Mark944na86

I've done the initial tension on the balance belt, so now I'm going to listen for "flop" (too loose) or "whine" (too tight) to see if I need to adjust further.

Question 1: Is it Ok to do this with the alternator belt off? Basically, if I'm going to readjust, it would be much quicker to not to have to go through taking the alternator belt off again, etc. Car is happy to run for short periods with alternator not charging?

Question 2: The main tensioner on the balance at the bottom is easy enough to understand, but what's the story with setting the idle pulley with the eccentric? I assume this is an "anti-flop" roller; is the idea to set it so that the belt is almost but not quite touching it, or should this roller be adjusted so it's actually touching and deflecting the belt to some small extent?

sharky47

Your ok to run without the alt for a while. As far as the balance belt goes, I have hand tensioned them for a long time now - and you would be surprised at how loose it's supposed to be......

As for the idler pulley, there is supposed to be a small gap between it and the belt, like 1mm or so. This is how I have set my belts for years....

pepclan

Sharky is right on the money. Just got done doing mine.

Mark944na86

Thanks guys.