would you guys really reuse your old head gasket? 
for a realitivly "major" job why wouldn't you just spend the extra 25-30 bucks and replace it? i know that i would because they "crush" down when you apply torque...so that being said would you really risk a leak in a really bad spot for just a few bucks? i'm not sure if you where implying that you do reuse it, but to me it is just a really bad idea 
Yeah if I was taking off the head I would not re-use it, but I'm not taking off the head, just the front cover, so basically just re-using the front 2 inches.
unless somebody got CRAZY trying to "squeeze more power" out of it, they should never have taken more than .010, and thats not enough to cause the chain to be loose
it sounds like you got a bad tensioner, and possibly a bent valve or 4 cause if it stripped the teeth off the gear you had to have had a valve smack a piston
I sure hope I dont have a bent valve. I really dont have the money to keep dropping in new engine parts
Perhaps your chain is streched, or the cam gear teeth are worn.
Well, what I dont get is I bought a timing chain kit about last december, so a little over a year ago, and i installed a new chain tensioner, new chain, new sprockets, new guides... it was just a kit from checker...
