Can you tell how tight it is other than the twisting belt method? I got everything up and running. When I started the car, I would get this weird smell. It smelled like burning rubber, like the belt was rubbing against something. My friend came over and he hinted that maybe the belt wasn't tight enough. I retighten the belt and the smell was gone. When I did the belt twist test, it was at about 90 degree. Someone suggested to me it should be a bit tighter, like around 60-70 degree IIRC. My friend told me I could check how tight the belt by just pushing on it with my finger instead of doing the twisting test. He said something about the belt going down about an 1/8 of an inch down when you push on it. Does this make sense? Since I got the plastic cover back on, I can't really do the twist belt test. I sort of used a flat head screwdriver and push on the belt at the opening near the SC pulley and belt. It seem tight enough, but I can't be sure if it's really tight enough. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

bump!

 

dont over tighten it.

if you can turn the belt 90 degrees. that's perfect.

i.e. put the belt inbtwn your fingers, and turn up. will it flip up to 90 degrees? over 90 is too loose. under 90 is too tight. ~90 is good.

 

Measure the deflection as per
Haynes Manual 1-15, 1-16
This is from ptatohed's site.