alex205mi16 1 Posted April 6, 2006 I resisted the urge to start the car last night as the cambelt was doing my head in. i made sure all the slack was on the tensioer side and belt was tought on the run between cam and crank pullies. i then tensioned up the tensioner as best as i could (could not find anything to fit the square hole, what do you lot use to do it?) anyway i got some decent tension, could rotate belt about 90 deg, maybe a little bit less actually and had about 6mm deflection in centre of belt run with fair amount of pressure. i took timing pins out, rotated a few times keeping an eye on belt and rechecked timing, it was spot on, (miles better than it was before) but the belt tension on the front run seems a little less, it has about 8mm of deflection and i can very nearly rotate to 90 deg. Its not slack but i know i could get it tighter, thing is should i? light was failing at this point so i left it, said i would re check tomorrow depending on advice here and crank it up tomorrow night. problem i have is what has been written on here, some people say 45 deg twist, others say 90, haynes says 6mm deflection, somone on here said half an inch which is 12ish mm..!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
trogboy 17 Posted April 6, 2006 I don't ever trust my self to judge the delfection so I made up my own version of the tool shown in the haynes manual. The square hole in the tensioner is 8mm so you can use a citroen/peugeot sump key for it. Halfords sell it as a bit for a 3/8 ratchet if memory serves me correctly. This thing To make up the 1.5kg weight I use a fizzy drinks bottle partially filled with water and weighed it in the kitchen scales to get the weight right. The coke bottle is then tied via a bit of string to a point 80mm from the centre point of the backplate (adjusty bit for reversing direction) of the head of the ratchet. The benefit is that the ratchet is very adjustable so you can usually get it as near as dammit level when tensioning the pulley. The haynes manual has a picture so you just have to imagine it with this set up. HTH Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pugrallye 0 Posted April 6, 2006 (edited) belts on TU's are not designed to be too tight, you will hear the tensioner wailing if its too tight when you run it up. Obviously best way is to use correct SEEM tool for the job, but a good approximation is to be able to twist just less than 90 deg on the longest stretch of un pulleyed belt (the front run) midpoint between pulleys. run it up see how it sounds/ looks obviously if belt is flapping about, its too loose, lol, but I reckon you pretty much have it spot on by the sound of it. Edited April 6, 2006 by pugrallye Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alastairh 47 Posted April 6, 2006 Sounds about right. If its too tight, just loosen it a touch if it sqeeks Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alex205mi16 1 Posted April 7, 2006 i re did it when i got home, got it to about 6mm deflection and just under 90 deg of twist at mid point of longest run.. i checked it about 4 times and made sure timing was spot on, then on went cam covers and alternator belt.. car fired up,just before batt died!!! (changing fuel filter prob did not help cranking) have massive leak from exhaust manifold, must have got gasket on wrong, and rad cap is leaking when it gets hot. (looks like old owner tried to bodge it with a bit of rubber in cap. i swapped the oil 4 times last night... dropped original chocolate mess, then used 2 lots of flushing oil (after 5 min of fast idle it sounded like it was running on water so i dropped oil) and it was like chocolate water when it came out!!! eventually dropped oil for 3rd time and all the rubbish looked like it had already came out... so in went new oil and new filter.. just need to do same with water as it has bits of oil in there from HG failure before... so its nearly there... or on a jolly this weekend so it should see the road next week, also need to adjust its new big brakes so disc sits centrally and its all done.. cheers for info on cambelt Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sam 4 Posted April 7, 2006 The correct tension is "it feels like its about to fall off", you can make the tool up but the best way is the feel of it. Unfortunately the "longest length" method doesn't always work if the other side of the belt is loose or tight, so you need to turn the engine over a few times by hand (bottom pulley) and recheck. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
alex205mi16 1 Posted April 7, 2006 yep. once i had rotated it a few times the tension seemed to have spread a little, so when i was tightening it i made it a little bit tighter than it should be, in the hope that rotating it round would spread it out.. seemed to have done the trick Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
christopher 5 1 Cars Posted April 9, 2006 Well like trogboy I have made my version of the tool in hanyes. But with a fishing weight an 3/8 extension bar a jubilee clip and a sump plug socket. Use is same as in haynes. Turn til the weight is right on the gauge then tighten. turn over a few times and check again. It should be about 90 degrees.. I have run 2 years now on my belt tightened with this method. Although you will hear very different opinions about this.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
