Chain driven camshaft

[CraigS]

I read on the 170v.de site that someone was offering a conversion kit for a 170s. This included the sprockets, chain, tensioner, etc. Has anyone heard of this conversion, and of so, is there any benefit in doing so ?

[Henry Magno]

This was done in production by the factory maybe in 1952. You need the camshaft as well. All this is in the shop manual. They OK'ed it as a retrofit, but without the tensioners. I rebuilt an engine with the chain retrofit and also installed the tensioners which required some drilling, tapping and machining.

I would say that if the engine is stock, there is no really good reason to do it.