Barratt has two "aftermarket" tensioners. One is from Eurospare, and it actually the OEM tensioner, at about $80 each. They have another one for about $48. They said that there would be a week to get them, then another several days

Fleabay has several different vendors. I discarded the idea of buying any made in the PRC. That left a couple from Japan and Taiwan, running between $20 and $30 each. I'm generally satisfied with products from these two countries, and these are in stock, with two-day delivery guesstimates . . .so . . .

So . . .I just ordered the cheaper ones from Barratt.

Here's why:

First, Barratt is highly unlikely to sell parts which aren't going to be dependable. They operate on their reputation, and aren't going to risk it by selling junk. If the cheaper tensioners might be a problem, they simply wouldn't offer them, instead only having the Eurospares.

Second, even though Barratt doesn't have the 10% break for Forums members, the price was only twice that of the unknown-quality items. The extra fifty bucks is cheap insurance. And buying from eBay would mean paying sales tax and possibly shipping -- the Barratt shipment will come in with no tax, and William more than made up for the 10% by giving me free shipping, so I'm paying under $100 for both, so that $50 difference is actually in the $40 range. To get tensioners from a real vendor (not that I have the slightest problem with vendors operating from someone's spare bedroom).

Third, William spent a while on the phone with me last week, discussing parts which, realistically, will bring a profit of less than the value of the time that he took to make sure I had enough information.

Thanks for the advice, folks. Between you guys and William, I'll be on the road in a couple of weeks, confident that I'm not going to lose my engine to junk tensioners.