Esprit, Is there a tool to use with this tensioner (Gates T41046) when adjusting the belt?

 

There is a special tool however only to turn the tensioner. I don't have one so i use a pair of needle nose pliers in the two holes to rotate it.

I don't use a belt tensioning device. I tighten a bit, run the engine to 5000 RPM and continue to tighten in small increments until the belt no longer oscillates in its long run. I believe the oscillation is responsible for most fatigue failures. It likely causes more noise as well.

The engine is smoother at idle w/o balance shafts and if the front pulley is as minimal in weight and diameter, there is less mass to torsionally twist the crank, further reducing engine vibration.

 

OP,

I noticed that you don't have the timing belt housing/cover in place. Is this commonplace in the 944 community?

 

^ I don't see it... what do you mean by timing belt housing? No belt covers in that pic.

 

I'm taking about this plastic housing.

 

Yup, and it's all missing the above pic. The yellow painted water pump is normally hidden by the inner cover. The outer cover would of course shield all of that, including the belt itself.

 

Yes, I understand. My question is that is it typical to not install the said black plastic housing? I've replaced my timing belt and water pump twice already and I've always put the black plastic thing back on.

 

My bad, I had misread your original question. To answer it, it's important to run it actually, and the vast majority of people run it...it has alignment marks on it for both balance shafts. The OP probably removed it because it was interfering with the alternate belt routing.

 

OP also isn't running balance shafts, so he doesn't need the marks

 

I did this conversion as well but kept the balance shafts and belt.

I had to modify the plastic covers a little bit but they still fit over the belts.

There is a debate on whether you actually need to use them or not. There are many engine designs that run open cam belts with no issues. I think this engine being an interference engine is a good enough reason to run them. If nothing else, to lessen the risk of some crap from the road flying up and cutting/snapping the belt.

Edit:
Here is my thread on the topic that shows what I needed to trim (as well as how it looks retaining balance shafts):
https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-...onversion.html