The instructions for installing the timing chain on the 280Z say there are 42 links between the timing marks on the sprockets. No matter how I counted I couldn't come up with 42 links between the marked links on the new timing chain I was installing. Depending on how I counted it was either 41 or 43 links between the marks. Finally, my mind was put at ease when I found this explanation in the Chilton manual. The number of ”links” refers to the pins.

 

Now here is the kicker. I examined the old chain and the last person to work on it marked the chain where there were actually 42 links between the timing marks as the instructions call for. One mark was painted on the outer plate of the chain, and the other mark was on the edge of two outer plates. They followed the instructions literally. Now I know why I could never get the timing set right.

Did it not have shinier links for set up?  Here's mine...

 

 

Edited November 12, 20186 yr by siteunseen

The old chain did not. I had the marked links on my new chain (they were darker) but no matter how you count them they don’t add up to 42. That is the point of my post. If you don’t know that the number of ”links” refers to the pins and you count the actual links, you will set the chain one link short, as did the mechanic before me on my car. He counted links, not pins.

Found a picture just for fun.  Didn't count links though.

https://www.amazon.com/Nissan-280ZX-Engine-Timing-OSK/dp/B009GDG67S

 

That is the perfect picture for this post. Thanks! If you start counting links from the first shiny link the outer plates will be odd numbers and the inner plates will  be even numbers. If the last link is an outer plate it can’t be an even number. ?