Thanks so far, guys. I'm glad some clear engine maniacs piped up--responses were what I figured. You're killing my hopes for defensible laziness. I'm kind of wondering if they'd improved the durability of the dynamic tensioner after the first year or two of production, since the design is by no means unique to GM (i.e., Toyota and others have very similar setups), although I haven't researched the luck of other manufacturers . . .
With the turbo that's going in, durability (goes with simplicity in this case) should be worth my efforts . . .
