Yummybud924

so my belt is on and I am going toget the 920x in a few days but for now I'm trying to get the tension close with the cricket.

I turned the motor over 2 times then backed it off about 1.5-2 teeth and the long side of the belt became much more loose and the short side going on the water pump became much tighter.

Now from what I understand at this point I'm suppose to set the belt to 40 pounds so I tired a few times and the kricket reads about 40 pounds,got some reading a little above 40.

now again I tunred the motor over and this time read the tensin at TDC and the kricket reads between 55-60 pounds when I tried it several times.

again when I go back a couple of teeth (by turning the cran anticlockwise) the kricket reads about 40 pounds.

is this right so at tdc the tension is around 55-60 pounds.......


Also one more thing for the balance belt I just tightened it so the kricket reads below the 30 mark but it does not open up all the way... not very accurate.

also the balance shaft at the top is perfectly alligned however I can't get the lower balance shaft perfectly alligned the teeth don't engage at that point so it is a little off.......not sure if it is 1/2 a tooh or 1 tooth but I could get it dead on I tried many times, it's too tight in there and I can't actually see the teeth on the belt / the sprocket.

also just noticed that my timing belt is moving to the rear (Towards the cover), it is almost at the dge of the gears but not quite and it is only a 1mm or maybe a tiny bit more away from the rear cover. all gears are new and new rollers etc. I'm not sure if it can run more to the rear when I actually run it and contact the cover

before I did the belt job the crankshaft gear was on backwards so it would keep the belt from moving to the back but now I corrected it to the proper way.

fezz

cam belt:

i assume you have the procedure from clarks garage on-hand?

turn the engine over twice, set at TDC and take a reading and set tension.

then, back off and check tension again.

roll the whole thing over a few times and your done with the cam belt.
you can check tension again if it makes you feel good.

always turn the cam belt tensioner CCW (towards the WP pulley) to tension. (keeps more pressure on the WP)

balance belt:

put cam belt back at TDC and keep it there.

make sure BOTH Balance shafts are correctly set - an extra pair of hands is helpful. Check and set tension.

use spacer gauge or feeler gauge to set BB idler against tensioned belt.

clark's procedure is pretty straightforward.

Yummybud924

well the lower mark for the balance belt looks to be off by 1/2 -1 tooth , I know one tooth is too much but I'm not 100 % sure if it is one tooth or half a tooth. guess I'll find out if it vibrates.

I couldn't get the the lower balance shaft to engage on the teeth of the belt when it was dead on with the 7 o-clock pointer it ended up a little to the left of it, I tried it three times and this is the closest I can get it.


you confused me a bit on the cambelt so you tension it once at tdc then go back 1/5 teet and tension the other side? I don't get what you mean by the other side

what I did was just tension it at 1/5 teeth pulled back from tdc and now when you go to tdc it's at 55-60 pounds and when you go back 1.5 teeth it's 40 pounds (araound that).

so is it normal for the tdc tension to be 55-60 pounds ? clarks says to move back 1.5 teeth to set the tesnsion.

Yummybud924

and like I mentioned I'm using the kricket right now so i'm not sure if you're suppose to go back 1.5 teeth and then set it to 40lbs with the cricket this then gets close to 60 pounds at tdc which sounds too much....

Yummybud924

also am I suppose to tension the belt when it is rolled back 1.5 teeth, this is what i did but I just read on another post that you're suppose to tension it at tdc and just roll back 1.5 teeth to check the tension and not set it.

also read another post that another rennlist member compared the kricket to the 9201 porsche tool and his tension on the 9201 for a new belt equaled 85lbs on the kricket.....

I would think that is way too much I just want to make sure it's 40 pounds at 1.5 teeth rolled back from tdc.

my 920x will arrive soon so I'll use that to check the kricket but the kricket doesn't seem too bad....

fezz

edit - roll back and check tension and adjust if necessary.

in general, you are doing it twice to check the tension across both sides of the belt loop.

check your tension values with the procedure for using the kriket tool - i dont have it in front of me.

just checked arnn's site

kriket tool:
new cam belt: 40
used cam belt/retension: 37-38

new/used balance belt: 27-28

Yummybud924

I'm still not sure what you mean by "both sides".

right now I get about 40 pounds when rolling back 1.5 but then when I move it back to tdc I get 55-60 pounds.

I did the adjustment of the tension to get 40 pounds when I rolled it back 1.5 teeth I didn't do any adjustment at tdc.

Stan944

For the tension adjustment of the timing belt I was recommended to move the belt back a bit to release the tesnsion, i.e. keep it at the sweet spot, where it reads the lowest tension (should be close to 40 lbs).
For the balance shaft it doesn't matter much as there is little resistance in the balance shfafts.

krahmlow

You're doing it right. You're setting the tension at the point where it's lowest. (I'm sure there's an engineering principle involved, but I'm not an engineer, so I can't explain it). The manual (and Clark) says to back it off 1.5 teeth to set the tension. Nothing about checking both sides, and some variation between them should probably show up anyway (more tension on the side you're putting tension on), hence the instruction to turn it back 1.5 teeth. If you're concerned about whether you got it right, keep turning it over and checking according to instructions. until you've achieved peace of mind. That's what's going to be most important. Variation of a few pounds won't cause a failure, but constantly worrying if you got it exactly right will ruin the driving experience. At any rate, you'll be back in there in 1,500 miles or so to re-set the tension anyway.

As for the balance belt, it's generally off by 1/2 a tooth or less. Set it as close as you can get it. If it's off by more than a full tooth, take it off and put it back on so that it matches up more closely.

I've got both the Cricket (Krickit? Kricket?) and the special tool. You'll get variations between readings using both tools, depending on how much tension you put on the belt and where on the belt you set the tool. Just try to get it as close as possible at the loosest spot. That would be my advice.

As for belt placement, triple check to make absolutely sure you've got all your rollers, etc. on the right way around and that your crank gear is on all the way (sometimes it's a tight fit, especially if you've scored up the woodruff key getting everything off). If it's all okay, then the belt shouldn't be able to come off the rollers/gears under tension.

Hope that helps.

krahmlow

Oh, I should add that if you do decide to use a string instead of a timing belt, the tension setting and procedure will probably be a little different. I'm not seeing anything listed in the manual about it, though....

Yummybud924

thanks, guys. so i guess I shouldn't care what the tension is at tdc and just worry about 40 pounds at 1.5 teeth back.

When I get my arnnworx 920x I will use that too just because I paid for it. I'm not sure if I'm correct but it looks like the 920x measures the short side of the belt vs the long side.

I'm setting the balance shaft more by feel, the cricket now reads below the 30 mark so it isn't really accurate but at least I know it's not 30 pounds which would be too much. I coudl try tightening and loosening it so it reads just below 30 on the cricket,

I'll try ot take a pick of the lower balance shaft behind off but I think it migh be 1 tooth or maybe it is 1/2 tooth.

anyone know what the specs for tightening the alternato/ ac / powersteering belt? I would like to use the kricket for these.

fezz

sorry, too many things rolling around in my head. you are doing it right - set tension 10 deg. (1.5 teeth) CCW from TDC. just make sure your cricket tension values are correct.

jason952

yes, this is right, i considered getting the 9201 tool to help with a recent belt job (my first), but I got reproduceable results with the cricket, so I just buttoned it up and turned the key, seems to be fine so far....really wasn't that bad.