Ok..So I thought I should fit a new cambelt..but its being a pain in the arse!

Can anone refresh my mind as to the correct way to install the belt?

And how do you tension it correctly without the ford guage? ( I dont have the tensioner spring!!!)

Chears.
Dunc

Rule of Thumb

With all the lost motion taken up at the longest point on the slack side you should just be able to twist the belt 1/2 turn with your fingers.

line the dot on the head with the mark on cam pulley, crank pulley on 0 with timing arrow. When you tension it wants to be able to move with pressure, but not a lot of movement, about 10thou

if you havent removed the old belt,

cut it in half, (widthwise) roll the new belt on, cut the rest off, then roll it on further
jobs a goodun

How do most people get the belt to tension though? I cant get it to go tight enough

quote:

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Originally posted by tegwin
How do most people get the belt to tension though? I cant get it to go tight enough

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Its deffinately the right belt..

My problem is that I am simply not sure how to apply pressure to the belt...(the origional tension spring is missing)

Yes I can twist the tensioner pulley by hand but I cant get nearly enough tension that way...Is there some way of hooking up a torque wrench to the tensioner pulley to make it tight?

The later model Pintos don't even have the spring so don't worry.

Tell you how I did it on my Pinto and my Golf.... pull tensioner as tight as possible with *both* hands.... get Dad to tighten the bolt!



HTH,
James

Wedge a broad flat head screwdriver between the tensioner backplate and the water pump body and twist it. You should be able to turn the belt from edgeways to flat (90°) on its longest span.

as Peteff says, use a lever on the tensioner, big old screwdriver is just the job