Effect of timing slop on performance

[Brandon Rogers]

Hey guys -
All this talk about slop here and slop there go tme thinking....Recently I've slightly adjusted my timing belt to eliminate the infamous "turkey gobble" that the water pump makes when the belt is too tight.  Here's my silly question:

As the TB is slightly tightened or slackened, does this affect cam timing and hence performance, even if only very very slightly?

I'm thinking it _doesn't_ because I _think_ the pulley in essence pulls the belt down, past the idler, rather than via the water pump, so the crank pulley to cam gear is a fixed distance regardless of belt tension......



Brandon
'84 urq 20V, with metal dist gear and narrow rotor.....