Not to rain on the Savage Parade, but the cam-chain is the one nagging weakness that has me wondering if its worth tearing the engine down as "preventive maintenance".... One shouldn't have to do that, especially on an under-stressed engine design like the ls-650 . Just out of sheer paranoia, I'm changing oil every 1000 miles- but that only accounts for the last 3000 miles of 16000. Is there any quick way to gain a peep at the tensioner?

I will give it a try and let you all know if the primary gear will come off with clutch in place.

When I have replaced cam chain and beginning re-assembly is there any timing between the primary gear and clutch?

Max, can you remember the size of the nut the holds the primary drive gear. I need to order a socket to fit.

Also can you recommend a parts supplier in the USA. I have been quoted around £250 GBP for the cam chain, tensioner, guide and gasket set in the UK which seems quite high to me.

Thanks
Keeef

I think at least a grand.  There were a lot of problems w/ mine besides the ctt when I took mine it, and it was over 1k...  this was years ago, too.

After my cam chain went and blew my valves it cost me like 1.5k to get it fixed.  OUCH!

The primary drive gear couples to the clutch and has the cam chain running underneath and I need the size of socket to undo it (left handed thread I believe). I think its approx 25-26mm.
Once I have removed the gear I can fit a new chain and start reassembly.

Believe the nut to be 24 mm or 27mm but not sure. I've got a set of deep impact sockets for FWD vehicle drive axle nuts and just used the one that fit.
Regarding the time to repair it, I'm sure the factory provides a warranty flat rate time for the operations needed to do that, you multiply the time by the local labor rate and add whatever fees they charge to get a price. Sometimes when it comes in as a "basket case" it is strictly time and materials as the tech did not take it apart and cannot be sure if all the parts are there or fell out of the "basket" and some shops won't touch what they did not diagnose and disassemble. It is not a hard job, ask lots of questions here and I'll try to think over what I did on mine 4 months. Us retired guys some days have bad CRS disease. I used some soft mechanics wire to pull the chain up from the bottom end and so I could not lose it back down the tunnel while I fussed with the cam gear and insured it was timed correctly. Mine did not break however, just got noisy. As your broke you may find no compression due to bent valves on reassembly. You could check with a cylinder leak tool if you have the piston at TDC dead on so it won't spin and see if the valves are holding tight. Don't even need the tool if you can get an air hold that fits. Techs use air holds to hold the valve closed while they change the valve stem seals wo removing the head(s).   Piston on TDC and the air pressue will hold the valve up while you remove the valve keepers/spring and replace the seal and put it back together and do the next one. Probaly could test it with a cone shaped rubber tip on an air nozzle for that matter. Trick is the piston has to be at TDC and the connecting rod straight up and down the cylinder or it will spin. We used to start our big marine diesels with an air injection system tht was timed to the power stroke. Only took one cylinder or 2 to hit TDC &  fire and it was off and running.  Max