hydraulic tensioner

[Joe Elliott <jee@domain.elided>]

My goodness, what a busy Sunday this has been for the Alfa Digest.

Anyway, I'm in the process of rebuilding an old hydraulic tensioner 
(thanks, Obie) to put on my GTV6 (the Zat unit on there now is just 
too scary), and I have a couple of questions.  Have any of you ever 
rebuilt one of these things with the kit from AR Ricambi before? 
Where do all the dang o-rings go?  Also, before I trust my valves to 
one of these things again, I'd like to know how exactly it works. 
How can oil pressure be related to the thermal expansion of the 
engine?  I know it gets thinner as it gets warmer, but pressure also 
drops when revs drop.  So does this thing tighten the belt when I rev 
the engine?  And what keeps the belt from falling off on cold starts? 
I believe you all when you say it's more reliable than the mechanical 
unit, but I'd really like to know why it works in the first place.

Thanks,
Joe Elliott
'82 GTV6

PS> I'M STILL IN NEED OF A VALVESPRING COMPRESSOR AND A CAM HOLDING TOOL.

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