tension the cam chain, the cam chain guide is the plastic thing on the other side of the cam chain).

I'm not totally convinced there's a problem with my original CCT lifters, I'm only changing these out with new ones as a preventive measure because of what I've read. And the VTR isn't the only machine that seems to have this problem.

Apparently the cam chain(s) is/are prone to slip a tooth or two (or three...) over the cam sprocket(s) if the engine is held at high rpm and then the throttle is suddenly closed (I suppose this causes the cam chain to exert extreme force on the tensioner which in turn causes the lifter to back out resulting in enough momentary chain slackness for it to slip a few teeth over the cam sprocket), as might happen on a race course.

I don't recall ever doing that to my VTR, nor do I ever intend to do that. Maybe that's why I've never had a problem. :p

Check out this link.

http://www.sudco.com/apeCamchain.html

Thanks guys all the help is appreciated.